My Understanding of the Five Points of Calvinism

This post is partly in response to someone asking for an explanation of Calvinism and partly because I have been meaning to write down what I mean when I say that I subscribe to these points so that I can reference it when having online discussions. It is a description of my beliefs/understanding and is not intended to be telling anyone else what they should or should not believe. I have not provided supporting Bible references for the points because I am just describing what I understand them to mean - not trying to argue their case.

Total Depravity
I think this term is open to a lot of misunderstanding as most people would understand "total" depravity to mean the worst and most extreme depravity. Also depravity tends to be used as a description of the worst sins of man. My understanding is that depravity is being used to describe the badness or sinfulness of man. The quantification described by the term "total" is saying that man is sinful rather than perfect (i.e. you can't be partly sinful - you either are or you aren't) rather than quantifying how sinful we are. Clearly everyone is not as sinful as is possible to be but this is not what is meant my total depravity.

The way I understand it, this phrase is making the point that because man is entirely sinful (as opposed to partially sinful), we are unable to earn our salvation. Because of our sin it is impossible for us to be good enough.

Unconditional Election
To me this means that our salvation is not conditional on our actions. We cannot earn our salvation through our works but gain it only through the work of Christ on the cross. (This does not however mean works are wrong - I would consider works to be fruits of faith.)

Limited Atonement
Christ's sacrifice did not pay for everyone's sins. It paid for the since of those who were elected by God to receive the gift of salvation. An opposing view is that Christ died for all but some people choose not to avail themselves of it. Another view is that after we die, those who did not accept Christ's sacrifice will have another opportunity to do so that all will have been atoned for in the end. "Limited atonement" disagrees with both of these ideas.

Irresistible Grace
This is the idea that if God chooses to save you by his grace then you cannot resist it. I find this particularly difficult to explain but I know that I cannot choose not to believe any more than I can choose not to believe in gravity or that the grass is green. I like the way Delirious? put it in one of their songs which says, "I believe I've chosen you believing that you've chosen me."

Perseverance of the Saints (aka "Once Saved, Always Saved")
Pretty much, this means that if someone is saved, then they cannot become "unsaved". If someone makes a profession of faith and appears to be a genuine believer but at a later point in their life becomes apostate, it is reasonable to assume that they were never truly saved in the first place. Of course, someone who is saved will still sin though so just because someone who professes to be a Christian commits a humongous sin does not automatically mean that they must not really be saved. Unfortunately, this particular point has been known to lead people to try to judge whether someone is saved or not which can then lead to people trying to "prove" their salvation through works. Personally, if someone professes to be a Christian and their life so far as I can tell does not clearly contradict that profession, then I will accept them at their word.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness.

That is the greatest gift God has given me.

Forgiveness for all the wrong things I have said, done or thought and all the wrong things I will say do or think in the future. He gave me that gift even though I don't deserve it.

I have accepted God's forgiveness but it is hard to forgive others.

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

How can I pray this prayer unless I forgive?

"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Matthew 6:14-15

A couple of days ago I saw this video on Mommylife:

I could honestly say the first five of those things about my parents. (Thankfully not the sixth and seventh.) But what about the eighth (final) one? That is very difficult and something I have been struggling with for a long time - particularly since having a child of my own.

I find myself wondering how someone can go from loving their child unconditionally to not? How did things change? Or did they ever love me? Why me? Are they even aware that they treat me differently to my brothers?

I recently read the writings of one blogger who claimed she didn't need to forgive her parents because they need to repent first.

I disagree.

But it still isn't that easy.

I was still thinking and praying about this when I saw a YouTube link posted in the comments on Amanda's recent post.

(A copy of the lyrics can be found here.)

Who am I to withhold forgiveness? I who have been richly blessed with a forgiveness I am unworthy of? Listening to that song reminded me that I have no justification not to forgive (unlike God who is perfect).

Yesterday I still wasn't ready to do so.

But today I did.

I thought I couldn't let go of all the wrongs but that was not true.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Philippians 4:13

After all, who am I?

I feel such a weight off my heart.

"Rejoice in the Lord alway"

Philippians 4:4a

It's already started

Little Girl is only two. If we were going to put her in the state schooling system she would be starting Nursery in a year's time. Education is not compulsory for her until the term after she is five which would be September 2012. Yet we are already encountering opposition to homeschooling.

One person asked how she is going to have friends. Because school is the only place to find friends apparently.

One person said that Christians are supposed to be salt and light and if all Christians homeschooled then the only Christians in schools would be teachers. I didn't realise that sending your child into the state schooling system was what God meant when he said that.

And my mum says that the main reason they sent me to school wasn't to get an education but was for socialisation and for me to learn how to get on with different kinds of people. Hmm let me see.... Getting on with people: The people I have to get on with now are not the same kinds of people I had to endure through school. People my own age are adults - they have grown up. The people I had to "get on with" at school definitely hadn't grown up. Socialisation: I have no friends from school. I do have friends who I went to school with but they are not friends from school - they are friends from the church youth group I went to. What did school teach me? It taught me to shut down, disengage, trust no one and isolate myself (well so did my family but that's another story) - it took me years to undo what I learnt at school.

I'd be interested to know if anyone knows of any research done into the socialisation of home-educated children vs. school educated children.

Anti-child culture?

Two things recently have made me think about how anti-child our culture is.

The first was not long after we had moved house. Little Girl and I had a picnic in the front garden. She had finished and was "exploring" in the still wild bits while I was still finishing my lunch. Quite a lot of people walk past our house and a man who lives up the road stopped and started talking to Little Girl. (I had to reply for her because she tends to be shy with strangers.) You could tell that he liked children and I would have thought it a bit weird if it wasn't for the fact that he was obviously foreign (he said later on that he was German).

Later on I was pondering about this and two thoughts struck me:
1) It is generally expected in our culture that only women should be interested in children and not men(unless they are their own children).
2) The European countries which I would think of as places where everyone likes children (such as Italy and Spain) are predominantly Catholic countries. (I'll talk about the significance of this later.)

The second thing which got me thinking was a discussion about children on a forum I frequent. The person who started the thread doesn't want children. She and her boyfriend have planned their life based on never having children but she was getting all stressed because he'd recently said that he wasn't absolutely 100% sure he never ever wanted children. Having children would apparently mess up all the plans they had for the future. Now the really interesting bit was her feelings about children which came out as the discussion went on. This is what she said:

"The kids that I have been around seem to be having fun with their parents- I don't know enough about kids to judge it.

My experiences of these kids, however, is that I can't stand them being around. I hate the thought of them being incontinent. I hate it when they touch me with their dirty hands. I can't stand their incessant babbling about rubbish. The sound of them crying or laughing goes through me like nails on a blackboard. I hate all of the adults at a social event have to be really aware of their behaviour (e.g. I went to a BBQ on Saturday and had to try and hold loads of stuff (which seriously impeeded (sic) my eating and drinking capabilities) that I would otherwise have left on the floor because someone decided to bring their kid along and I didn't want my stuff to be broken or eaten by it). I hate the way they put your stuff in their dribbly gobs."

Along with hating pretty much all characteristics of children in general, she hates the fact that if someone brings their child to a social event you need to be careful what you leave lying around.

Now can you imagine your average Italian saying something like that?

If people have large families and have their children over a long period of time (which your average person in a Catholic country would do) then there are always children around. You will always have either younger siblings or your own children or nieces and nephews. (Or if you were from a small family for whatever reason you would have friends with little brothers and sisters etc.) If you are used to children being around all the time you are less likely to suddenly think that they are a nuisance that stop you from doing things how you would prefer.

In contrast if everyone has only one, two or three children fairly close together then most people will be used to a life which doesn't include young children. (I appreciate that some people with few or even no children have not done so by choice but I am talking about what is the norm i.e. what the majority in our culture chooses to do.) People will talk about a small age gap being good because you "get it over with" more quickly. As if raising children is something to be "got through". Some people even claim that to choose to have a child is unethical (How many children in Africa could be fed/clothed for the cost of your child? How much of the world's resources will your child use? We are already overpopulated as it is.) but God tells us to ""Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth"

I wonder what attitudes to children were like before contraception was widely available?

"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 19:14

Interesting links:
Children Not Welcome
Sign outside a restaurant

Vaccine - Abortion link revisited

I just wrote reply to a comment on my "Vaccines use cells from aborted babies" post and thought it was worth putting it in a post so that more people see it.

Thanks for your comment Carrie - I guess I wasn't clear as I was not saying that cells from aborted babies were in the vaccines just that they are used to make them. I guess a parallel would be that coal can be used to make electricity but there is not any coal in the electricity. For me the important point is that they were used in the first place.

Also although the rubella strain does come from *one* aborted baby, many were used. The rubella strain is called RA27/3. RA stands for rubella abortus (i.e. it was an aborted baby rather than a miscarried baby). 27 means this was the 27th aborted baby used and 3 means it was the third sample taken from this baby.

This means that although as you say the rubella strain came from one baby, many more were used in the overall process of production.

In the Footsteps of Paul by Ken Duncan

I received this gift book as part of the Thomas Nelson book review blogger programme. The book takes you through the life and journeys of Paul the Apostle. Each double page has a similar format of a Bible quote (usually from Acts), one or two beautiful pictures and then some relevant comment which gives you a bit more information. Sometimes the comments by the author are replaced with quotes by a variety of people including CH Spurgeon, CS Lewis, Phillip Yancey and Billy Graham.

Right from the introduction (which included the Gospel) to the final page I was very impressed by this book. Because it picked out relevant verses to show the journeys of Paul rather than including all of the events, I found it a useful overview of his life. The stunning pictures helped to bring the world he lived in to life. In particular I was surprised by how rich much of the countryside was as I had imagined it to be barren and desert-like. The comments and quotes greatly enriched the experience of this book as they helped me appreciate the great faith, dedication to evangelism, and sufferings of Paul and his contemporaries. This would be a good gift both for Christians and for non-Christians who are interested in the historical aspect of the Bible.

Vaccines use cells from aborted babies

I recently found out that some viral vaccines are made using cells from aborted babies. I've done a bit of research and this is some of the information I have found:

http://www.dgwsoft.co.uk/homepages/vaccines/alternatives.htm

http://www.lifecanada.org/html/science/Vaccines/ABriefHistoryofHumanDiploidCellStrains.pdf

http://www.vaccinetruth.org/fetal_tissue.htm

If you are in the UK then you can find information on which vaccines are currently used here:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandguidance/Healthandsocialcaretopics/Greenbook/DH_4097254

It seems that currently the polio vaccine used in the UK uses monkey cells so it is only the MMR which is an issue. I was very relieved to find this out as Baby Girl had already had the polio vaccination before I found out. Obviously I can't help having not known but apart from the fact that we wouldn't have wanted to use it if it had been made using aborted baby's cells but it would have made our objections to the MMR a bit more difficult if we'd already had one.

If you have any more information about this issue, please do post in the comments.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.