Posted on 11/30/2007 8:12:50 AM PST by Alex Murphy
Calvinists in the Southern Baptist Convention make up a small minority but are steadily growing, particularly among younger Baptists, a recent study showed.
Nearly 30 percent of recent SBC seminary graduates now serving as church pastors indicate they are Calvinists, according to Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research. Only around 10 percent of SBC pastors at large affirm the five points of Calvinism, or Reformed theology, noted Stetzer, comparing the latest results with an earlier 2006 survey conducted by LifeWay Research.
The five points of Calvinism, also called the doctrines of grace, include total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints.
Stetzer presented the data at the "Building Bridges: Southern Baptists and Calvinism" conference, which concluded Wednesday, at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. The recent study was conducted by the North American Mission Board's Center for Missional Research which surveyed those who graduated from master's degree programs at SBC seminaries between 1998 and 2004.
The number of gradates who affirmed Calvinism rose steadily between students who graduated in 1998 and those who graduated in 2004, Stetzer said.
"It would be difficult to say that Calvinism is not a growing influence in SBC life – and certainly a growing influence in the graduates of our seminaries," he told the conference crowd.
However, the steady growth may be a growing issue for Southern Baptists.
"I recently read that one key Southern Baptist leader was quoted as saying the two biggest problems in Southern Baptist life are contemporary churches and Calvinists," Stetzer said. "So there is obviously a growing concern but we're here to talk and build some bridges."
“Calvinism has generated a lot of interest in recent years in Southern Baptist life,” Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Seminary, noted. “Unfortunately we have often talked at and not with one another. Unhealthy rhetoric and misrepresentations from all directions have led to confusion and even ill will among brothers and sisters in Christ."
Nevertheless, Stetzer could not deny the growth of Calvinism in SBC life.
"Calvinism is on the rise among the most recent seminary graduates," he said. "If present trends continue, Calvinism will continue to grow as an influence in our convention."
The Nov. 26-28 conference was designed to facilitate honest discussion on theological issues and help Southern Baptists gain a common understanding.
Explaining the evangelistic implications of the recent studies, Stetzer noted that churches pastored by Calvinists tend to have smaller attendance and typically baptize fewer persons each year. While the study did not look at the "why" factor, it also revealed that the "baptism rate" – the number of annual baptisms relative to total membership and a statistic used to measure evangelistic vitality – of Calvinistic churches is virtually identical to that of non-Calvinistic churches.
A majority of both Calvinistic and non-Calvinistic churches believe that local congregations should be involved in sponsoring missions and planting new churches. Also, Calvinistic recent graduates report that they conduct personal evangelism at a slightly higher rate than non-Calvinists.
At the end of the day, however, both Calvinists and non-Calvinists in Southern Baptist churches are failing to engage "lostness" in North America, Stetzer highlighted.
"This theological discussion has to lead to missional action and that missional action needs to cause Calvinists and non-Calvinists alike to love each other and to encourage each other and to provoke one another on to love and good deeds."
Don’t Calvinists believe in predestination? Isn’ that close to “The Will of Allah”?
You are confusing Calvinism with fatalism. Not unusual for someone with no knowledge of the subject.
Another parable He spoke to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."
- Matthew 13:33
I confess that’s true. Reading an excerpt from “The Institutes of the Christian Religion” seems to confirm this, but perhaps only as it relates to salvation.
Don’t Calvinists believe in predestination? Isn’ that close to “The Will of Allah”?
Yes. No.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us[...]" (Eph. 1:3-6, NASB)
"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified." (Rom. 8:28-30, NASB)
I believe He gave us free will, to control our own destinies. That’s why there are Fords and Buicks.
This, in my doctrinal view, sets up God as the author of evil, which a totally good God cannot be. This Calvinistic doctrine also calls into question Jesus’ own words: “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved...” According to Calvin, I can do just that and still go to hell. That provides no comfort to the sinner and IMHO, provides no certainty of salvation, unlike Jesus’ words.
I wanted to clarify this, because a lot of folks fail to understand that double predestination is a peculiarly Calvinistic view.
No, you have got that quite wrong. First, God is not the author of sin. Second, as you note, belief is a crucial element in salvation. Those who are not of the elect are dead in their sin, and are not capable of such belief. One who has believed, and thus been saved, is, by definition, one of the elect. So Calvinism is in full accord with the scriptures.
Calvin takes it another step and says that if some were predestined to heaven (salvation), then it follows that some MUST be predestined to hell.
And where do YOU think those who don't go to heaven end up? Limbo?
Thread of possible interest.
"Resistible Grace - God's grace is free and offered without merit; however, human beings have been granted freedom by God and can refuse His grace."
Nowhere in Scripture is grace described as "resistible." Grace is God's intent and purpose put into time and space which were determined from before the foundation of the world.
If God draws a man, that man will follow.
"Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee" -- Psalm 65:4
Arminianism is a road built by Rome to circumvent the sovereignty of God as preached during the Reformation. Arminius went to Rome as a Calvinist and returned months later as a wolf in sheep's clothing who worked to undo the correct teaching of Luther and Calvin.
He's succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Why? Because the Romanists and the humanists and the heathens of this world love to give men more credit than they deserve, thereby giving God less.
Same as it ever was.
Work is work, whether we say we work for our salvation by doing good deeds as the Romanists believe, or we work for our salvation by making some sort of prudent decision to "accept" Christ. All human effort is work of one kind or another where men strive by their "free will" to please God by showing Him their own goodness.
But "salvation is of the Lord." It is all according to God's will and not man's. And that's because the only righteousness and obedience that saves anyone is the righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ.
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." -- Ephesians 1:4-6"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" -- Romans 9:20
From the article...
"Calvinism is on the rise among the most recent seminary graduates," he said. "If present trends continue, Calvinism will continue to grow as an influence in our convention."
AMEN! As God wills.
As has been noted often, many of us Calvinists had never even heard the word "reformed" until we started reading books and the Internet and almost in an instant when we returned to Scripture the words became so much clearer; the meaning more profoundly reassuring -- we have faith in Jesus Christ NOT because we made a wise decision or weighed the pros and cons or because we're more pious and righteous than our unbelieving neighbor.
Reading the Bible we now understand that faith is a free, unmerited gift from God to whom He wills, and God be praised, we have been so blessed by His grace through faith in His Son who has acquitted us of all our sins so that we now stand blameless before God's judgment. Before time began, when God breathed Christ's victory on the cross, He breathed our names. Imagine that! We were His before we even knew it, and now that the Holy Spirit has made our salvation known to us, we rejoice. It is ALL of Him, and none of us.
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." -- Philippians 2:13
There are probably many fine Arminians who are saved by Jesus Christ, but sadly, they aren't experiencing the depth of assurance that comes by acknowledging God's perfect, predestining grace. Having believed both sides, I can confidently state "It's better on this side of the TULIP field."
Why?
God created Lucifer and knew exactly what he would do and when.
bttt
Ah, but were you a “once saved always saved” Arminian, or a “once saved, but keep watching your step” Arminian? I would suppose there is a great difference, assurance-wise.
For example, I know that an outlet will shock you if you stick a fork in it. If my kid sticks a fork in an outlet, my knowledge doesn’t necessarily make me guilty of causing it. At worst, I am guilty of allowing it to happen for a purpose that is my own. The same is true of God. He wants no one to be lost, but he knows some will deny Him. That’s not the same thing as causing people to be lost.
Finally, to your point about being dead in sin, we were all dead in sin before our Baptism. What does your argument say about the efficacy of the Sacraments? IMHO, it says that they do not work as a means of grace, because as you say, anyone who is dead in sin is not of the elect. So, how can anyone else can be saved?
Thanks in advance for a reply
Additionally, I believe that God is TOTALLY good and just. That’s why he demanded Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Do you think he just wanted to do that for fun? He had to do it, because to do otherwise would be contrary to everything that He is. If there were any evil in Him, we would know, because He wouldn’t keep His promises. Where has He failed to keep them? Show me one and I’ll take it all back.
Then I had children and I needed some answers.
Thankfully, God had earlier sent me a husband who came to know the doctrines of grace before I did. When we married he joined my Presbyterian church, but then he ran far ahead of me in his understanding of God and Scripture. By his good example I saw how much happier and confident he was in his faith. But it wasn't until I had children that I realized how little I knew before and how much I had to learn.
I can honestly say the greatest truth I have ever known is that God has chosen His family before the foundation of the world. That understanding doesn't keep anyone out; it just clarifies how anyone gets there. "Salvation is of the Lord."
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." -- Romans 8:28"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth" -- Romans 9:11
Good point. Luther said basically the smae thing in his Preface to the book of Romans. However, Calvin never preached predestination from the pulpit. This view was expounded in his commentaries. Mosat lay people dont read commentaries written by theologians. Calvin simply accepted scripture at face value rather than be offended by God’s justice and try to build a case for “free will”.
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