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The Arminian Fundamentalist

I use the term "Arminian" because it is the closest theological term to the Apostolic soteriology that people understand. Technically, Arminians hold to the Reformed understanding of "Total Depravity" meaning total inability which is NOT what the Apostolic understanding of the Fall was. I use the term "Fundamentalist" because the term 'Evangelical' has tragically all but lost its historic meaning and understanding in today's theological world.

Tertullian was NOT a Calvinist!

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- March 07, 2020

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David JohnMarch 8, 2020 at 5:38 AM
and Luther got it wrong in "On the Bondage of the Will"
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Calvinism = semi-Gnostic/semi-Pagan

- February 02, 2022

It's a toss up - What influenced Augustine more to abandon the Apostolic understanding of Original Sin, Predestination, and Grace (Augustine being the first to teach its irresistability)? Was it Gnostic Manichaeism or was it the pagan Stoicism and Neoplatonism? The former leading to the semi-Gnostic label. The latter two leading to the semi-Pagan one. The irony of ironies is the charges of Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism that Augustinian-Calvinists level at anyone and everyone who disagrees with them are mythological. Pelagius didn't believe any of the 14 charges Augustine leveled against him - he believe 1/2 of one of them. And Semi-Pelagianism is an a term invented in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, which again has NOTHING to do with Pelagius at all. But don't confuse Calvinists with the historical facts. Not a single Calvinist I have known has ever read a word of Pelagius' writings - most of them are largely unfamiliar with Augustine and his work. And like ...

Augustine (and therefore Calvinism) was influenced by BOTH pagan and Gnostic heretical ideas.

- October 31, 2022

There were NO CALVINISTS in the Early Church. No orthodox Christian theologian, apologist, and/or leader taught the doctrines today associated with Calvinism. I've cited many of them in this blog and can post quote after quote, passage after passage from Church leaders in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries who TO THE MAN taught against the way Calvinists understand the Scriptures today. So, WHO was to blame for these teachings? Where did "Calvinism" come from? It ALL came from/through the North African theologian Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th Century. Previously, it was believed that Augustine's doctrinal change/shift came in AD397. More recent scholarship would argue that it wasn't until AD412 that he embraced the doctrines that ultimately became Calvinism. What is irrefutable is that it was Augustine who "introduced" the novel doctrines that today we call "Calvinism". The irony of ironies is that one can find the doctrines of Calvinism i...

If Calvinism were true, Jesus would be a liar.

- November 07, 2022

I am grateful that almost every Calvinist I know is inconsistent. They don't actually apply their systematic to the Scriptures. If they did, then they would have to concede that Jesus was a liar. Why? Because on Calvinism, mankind is dead in their trespasses in such a way as they cannot respond to anything, not even the Gospel. They are totally unable to do anything. According to Calvinism, the only way they can be saved is for God to resurrect them (to regenerate them) so that they can believe. Yes, Calvinism teaches that regeneration (being born again) must happen BEFORE a person can believe the Gospel. Why? Because they are dead. But then according to Calvinists, when God gives His "effectual call" to a person, they are brought to life and made able to respond to, to believe the Gospel. And from beginning to end they are enabled by God to persevere in faith. If they are "effectually called" they will be saved no matter what! So why is Jesus a liar accordin...