Category Archives: Calvinism

Searching for The Third Way: Baptism, Part 7

Fourth theological conclusion — prevenient grace makes better sense It’s just a thought. And I know I can’t prove this. Remember: the classic Calvinist argument is that humans cannot have faith without the Spirit changing their hearts. The classic Arminian … Continue reading

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Searching for The Third Way: Baptism, Part 6

Why does earth-time go in only one direction? Sounds like a stupid question, doesn’t it? Believe it or not, physicists wrestle with this one. It’s a very hot issue among theorists today. Nearly all the equations that describe physics run … Continue reading

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Searching for a Third Way: Baptism, Part 5.5

I get emails. This one is particularly intringuing. … That is, is our view of baptism too narrow?  To wit: Is our view that baptism is only the act of the dunking too narrow.  Should it be more broad as … Continue reading

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Searching for The Third Way: Baptism, Part 5

I’m going to say some completely unbelievable things. And take a while doing it. But when I get done, I expect to explain baptism and faith and the Spirit and time. It’s going to take a while. But it’ll be … Continue reading

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Searching for The Third Way: Baptism, Part 4

Let’s now consider what we’ve learned regarding predestination earlier in this series and apply it to salvation and baptism. Perhaps this will give us a deeper Third Way interpretation. When considering predestination, we noted that the New Testament is quite … Continue reading

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Searching for The Third Way: Baptism, Part 3

Although I think the baptism verses are powerful and persuasive, the “faith only” verses are powerful and persuasive, too. There are just a lot of verses that promise salvation to all who have faith. Before we get into these, I … Continue reading

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Searching for The Third Way: Baptism, Part 2

The case for baptism as the moment of salvation Okay. I’m sure this sounds like odd phrasing, but I’m trying to make a point. No one — no Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant — believes that the saving power is in … Continue reading

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Searching for The Third Way: Baptism, Part 1

Well, I wasn’t really intending to pick on the Calvinist-Arminian controversies for the entire series, but here’s another place where the two traditions disagree — and another place that needs a Third Way solution. Background The traditional view, going back … Continue reading

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Searching for The Third Way: Predestination, Part 4

The Third Way of Predestination In Christianity, there are essentially two views of predestination. The Calvinists teach that God decides who will be saved and then changes them, outside their own choosing, so they’ll have faith. Calvinists deny that we … Continue reading

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Searching for The Third Way: Predestination, Part 3

The scriptures that teach predestination I believe in predestination, because the Bible plainly teaches it. But I do not accept the Calvinist view. Nor do I accept the traditional view of non-Calvinists, such as most Church of Christ scholars. Rather, … Continue reading

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