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  • The One About Calvinism and Evangelism

    The One About Calvinism and Evangelism

    If you read enough blogs over a long enough period of time, you will inevitably begin to see patterns emerge. You will see that certain subjects are addressed time and again by writer after writer. One such article that has been written a hundred times by a hundred people, myself included probably, is the one…

  • five points Calvinism

    Mere Calvinism

    Somewhere along the way, it seems like the New Calvinism became about everything but Calvinism. Somewhere along the way, we stopped thinking and writing about the very doctrines that brought the movement together in the first place. Maybe we had already mastered them, so it was time to move on to more advanced topics. Or…

  • The New Calvinism: Areas of Weakness

    The New Calvinism has become a worldwide movement of Christians who are looking to the past to recover and live out the precious truths of Reformed theology. Having introduced the movement and having identified some ways in which we see evidences of God’s grace in and through it, I am now suggesting some weaknesses it…

  • Calvinism Evidences of Grace

    Evidences of God’s Grace in the New Calvinism

    In yesterday’s video, “Where Did All these Calvinists Come From?,” I provided a brief introduction to the New Calvinism—the recent resurgence of Reformed theology. I described how, in my assessment, it came about at least in part as a response to the excesses of the church growth movement (and an alternative to the emerging church…

  • Calvinist

    Calvinist

    In some ways it seems like the New Calvinism has been around for a very long time. In other ways, it seems like it’s still a brand new thing. Whatever the case, it has lasted enough now that people are beginning to trace its roots, evaluate its accomplishments, and project its future. While this has…

  • The Tricky L of TULIP

    Preaching the Gospel with TULIP’s Tricky “L” in Mind

    It’s a fair question for the Arminian to ask: How can you preach the free offer of the gospel when you believe in a limited atonement? How can you preach the “whosoever” of John 3:16 if you cannot be certain that Christ’s atonement was for every person? How can you say, “Turn to Christ and…

  • A Little Book on the Christian Life

    A Little Book on the Christian Life

    There are far more Calvinists in the world than there are people who have actually read the works of John Calvin, or even dabbled in them, for that. Of course the latter is not a prerequisite to the former, but those who never read any of Calvin’s works are denying themselves a blessing and perhaps…

  • The Rio Olympics and Calvin’s Mission

    Did you know that the location of the 2016 Olympiad, watched over by the iconic Cristo Redentor, was also home to a little-known but early Calvinistic mission? My friend David Hall (whose church hosts the annual Reformation Worship conference) recently forwarded a fascinating article about it. I share it today so you can learn about…

  • Why I Am Not Arminian

    Today I am continuing the series titled “Why I Am Not…” and in these articles I am telling what I do believe by looking at what I do not believe. So far I have told why I am not atheist, why I am not Roman Catholic, and why I am not liberal. Today I want…

  • Always Reforming: Diversity and the Reformed Resurgence

    Whatever else is true about this modern-day Reformed resurgence, this much is indisputable: We love our conferences. We love the experience of gathering together and hearing from our favorite authors, pastors, and theologians as they lead us to God through his Word. Many of us can attest to the innumerable blessings we have received by…

  • 8 Features of the Best Kind of Calvinism

    I was interested to read through a new little booklet written by Ian Hamilton, pastor of Cambridge Presbyterian Church in Cambridge, England. In this work he means to show that Calvinism is both deeper and richer than the well-known 5 Points (a.k.a. TULIP). Calvinism at its best is also experiential, a word which Tom Nettles…

  • How To Offend a Room Full of Calvinists

    Do you want to know how to make a Calvinist angry? Do you want to know how to offend a whole room full of them? Just bring up the old line about Reformed theology being incompatible with evangelism. We have all heard it, we have all read it, we have all rejected it. It’s the…

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    A Portrayal of Calvinism

    As you may know, I decided to read through both of the Finding God in The Shack books released this month (two books, two authors, one title). Last week I reviewed the first of these (see: Finding God in the Shack (1)) and in a day or two I will review the second. But first,…

  • John 3:16 Conference: Message on Limited Atonement by Dr. David Allen

    Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Congregational singing: “Redeemed, Redeemed.” Introduction of Dr. Allen by Dr. Jerry Vines. Dr. David Allen: Quote of John 3:16. Argument against Limited atonement quoting only Calvinists. What two things do these men have in common?(Long list of theologians including Calvin, Bullinger, Ursinus, Bunyan, Edwards, Hodge, Strong.)A: They are all Calvinists,…

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    Young, Restless, Reformed…and So What?

    Scott Lamb is both a friend and a contributor to Discerning Reader. I’m pretty sure he reads even more books than I do and we knew that sooner or later he and I would read the same title at the same time. Sure enough, that happened recently with Collin Hansen’s Young, Restless, Reformed. Because I…

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    The “U” in TULIP

    This is the second part of a series I am writing dealing with the doctrines of grace (otherwise known as the five points of Calvinism). I am writing these articles not primarily to rehash the theology of each of the points or to provide an exhaustive apologetic of Calvinism, but to draw some fresh application…

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    The T in TULIP – Part 2

    This is the second article in a series dealing with the Five Points of Calvinism and attempting to draw some fresh application from them. I anticipate that each of the five points will merit two articles. The first article dealing with the T in TULIP can be found here. Today we will seek personal application…

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    Total Depravity and Divine Knowledge (Part 1b)

    The bulk of this article was published on this site in November of 2004, but I am going to repost much of it in response to discussion about my article from earlier today entitled, Total Depravity and Divine Knowledge. There has been discussion about whether the act of regeneration – the act whereby those who…

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    An Introduction To Calvinism & Arminianism (Part 4)

    This is part four of our series studying the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism. Please note that this is only a brief overview of a vast topic. A thorough discussion of this topic can (and often has) filled many books. At the conclusion of the series I will provide a list of helpful resources should…

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    An Introduction To Calvinism & Arminianism (Part 3)

    This is part three of our series studying the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism. Please note that this is only a brief overview of a vast topic. A thorough discussion of this topic can (and often has) filled many books. At the conclusion of the series I will provide a list of helpful resources should…