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Defining "Christian" so as to Deceive Christians
Over in the comment box of the GreenBaggins blog, Dave Armstrong asked: First of all, how could one who accepts the Nicene and Apostles’ Creed not be a Christian? I think that is something you should ask yourself.If those do not help clarify who is and who is not a Christian, what in the world…
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Dr. James Galyon Against Hyper-Calvinism
Dr. James Galyon has an interesting post on the topic of Hyper-Calvinism. He provides a long list of items that he views as Hyper-Calvinism, many of which I would agree with. I may not agree with him in every last detail in his definition. For example, he includes as one form of hyper-Calvinism: “Scripture is…
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Defining Hyper-Calvinism
John Sneed at Ministerial Meanderings provides a good (and much better, imho, than Phil Johnson’s) definition of hyper-calvinism in a recent re-post (link). Also important is his post’s emphasis on the need to be Biblical Christians, recalling that for us the Scripture is not just a rule of faith, but the rule of faith. -TurretinFan…
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Learn a Word: Aseity (Self-Existence)
As one wise pastor recently pointed out to me, “very few people even know what aseity means.” He’s right, of course. So, what does aseity mean? In general it refers to God’s property of being self-existent. By way of background, I provide the following explanation: By self-existence we mean (a) That God is “causa sui,”…
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The Real Turretin on: The Definition of "Catholic"
Catholicity, in the absolute sense of the word, as Turrettin remarks, can be predicated only of that society that includes the Church triumphant in heaven, as well as militant on earth, that society that comprehends all the elect, reaching back to the days of Abel, and onward to the last trumpet. Institutio Theologiae Elencticae, Francisco…
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Armstrong vs. Aquinas – Classifying Reformed Christians
As recently noted by the “Shrine for the Holy Whapping,” a Catholic blog, Aquinas quoted with approval, the following (link to source): “We believe that the bodies of the saints, above all the relics of the blessed martyrs, as being the members of Christ, should be venerated in all sincerity” and “If anyone holds a…