Paul's Passing Thoughts

Originally published July 11, 2012

Now look, I believe children are born sinful, and I also believe children not properly reared can grow up to be monsters, but we need to also remember that every human being is born with the works/law of God written on their hearts and their consciences either excusing or accusing them. That’s why I don’t go for this total depravity stuff along with the dirty little secret that this also supposedly applies to believers. Man is by nature sinful, but if you go through life looking at the unregenerate as nothing more than barely a step above the animal world, they will know that and it will create issues in your life to say the least.

New Calvinism will die a social death.  Authentic Calvinism always does because five things finally come home to roost:

1. Folks finally take a stand against the tyranny it produces.

2. Folks finally catch on to the fact that authentic Reformed theology is Gnosticism (Neo-Platonism) dressed up in Bible verses.

3. Folks grow weary of its pessimistic mindset/outlook on life that came from Plato and Augustine.

4. Folks get bored with the constant recycling of Christology as if that is the only subject in the Bible (Susan and I are hearing this a lot lately).

5. As a result of 1-4, people’s lives start going to hell in a hand basket. Authentic Calvinism always ends up yielding very bad results as it did in Geneva and Salem MA.

But for the first time since the conception of Reformed theology, there has never been a resurgence of it that has been this well systematized and funded (ie, New Calvinism). And, there has never been a time when American parishioners were dumbed down like they are in our day; so, number 2 is going to take a while.  In other words, the former resurgent movements haven’t left enough damage for people to remember, and dots usually aren’t connected (ie, the Salem witch trials were an identical event to what took place in Geneva under Calvin’s reign of terror).  So, every hundred years or so it makes a comeback and then dies out again. The goal is to limit the carnage and educate to prevent another resurgence.

Now back to my original point about children. New Calvinists get this Reformed, abysmal view of man from Plato and Augustine. And the following quote by New Calvinist Voddie Baucham depicted in the illustration should be all that needs to be said.

Keep New Calvinists away from our children.