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Q1: “What is your only comfort in life and in death? A1: That I am not my own…”

Next Thursday, as the rest of us tuck into our turkey feasts, hundreds of needy families in Southern California will open "Boxes of Love." Delivered by several churches led by Pacific Crossroads in Santa Monica, Calif., the boxes contain ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal for six. They allow impoverished families to skip food lines and neighborhood pantries and enjoy the holiday in their own homes. What's unusual about the Pacific Crossroads congregation—and what underpins efforts such as Boxes of Love—is its theologically conservative raison d'être. A member church of the Presbyterian Church in America, Pacific Crossroads is committed to Reformation...

It is a reckless analyst who risks reopening sixteenth-century disputes between Roman Catholics and the Protestant Reformers. I do so in the interest of a greater good, but my purpose is not to say who was right or who was wrong. I would simply like to explore why the Protestant churches maintained unity with the Catholic Church on the contraception question for four centuries, only to abandon this unity during the first half of the twentieth century. I write as a historian, not an advocate. (I am a “cradle Lutheran.”) Orders & Disorders To understand the change in Protestant thought...

Until the Anglican Lambeth Conference of 1930 no Christian denomination had ever said that contraception could ever be objectively right. The Washington Post, in an editorial on March 22, 1931, said of the Federal Council of Churches' endorsement of Lambeth: “It is impossible to reconcile the doctrine of the divine institution of marriage with any modernistic plan for the mechanical regulation of or suppression of human life. The Church must either reject the plain teachings of the Bible or reject schemes for the ‘ scientific’ production of human souls. Carried to its logical conclusion, the committee’s report, if carried into...

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — The Vatican newspaper Friday praised influential French Protestant John Calvin, a critic of the Roman Catholic Church, hailing him an "extraordinary" figure. The Osservatore Romano, on the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth, said it recognised the theologian as a Christian who had a major impact on European life. "Considering the strength of arguments against him, we think it necessary to point out that Calvin is a Christian," the daily paper said of the man who played a major role in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. The paper ranked Calvin alongside 18th century French philosopher...

"Het Mekka van Calvijn" (Calvin's Mecca) is the name of the work created by the Moroccan artist Aziz Bekkaoui. It is a cube measuring 4 by 4 by 4 metres, consisting entirely of reflective glass. The cube apparently refers to the Kaaba, the sacred central building in the courtyard of the Great Mosque in the Islamic place of pilgrimage, Mecca in Saudi Arabia....

Unconditional election The doctrine of unconditional election means God does not base his choice (election) of certain individuals on anything other than his own good will [13]. God chooses whomever he pleases and passes over the rest. The ones God chooses will desire to come to him, will accept his offer of salvation, and will do so precisely because he has chosen them. To show that God positively chooses, rather than merely foresees, those who will come to him, Calvinists cite passages such as Romans 9:15-18, which says, "[The Lord] says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I...

Geneva was a church-city-state of 15,000 people, and the church constitution now recognized "pastors, doctors, elders and deacons," but the supreme power was given to the magistrate, John Calvin. In November 1552, the Council declared Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion to be a "holy doctrine which no man might speak against." Thus the State issued dogmatic decrees, the force of which had been anticipated earlier, as when Jacques Gruet, a known opponent of Calvin, was arrested, tortured for a month and beheaded on July 26, 1547, for placing a letter in Calvin's pulpit calling him a hypocrite. Gruet's book...

The Arminian Doctrine of Infant Damnation Having noticed one objection to the doctrine of predestination, we proceed to a second, viz. "It leads to the idea of infant damnation;" "brings with it the repulsive and shocking opinion of the eternal punishment of infants;" "causes not only children not a span long, but the parents also, to pass through the fires of hell."The above are samples of the manner in which this charge is reiterated by every controversial Arminian author that has come under our notice. The reader will be surprised to learn that the "shocking and re-pulsive doctrine" here objected...

" John Calvin…is looked upon now, of course, a theologian only, but he was really one of the greatest of gospel preachers. When Calvin opened the Book and took a text, you might be sure that he was about to preach "Through grace are ye saved, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." CH SPURGEON (14:216) Like his dear Lord Jesus, John Calvin has often been wounded in the house of his friends. Some Christians - who should rejoice in his ministry - practically hate him as much as Rome ever did. All manner of...

What are we to think of Calvin? Rev . Fr. Philippe Marcille The influence of John Calvin (1509-1564) has been immense, perhaps even more so than that of Luther. Certainly, without the bellowing revolutionary Luther, Calvin would not have been able to do anything; yet without Calvin, the revolt would not have had the political impact that it did in France and especially the United States. Origins He was born in Picardy, France, in 1509. His parents were well-to-do people. A very gifted student, he received a benefice from the Church and continued his studies at Paris. He was not...

Calvinism [Part IV of IV] Two important practical consequences may be drawn from this entire view: first, that conversion takes place in a moment -- and so all evangelical Protestants believe; and, second, that baptism ought not to be administered to infants, seeing they cannot have the faith which justifies. This latter inference produced the sect of Anabaptists against whom Calvin thunders as he does, against other "frenzied" persons, in vehement tones. Infant baptism was admitted, but its value, as that of every ordinance, varied with the predestination to life or to death of the recipient. To Calvinists the...

This is a guest post by Dr. David Anders. David and his wife completed their undergraduate degrees at Wheaton College in 1992. He subsequently earned an M.A. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1995, and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2002, in Reformation history and historical theology.  He was received into the Catholic Church in 2003. He will be on EWTN Live on June 23rd, 7:00 pm Central (8 EST), and may be discussing some of the material from this article.Portrait of Young John Calvin Unknown Flemish artist Espace Ami Lullin of the Bibliothèque de GenèveI once...

Calvinism [Part III] We come on these lines to the famous distinction which separates the true Church that of the predestined, from the seeming or visible, where all baptized persons meet. This falls in with Calvin's whole theory, but is never to be mistaken for the view held by Roman authorities, that some may pertain to the soul of the Church who are not members of its body. Always pursuing his idea, the absolute predestinarian finds among Christians, all of whom have heard the Gospel and received the sacraments, only a few entitled to life everlasting. These obtain the...

Calvinism [Part II] Another way to define the Reformed theology would be to contrast its view of God's eternal decrees with that taken in the Catholic Church, notably by Jesuit authors such as Molina. To Calvin the ordinances of Deity seemed absolute, i.e. not in any way regardful of the creature's acts, which they predetermined either right or wrong; and thus reprobation -- the supreme issue between all parties -- followed upon God's unconditioned fiat, no account being had in the decree itself of man's merits or demerits. For God chose some to glory and others to shame everlasting...

Calvinism No better account of this remarkable (though now largely obsolete) system has been drawn out than Möhler's in his "Symbolism or Doctrinal Differences." The "Institutes of the Christian Religion," in which Calvin depicted his own mind, were never superseded by creed or formulary, though the writer subscribed, in 1540, at Worms to the Confession of Augsburg, i.e. the second revised edition. To take his bearings in theology we must remember that he succeeded Luther in point of time and was committed to a struggle with Zwingli's disciples at Zurich and elsewhere, known as Sacramentarians, but who tended more...

The Catholic Teaching on Predestination ISSUE: How does the Catholic Church understand predestination? RESPONSE: Predestination is a term used to identify God’s plan of salvation, in which according to His own decree, He “accomplishes all things according to his will” (Eph. 1:11). God gives us the gift of salvation through grace and faith. In turn, we must use our free will to persevere in good works “prepared beforehand” by God Himself (Eph. 2:8-10; cf. Phil. 2:12, 13). DISCUSSION: There are two opposite and equally erroneous positions about predestination that have always been rejected in authentic Catholic teaching. The first is...

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. - Gal. 5:1-3 Last time, we saw that in order to have an abiding place in the church, we need the Lord Jesus Christ as our foundation. There are many who claim to be children of God who have never been born...

Snow falls resolutely on a Saturday morning in Washington, but the festively lit basement of a church near the US Capitol is packed. Some 200 female members have invited an equal number of women for tea, cookies, conversation – and 16th-century evangelism.

John Calvin's 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism's buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism's latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination's logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time's dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision. Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation's other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don't have to second-guess. Our satisfaction...

If you are not a fan of Calvin and Hobbes, a comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson, then you may not know that Calvin was an imaginative little boy who created snowmen and put them in scenes that would be straight out of a snowman’s nightmare. Little Calvin would have the snowmen in scenes where the snowmen would die horrible, mostly painful, deaths. For ten winters, Calvin and Hobbes created entire worlds of snowmen living or dying in unhappily ever after ways. Here are some of the best snowmen nightmares, where fans of the comic strip created...

Spiritual Liberty. In the heavenly kingdom, spiritual law and spiritual liberty stand counterpoised. God has ordained a "spiritual law" or "law of conscience" to govern citizens of the heavenly kingdom. This law teaches "those things that God either requires of us or forbids us to do, both toward [ourselves] and towards others."28 Its provisions are written on the heart and conscience of each person, rewritten in the pages of Scripture, and summarized in the Ten Commandments.29 Obedience of this spiritual law leads to eternal blessings and beatitude in the life hereafter. Disobedience leads to eternal curses and condemnation. Since the...

The Crisis of Authority in the ReformationBy Kenneth J. Howell, Ph. D.When I was a young man, I used to hear stories of the courage of Great Protestant Reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin. In my reformation heritage, the emphasis on the sole authority of the Bible generated examples of lonely figures who stood up against the tyranny of the Roman Church in the sixteenth century.None was presented braver than Martin Luther who, confronted with the command to obey the Pope at the Diet of Worms, boldly proclaimed that he must be shown to be wrong on the basis...

I Corinthians 10:1-13 1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things...

Devotional using scripture, quote from John Calvin and thoughts for the day each day- on the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth. Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we...

In this year of John Calvin’s 500th birthday, I don’t know of a better place to read about his impact on America than Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism given at Princeton Seminary in October 1898. Kuyper was a pastor, a journalist, the founder of the Free University of Amsterdam, and Prime Minister of the Netherlands. John Calvin and Martin Luther were the twin pillars of the Protestant Reformation. Why do fewer people speak of Luther’s culture-shaping impact on America, but for centuries Calvin has been seen in this light? Kuyper argues, Luther’s starting-point was the . . . principle of...

Full title: John Calvin: Antidote to the Sixth Session of the Council of Trenton the Doctrine of Justification (1547) Justification would be easily explained, did not the false opinions by which the minds of men are preoccupied, spread darkness over the clear light. The principal cause of obscurity, however, is, that we are with the greatest difficulty induced to leave the glory of righteousness entire to God alone. For we always desire to be somewhat, and such is our folly, we even think we are. As this pride was innate in man from the first, so it opened a door...

Full Title: "Nothing but a Loathsome Stench": Calvin’s Doctrine of the Spiritual Condition of Fallen ManIntroduction With the reality of the spiritual condition of fallen man, John Calvin begins Book II of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. The heading of Book II is “The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ, First Disclosed to the Fathers Under the Law, and Then to Us in the Gospel.” Recalling the opening lines of the Institutes, concerning knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves, Calvin declares that we cannot know God as redeemer, if we do not know ourselves as fallen and...

THIS year John Calvin is 500 years old. He has had an influence on our lives way beyond anything we could imagine. As one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation he carried on the work begun by Martin Luther and developed it further in an effort to teach the Bible and show its relevanADVERTISEMENTce to peoples' lives. He has been much misunderstood and much maligned. Even many modern French people think he was Swiss. That is because he spent much of his life in Geneva and had a great impact on that city but he was French, born in...

Years ago while listening to Hank Hanegraaff’s Bible Answer Man radio program, a caller called in about “Christ suffering in Hell.� Hank rightly explained that “Christ suffering in Hell� is not a biblical doctrine, but noted that the doctrine was held by John Calvin. Hank respectfully disagreed with Calvin.We can argue back and forth over Calvin’s doctrine of baptism or predestination, but Calvin is a manifest heretic regarding Christ’s descent into hell. He breaks with Scripture and all the Fathers in this regard, and his error deserves more attention, because it shows the cracks in his systematic theology. During my...

O Philipp Melanchthon! . . . I appeal to you who live in the presence of God with Christ, and wait for us there until we are united with you in the blessed rest . . . I have wished a thousand times that it had been our lot together! (from online paper, "John Calvin -- True Presbyterian," by Francis Nigel Lee [pdf / html]; his own sources provided: J. Calvin: Clear Explanation of the Holy Supper, in Reid’s Theological Treatises of John Calvin, S.C.M., London, p. 258; see an alternate 1978 printing listed on amazon and this exact...

BOSTON, July 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- More than a thousand gathered in downtown Boston this last week to honor the 500th birthday of John Calvin (July 10, 1509) as part of the Reformation 500 Celebration hosted by Vision Forum Ministries. The event, held July 1-4 at the Park Plaza Hotel, featured more than 40 live reenactors, 30 formal history lectures, and 20 walking tour of historic landmarks in Boston, a Children's Parade in Boston's Public Gardens, and more. The conference emphasized both the theological an practical implications of the Reformation and John Calvin's influence on the institutions of family, church,...

The Well doesn't look much like the churches of Geneva, but it is influenced by John Calvin just the same. Never mind that the French reformer would be 500 years old this week; Calvin's theology has retained much of its potency. He provides theological underpinnings for churches such as The Well, a nondenominational congregation downtown with a commitment to Reformed theology. He also is a source of conflict for Southern Baptists and a steady draw for young Presbyterians. His legacy and life are being celebrated around the world this week after Friday marked the 500th anniversary of his birth. To...

Today marks the quincentenary of John Calvin’s birth. Over at the First Things site, I take the occasion to pay special attention to Calvin’s concern for articulating the antiquity, and therefore the catholicity, of the Reformation. Among the factors that converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism very often cite as major influences on their move is the novelty of the former compared with the antiquity of the latter. This is, undoubtedly, an important point that ought to be addressed by concerned Protestants. But I argue, in continuity with the Reformers, I think, that this concern is best answered in the...

"...Mr. Hall argues, both the man [Calvin] and his doctrines are the bedrock of our democratic society." -- New York Sun, July 19, 2006 From the editorial review at Amazon... Few people today realize the extent to which John Calvin, the great Genevan Reformer, and his work have shaped modern culture. Few know it was Calvin who pioneered the effort to decentralize government by calling for checks and balances againt the rule of the few or the king. Equally unknown are his efforts to establish a productive social safety net for immigrants, create education models that were far ahead of...

On July 10, six days after our own Independence Day, the world will celebrate the birthday of John Calvin, the man most responsible for our American system of liberty based on Republican principles of representative government. It was Founding Father and the second President of the United States, John Adams, who described Calvin as "a vast genius," a man of "singular eloquence, vast erudition, and polished taste, [who] embraced the cause of Reformation," adding: "Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect." Calvin, a humble scholar and convert to Reformation Christianity from Noyon, France, is...

As Reformed churches worldwide prepare to celebrate the 500th anniversary on 10 July of the birth of Protestant Reformation leader, John Calvin, leaders of a global movement of Reformed churches have issued a statement calling on Christians to commemorate Calvin not as a saint but as a source of inspiration for responding to contemporary social and environmental concerns. In a statement released today by leaders of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) which represents 75 million Reformed church members, WARCs president and general secretary link commentaries by the 16th century lawyer and theologian to the current global economic crisis....

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- Calvin 500, the international Quincentenary celebration of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth (July 10, 1509), is bestowing three Lifetime Achievement Awards this week in Geneva to honor exceptional scholarship and achievement. The Lifetime Achievement Award for Reformation Scholarship was awarded on July 6th to Robert Kingdon, "Scholar par Excellence in the history of the Reformation, who led the way to a greater appreciation of Calvin's work by his own study of Calvin's life and times," said Dr. David W. Hall, Executive Director of Calvin500. The Calvin500 Executive Committee bestowed this award...

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- On the eve of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, Calvin 500, the international Quincentenary celebration concluded tonight at St. Pierre Cathedral in the old town of Geneva. Following a week of over 20 academic lectures, 15 expository sermons, with numerous other associated meetings, the commemoration concluded with a closing luncheon at Restaurant La Broche, with the Rev. Geoff Thomas of Wales, addressing the banquet. Later that afternoon, Dr. Henry Krabbendam and Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi of Uganda spoke on "Reformation and Revival." Nearly 1000 participants enjoyed the festivities and addresses during...

Dear Twins: I’m having a little get-together at my house to celebrate Calvin’s 500th birthday in July. Do you have any recommendations on appropriate party snacks I could serve? — Caroline Burr, Casper, WYMaurice: Good question, Caroline. With all the whoop-de-doo about Calvin’s 500th, you would think just one reformed theologian out there would have the decency to shut up about Calvin’s influence on soteriology long enough to tell us what kind of treats to bring to a party.Emmett: You came to the right place, Caroline. Maurice and I are known as the idiot-savants of Calvinistic party planning.Maurice: Well, you’re...

John Calvin's birthday deserves to be celebrated, not least because he was one of the truly great Christian exegetes and indeed systematic theologians of all time. Never mind that I disagree with a great deal of what he has to say about God, his sovereignty, the nature of his grace, election, predestination, human freedom, and perseverance of the saints. I will reserve comments on those sorts of things for my essay which will appear in the September issue of Christianity Today. Here I want to say some positive things. A personal word is necessary at this juncture. I attended a...

Since the sixteenth century, conversions and counter-conversions between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism have been the stuff of controversy, polemic, and recrimination. The Lutheran-Catholic concord on the formula cuius regio, eius religio virtually guaranteed the escalation of political strife as parties competed for sovereignty. With the emancipation of church from state in the post-Reformation era, churches in North America have inherited a rather different set of implications for the conversion of political figures. When Newt Gingrich announced earlier this year that he had converted to Roman Catholicism, and when news broke in 2002 that Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas had done...

Local Presbyterian churches won't be putting candles on a birthday cake for John Calvin--500 wouldn't fit anyway. But church members recognize the importance of July 10. Sunday school classes and study groups at the Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Presbyterian Church have been reading the works of the man whose principles eventually founded the Presbyterian faith. "Calvin would be unimpressed that people were celebrating his birthday," said the Rev. Allen Fisher Jr. of the Presbyterian Church downtown, "but deeply edified that people were still reading his works." John Calvin was born July 10, 1509, in France. During his 55-year...

Dear John Calvin, I pray this letter finds you well even at 500 years of age. Next week our church, named after you, will celebrate your birthday. Granted, your birthday was on July 10th, and even though many things have changed, most churches still worship on the Lord's Day. So we're going to honor your achievements during worship on July 12th. To be honest, if we held a celebration on the actual date of your birth, we probably wouldn't get anybody out to church on a Friday night. Sorry about that. You may be surprised to know (even horrified knowing...

KALAMAZOO -- For the Rev. Margaret "Meg" Jenista, of Third Christian Reformed Church, a self-confessed "theology nerd," this weekend promises to be a happy, fulfilling time. "I'm nerdy enough to be excited about John Calvin's 500th birthday," said Jenista about an event being celebrated worldwide -- the birth on July 10, 1509, of a pillar of Protestant faith and one of the founders of the Reformed church movement. Calvin's influence on Christianity and on society in general endures for a variety of reasons, said Kalamazoo-area pastors who serve denominations that trace their roots back to his teachings. For Jenista, the...

The 500th birthday of John Calvin has gotten me thinking about the influence the 16th-century Reformer has had on my own life and thought. I grew up in a subculture immersed in Calvinism. My family attended a Christian Reformed church in New Jersey, and I went from kindergarten through 12th grade in schools that were founded on Calvinist thought. I'm also a graduate of the college in Grand Rapids that bears Calvin's name, and I've known of that name since my earliest days: My oldest brother began attending Calvin College when I was only 3 years old. But as with...

"I have lived amidst extraordinary struggles. I have been saluted in mockery at night, before my door, by fifty or sixty shots from guns. Think how that would terrify a poor timid scholar such as I am." John Calvin never set out to live a hectic life in the spotlight. "I always longed for repose and quiet," he said. Much less did he imagine he would change the world. Yet historian E. G. Leonard was hardly exaggerating when he concluded his book History of Protestantism with a chapter entitled, "Calvin: The Founder of a Civilization." Born in Noyon, France on...

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- Calvin 500, the international Quincentenary celebration of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth (July 10, 1509), opened today at St. Pierre Cathedral in the old town of Geneva. Beginning with a welcome by Mr. Guillaume Taylor from the St. Pierre Parish Council, approximately 500 worshipers attended the opening convocations, featuring morning worship from Calvin’s time and a sermon on Philippians 3:8-12 by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. The evening services featured Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, much psalm singing, and a sermon by Dr. Bryan...

Thinkers in the ancient world sought to plumb the depths of ultimate reality. With that quest for ultimate reality came the birth of the discipline of philosophy. Some philosophers focused on one particular aspect of philosophy called metaphysics (ultimate being). Others focused their attention on epistemology (the science of knowing). Still others stressed in their investigation the basic principles and elements of ethics (the study of the good and the right). And others focused on the ultimate foundations for aesthetics (the study of the beautiful). One philosopher stood out as being deeply involved in the study of all of these...