Walking Away (for now)
It has been hard not to notice that barely any posts have been published at 2 Worlds Collide for the past couple of months. There are several reasons for this, the chief being that work demands have been extremely taxing. There is only so much time per day to accomplish everything which needs to be done, and blogging is not a priority. The other major reason is that blogging has simply drained me emotionally. Having already slowed in the numbers of posts being produced, I edited the six-part series on “Calvinism & Civility” (published here several years ago), and chiseled it down to a manageable three-parts (1, 2, 3) for the Conservative Reformed Mafia. Detailing the theological/political struggle within Southern Baptist life over “Calvinism,” that series displays the heartache I have experienced personally through this conflict, and states my intention to choose an outside path of peace. Even in trying away to walk away irenically from the situation, I found that some are eager to spew invective towards those with whom they disagree. Nonetheless, I’m confident that the path I’ve chosen is the best decision for the sake of the Kingdom, my family, and myself. I’ve also decided to walk away from blogging for a season. Work is still demanding, and I’ve taken on other outside responsibilities with a military society which will demand a great deal of my time. 2WC will remain up and running in order that people may access previous posts, and I’m sure I’ll drop something here and there on the site. One of these days posts may very well be churned out on a regular basis, but for now, the sabbatical is official.
Calvinism Outside the Las Vegas Airport
ANNOUNCEMENT:
The 2011 Grace Conference of Las Vegas will be held in October. This year’s theme, inspired by Dr. Richard Mouw’s provocative Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport, seeks to both “give an answer” to those who have questions about the practicality of the doctrines of grace, and to do so with all gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). Questions the conference will seek to answer in general include the following:
- How can we best be Christians in the twenty-first century?
- How do we as Christians speak gently and respectfully to non-Christians about our beliefs?
- How do we articulate our Calvinistic convictions gently and respectfully to fellow Christians who view some matters quite differently than we do?
- How do we impact the culture positively with a God-centered, Gospel-saturated worldview?
- How do we do these things without compromising Christian orthodoxy, particularly the Gospel?
The conference seeks to glorify God by:
- Word-centered proclamation which magnifies God’s grace through Christ Jesus
- Encouraging congregational renewal
- Strengthening the ministries of the local church and its pastors
- Exalting God’s name through Christ-centered music
Particular topics will include:
- True Comfort in Life & Death
- Suffering & the Sovereignty of God
- Amazing Grace vs. Cheap Grace
- Loving Fellow Christians
- Calvinism & Evangelism
Conference speakers include Dr. John Pretlove, Rev. Jim McAlees, and Dr. James Galyon. If you live in the Las Vegas area or near the West Coast (Nevada, California, Utah, Arizona), I hope you will consider attending this conference on October 28-29 (Fri-Sat). The conference website will be up later this spring. Please contact the First Baptist Church of the Lakes at (702) 254-3234 for more information.
Tajikistan’s Parental Responsibility Law
The Lower Chamber of Tajikistan’s Parliament approved a controversial new bill, as well as amendments to the Criminal Code, on June 15. The Parental Responsibility Law stipulates that the only religious activities in which children under 18 may participate, apart from funerals, are those at state-approved religious education institutions. The amendments specifically extend penalties on unapproved religious meetings and impose harsh prison terms for advocating “religious extremist” teachings. The amendments fail to define “religious extremist,” and could easily extend to any religious teaching without state approval. To become law, the bill must also be approved by the Upper Chamber and signed by President Emomali Rahmon. The Parental Responsibility Law is the initiative of President Rahmon. Many expect the Upper Chamber to approve the legislation next month. The proposed legal changes arrive as police continue their suppression of non-sanctioned religious teaching. Local religious communities, independent legal experts, and human rights defenders have all condemned the law.
Algerian Congregations Face Closure
ALGERIA – Last month the governor of Bejaia Province sent a written notice to seven Christian congregations informing them they would be closed for operating “illegally.” The congregations are considered illegal because they have not registered with the government, required under Ordinance 06-03 of the nation’s legal code. The measure was introduced in 2006 to regulate non-Islamic religious practices. Christians report, however, that the government refuses to either respond or grant applications for registration. Mustapha Krim, president of the Protestant Church of Algeria, stated, “The churches of Bejaia have submitted the documentation the law requires and the government’s unwillingness to give official permission for the churches to operate is a matter for officials, not churches, to resolve.” He added that believers in Algeria have mobilized for prayer, asking for God’s intervention in the matter. Please join our brothers and sisters in prayer.
HT: Compass Direct News / Voice of the Martyrs
Columbian Communists Kill Converts
COLUMBIA – Members of Columbia’s Marxist group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), have killed individuals and burned buses throughout the nation for the last several months. Last month they were responsible for the detonation of a bomb in Puetro Lleras which killed several police officers and injured bystanders. Guerillas affiliated with FARC have also killed many of their own members who had been deemed as traitors. It is believed these “traitors” were Christian converts. Christians in the nation fear being the targets of violent attacks.
Increasing Persecution in Uzbekistan
UZBEKISTAN – Recent reports from Uzbekistan indicate that Christians are facing increased persecution. Police assaulted a Christian woman in her home while her parents were away, being interrogated at the local police station in regard to religious activity. The woman was kicked and hit on the head, resulting in a severe concussion. Police officers in Tashkent threatened to kill a Christian if he persisted in challenging a fine levied upon him for religious activity. A police investigator, also in Tashkent, threatened to “beat” the son of a Baptist church member and “put him in prison for three months” if the member did not sign statements accusing the congregation’s pastor and bookkeeper of illegal activity. Please pray for followers of Christ Jesus in Uzbekistan to remain steadfast in the faith, and for persecutors to experience the life-changing grace of God.
HT: Forum 18 / Voice of the Martyrs
I’ll be your huckleberry…
I’ve been asked to join the mob, that is, I’ve been asked to be a contributor to the Conservative Reformed Mafia. It seems rather fitting since my military call sign is “Godfather,” don’t you think? The blog, which burst onto the blogging scene in 2007, was out of business for some time but has now returned to the blogosphere. I’m looking forward to working with Eric “Gunny” Hartman and the guys. Hope to “see” you over at CRM.
Theology on Thursday
Today’s edition of Theology on Thursday is a personal presentation of the substance of Iain Murray’s May 19, 1995, address to the annual Grace Baptist Assembly in the United Kingdom. Mr. Murray addressed the subject of Charles H. Spurgeon’s contention with hyper-Calvinism during his ministry. The same year Murray gave this address, his book, Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism: The Battle for Gospel Preaching, was published. In the address, he pointed out that popular Spurgeon biographies, such as those by W. Y. Fullerton (1919) and Lewis Drummond (1992), do not consider the issue worth attention. In his autobiography, however, Spurgeon considered the matter as one of vital importance. As Murray noted in 1995, the ascension of Calvinism in theological spheres has historically resulted in the eventual appearance of hyper-Calvinism. It is my hope that the appearance of hyper-Calvinism is limited and brief. It is with this hope in mind that I present to you my interpretation of Murray’s address.
* * * * *
A Summary of the Conflict
Charles Water Banks was an English itinerant minister and the editor of three publications: the Earthen Vessel, Cheering Words, and the Christian Cabinet. The December 1854 issue of the Earthen Vessel contained an essay by Banks describing his visits to the New Park Street Chapel and the benefit he received from hearing the twenty-year-old preach. The following month, an article appeared from ‘JOB’. JOB was a pseudonym for James Wells, the pastor of the Surrey Tabernacle, Borough High Street. Known as the “Borough Gunner” because of the “artillery” which “flew” from his pulpit, he argued in the anonymous article that Spurgeon’s ministry was dangerous. He wrote:
“Beware of a mock and arrogant humility, of the soft raiment of refined and studied courtesy and fascinating smile. . . . Also I have—most solemnly have—my doubts as to the Divine reality of his conversion. . . . Concerning Mr. Spurgeon’s ministry, I believe that it is most awfully deceptive…”
The conflict does not appear to be one of personalities, with the old preacher castigating the young one or being jealous of the youth’s popularity. While this notion was promoted by several of the newspapers in London, the truth of the matter is that Wells believed the hyper-Calvinistic tradition he represented was the purest form of Christianity. Questioning this tradition was equivalent to heresy, in his estimation. This tradition stood against calling individuals to believe in Jesus Christ, and Wells felt obligated to “knock down duty faith.” He claimed that if the Earthen Vessel supported Spurgeon, it would be a “disastrous change of direction.” Banks responded to the article by declaring his belief that “God had put Spurgeon on the walls of Jerusalem for usefulness.” In subsequent reports of his visits to New Park Street, Banks continued to write favorably of Spurgeon. Banks’ positive declarations regarding Spurgeon helped to turn the tide against hyper-Calvinism. Another matter which turned the tide was the conversion of T. W. Medhurst. Medhurst was a young member of the Surrey Tabernacle. He visited the Maze Pond Chapel early in 1854 to hear Spurgeon preach, even though he had been instructed to consider the young pastor a “mere Arminian.” Medhurst entered a period of distressed soul-searching and was converted eventually under Spurgeon’s preaching. Not long after his conversion, he began a ministry of street preaching and ended up becoming the first student in Spurgeon’s pastors’ college. He entered the controversy by writing a brief article in the Earthen Vessel. He stated: “Duty faith? What is it? Examine it-‘Believe and be saved. Believe not and be damned.’ It is like Mark 16:16.”
Errors of hyper-Calvinism
Spurgeon delineated four fundamental errors found within hyper-Calvinism.
1) Hyper-Calvinism denies that gospel invitations are to be delivered to all people without exception. It limits the purpose of gospel preaching to gathering the elect, and claims only the elect are to be addressed with the commands, invitations and offers of Scripture. It asserts there is to be no pleading with an entire congregation of sinners. This attitude was totally rejected by Spurgeon, who on many occasions addressed every single hearer in the following manner: “’These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.’ Look to Him, blind eyes; look to Him, dead souls; look to Him. Say not that you cannot; He in whose power I speak will work a miracle while yet you hear the command, and blind eyes shall see, and dead hearts shall spring into eternal life by His Spirit’s effectual working” (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 40:502).
2) Hyper-Calvinism declares that the warrant a sinner has to come to Jesus Christ is found in his own experience of conviction and assurance.
This warrant, according to hyper-Calvinism, cannot be obtained until one receives an inward, spiritual exercise. Spurgeon, however, proclaimed that all humanity has a warrant to believe extended to them, giving them the right to place their trust in the Lord Jesus. That warrant is the universal command found in the Word of God for all to repent of their sins and believe upon the Lord Jesus. “Do not wait for your feelings to convince you that you can venture on Christ,” exhorted Spurgeon, “you have the right to come just as you are today because God is sincerely beseeching you to come to His Son for pardon.” In his 1863 sermon on the ‘Warrant of Faith’, Spurgeon tells people that if the warrant were not in the Word of God, but in the sinner’s own condition, the result will be individuals being driven to examine themselves and asking, “Have I sufficiently broken my heart?” rather than looking to an inviting Savior (MTP, 9:529).
3) Hyper-Calvinism declares that human inability prevents people from being exhorted to come to Jesus Christ.
A universal command presupposes a modicum of ability, according to Hyper-Calvinism. Spurgeon replied that he would not tone down humanity’s depravity and helplessness. He pointed out that the gospel is one of grace, and therefore it rests upon people despairing of their own resources and strength. It is only on the presupposition of total depravity that the full glory and power of the gospel can be declared, which Spurgeon claimed exalted God’s power to save. Spurgeon maintained that all people are responsible to turn to God, and that God is sovereign in salvation.
4) Hyper-Calvinism denies the universal love of God.
Hyper-Calvinism has a fearful caricature of God which presents Him as fierce and not easily induced to love sinners. Murray noted that if we fellowshipped more with Christ, then we would know and love Him more and then there would be no uncertainty that God desired the salvation of sinners. “How often would I have gathered you,” said
the Savior to recalcitrant Jerusalem.
Conclusions
In examining Spurgeon’s contention with hyper-Calvinism, Iain Murray came to four major conclusions:
1) Any true biblical theology is not exclusive.
The Bible’s teaching on the divine election of grace is not intended to divide Christian from Christian, but the Christian from the world. Spurgeon said he knew of many who were saved but who did not themselves believe in divine calling, and that many who persevered to the end who did not believe in the perseverance of the saints. They hold to such errors of judgment, yet we will meet with them and every believer around the cross. Spurgeon detested division in the Body of Christ.
2) There is a danger in not presenting biblical truths in the proper order.
In the final edition of John Calvin’s Institutes, justification precedes teaching on divine election. In evangelism, election is not placed in a position of priority. Rather, the doctrine of free justification through Jesus Christ is central.
3) When Calvinism ceases to be evangelistic it is a cerebral, chilling and unattractive religious system. In other words, hyper-Calvinism goes beyond the theological borders of historic Calvinism and is a different religious system than Calvinism. When William Carey went to India and Andrew Fuller led the missionary interest in England through historic evangelical Calvinism, in opposition to the existing hyper-Calvinism, change occurred in Baptist life and the Baptists began to grow.
4) It is a wonderful thing that Spurgeon, at age 20, did not succumb to hyper-Calvinism.
If he had, then the Grace Assembly would not have occurred and Spurgeon’s sermons would not be read all over the world, even as they are today.
