Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

16 October, 2006   comments: (0) Today's Synergism   Picturing The Absurd: "Worse Than Muslims"? Last week, a convert from Islam, now serving as the seminary President at Jerry Falwell's college, identified a group that he labeled as "worse than Muslims". Who are they? You might be surprised to find out that the Puritans were among them, so was the evangelist George Whitefield, and so was the hymn writer of Amazing Grace. Remember Matthew Henry whose bible commentaries are on most pastor's bookshelves? He's one of them too, as are numerous missionaries and martyrs in church history. If I were Jerry Falwell right about now, I'd be thinking that I have a loose cannon onboard the SS Liberty. This post takes a not-so-politically-correct look at the 'Jihad' that one man brought upon himself with his outrageous behavior. If you haven't heard about the (now cancelled) formal debate involving Ergun Caner and James White, you can get caught up by watching the unofficial video. In the wake of all of that, Ergun Caner of Liberty University posted a set of Q&A's on his blog last week, including this reckless excerpt: Q: DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT CALVINISTS ARE WORSE THAN MUSLIMS? A: Yes, absolutely. For a small portion of these people, just daring to question the Bezian movement is heresy. They will blog and e-mail incessantly. I call it a "Calvinist Jihad", because just like Muslims, they believe they are defending the honor of their view. They can discuss nothing else. I have even had a few call for my head! Dr. Falwell and I have laughed about it, because they are so insistent, and they miss the point completely. There are plenty of schools to which the neo-Calvinists can go, but Liberty will be a lighthouse for missions and evangelism to the "whosoever wills". Period. The difference is, Muslims know when to quit - for these guys, it is the only topic about which they can talk. The Liberty crew need not be the only ones laughing however, especially amidst the humorously absurd comparisons between Calvinists and Muslims. And lets be honest here, with the world being what it is today, Ergun Caner knows that for most of us - these kind of comparisons are likely to bring to mind these Muslims, and not these. So, what could Ergun Caner possibly be thinking? Perhaps if we could have his thoughts on film, they might look something like this: "James White is the biggest Jihadist of them all! He's worse than the most radical Muslims" "They will stop at nothing short of world domination, and then they'll prevent Christians everywhere from reaching out to the whosoever will" "If we would have had better screening and tighter border security, we could have kept them out of this land to begin with. Where was the Coast Guard back in 1620?" "... but now they've managed to spread their dangerous beliefs, and labor to pass them on to their children through catechism. Those poor kids, I can only imagine what they must teach them" "They only know one way to discuss their unpopular and outdated views" "They pedal these Reformation Study Bibles everywhere. I'm so sick of those study notes reminding us of our total reliance upon a sovereign God" "One of them was even called the Prince of Preachers. A prince is like a dangerous Sultan, right? Whatever! He was ALWAYS inciting Jihad" "This one trains pastors to be Lordship-terrorists at his destructive Shepherds Conference training grounds" THE END In all seriousness, and speaking just for myself, I admit that Ergun Caner got at least one thing right about Calvinists such as myself: Though it's not all that I talk about (I spend much more time talking about the Church Growth Movement on this blog), I do love to talk about Calvinism. Why? Not because I want to "defend the honor of my view", but because Calvinism is just a nickname for how I understand God's grace. Isn't saving grace worth discussing, and dwelling on, and thinking about? So to our brothers at Liberty University, I say: You've had a good Lynchburg-laugh; we've laughed too - at the absurdity of being compared to the followers of a volatile false religion. Let's now get back to talking about the grace of God. After all, if our understanding of that is wrong, how can we expect to be right in our missions and evangelism to the whosoever will? Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.503   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism