Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Critique my Chart
I made a chart, a while back, that I think works very well for discussing the Calvinist vs. Arminian theology. In our anti-institutional age, it seems to work well to describe dismiss the extremes of both labels and focus on a biblical yet balanced view. But I'd be glad to receive constructive criticism of either my message or my method in making it.
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6 comments:
Looks good to me. Very accurate yet easy to understand explanations.
The only one I was a little confused with was the extreme arminianism (I know it's spelled wrong)explanation of nature of call. You might want to look at the wording on it.
I would be inclined to flip the content under "moderate" & "extreme Arminianism" for "Nature of the Call".
For the moderate view on purpose of the cross you may want to consider, if you already haven't the "moderate Calvinist" view that asserts Christ died for all, but only chose some. There's a little more to the view than that but that is the succinct way of writing it.
I subscribe to the view that God predestinates (from His vantage point), but we also choose to repent and be saved (from our vantage point). Just because God knows who is going to respond doesn't mean the choice is not ours to make. The reason it's hard to comprehend is because, well, He's God, and we're not able to think on the same level, outside the limits of time.
I do like the chart. It would be helpful to those who are clueless as to what it's all about.
Hi Matthew,
I would suggest not limiting yourself to only three columns which has forced you to mislabel some thoughts intentionally (e.g., nature of the fall under Extreme Arminianism is not Arminian, but Pelagian; likewise, the view of the nature of the call is not quite Classical Arminianism, but is much closer to that than something called extreme). Have you thought about expanding it to five columns or something else?
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I will take all thoughts into consideration. There are definitely limits when using a 3 column system. I guess I prefer to keep the handouts as simple as possible and discuss nuances in person. One thing I find, personally, is that the more I study hard-core calvinism, the less likely I find it to be.
i'd be interested in the final copy of this chart if it changes. my co-worker recently got saved and has been listening a lot to Matt Slick (Calvinist apologist)...he's easily persuaded in that direction and I think it'd be good if there was a way to easily explain both views to him.
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