John Piper - Why a conference on John Calvin?

With Calvin in the Theater of God
Desiring God 2009 National Conference
September 25 -27, 2009

Where: Minneapolis, MN
How Much: $160.00 per person OR take advantage of our 'whatever you can afford' policy.

Register @ http://www.desiringgod.org/Events/NationalConferences/Archives/2009/

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[BritneyAddicted4EVA]

@BritneyAddicted4EVA He's preaching the Bible all the time and never lets people coast. He never said this but it is true: prepare to be challenged by Jesus. :)

He did say that if you want to follow Him you have to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him. Long story short, what I see in Calvinism is God centered "theology" because it isn't really a theology but a way of reading the Bible with an emphasis on the Glory of God. Why? Because Biblically that matters most. :)

Blessings!

[BritneyAddicted4EVA]

@BritneyAddicted4EVA ...guess what. That is Biblical. I think I know what you mean and I had some phases in my life that really tested my faith but boiled down it comes down to two options: do you want to be a disciple of Jesus and follow Him or not. There is no category of saved but not a disciple. Jesus is the our Lord and our Savior. So they decided to name this "theology" the Lordship Salvation. Regarding Calvinism, I've been watching Pastor Piper's sermons for months.

[BritneyAddicted4EVA]

@brendos444 I haven't heard enough of Paul Washer to comment but I've heard about so called "hyper-calvinism". You may be referring to that. I've seen a couple videos and from what I've seen Piper and Washer have a lot in common, mainly both preach the Bible. Pastor John is always focusing on glorifying God, which basically is the meaning and purpose of everything. It might seem a little extreme because both of them (I heard enough Washer to know) emphasize on being the disciple of Jesus but...

[brendos444]

@BritneyAddicted4EVA I'm not saying that Calvinists aren't Christian. I am saying that Calvinist theology does not capture all that the Bible wants to say. Especially about love. Extreme exponents of Calvinism can sometimes be anti-Biblical. I'm thinking of guys like Paul Washer. He preaches a kind of esoteric religion where it's all about avoiding hell and going to heaven. Nothing about the Kingdom of God coming to earth as in heaven. Nothing about new creation of the world

[BritneyAddicted4EVA]

@brendos444 That's exactly the opposite of what the Bible is about. Calvinsts just try to correct man centered views by pointing to the Bible and thinking about what the Bible says. I've seen a lot of Pastor Piper's sermons and none of them is man centered. He often repeats that. You don't have to be a Calvinist to be God centered person but you have to be a Christian. True Calvinist is God centered. That should be obvious.

[brendos444]

@BritneyAddicted4EVA I would say that Calvinist soteriology appears to be man-centred. For the Calvinist it's all about "me and my salvation". The question Calvinist soteriology answers is "how do I go to heaven?" It puts man and the centre of God's plan. But God is much bigger than you or I. Just as the earth orbits the Sun, we orbit the Son of God. He does not revolve around you or me. I don't find Calvinist soteriology in scripture.

[BritneyAddicted4EVA]

@brendos444 He was a person who loved God of the Bible. If you don't like Calvinism have it your way but all it does is putting God in the center, not because someone wanted to experiment but because God is the reason we exist. If you think that's false then you gotta start reading the Bible.

[brendos444]

John Calvin was a neo Platonist and therefore a dualist. This has nothing to do with Christianity whatsoever. he used Christian terminology to espound Platonic ideas of deity. This is not the gospel and never was!

[Xskull001]

@trublu1000 And about John 12:32 . its not talking about all men, cuz all man incluides hitler, sodom and gomorrah, nitzche, etc which are not going to be saved. + even Jesus is going to condem ppl -> Read Matthew 7:21-23. "I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS."

[Xskull001]

@trublu1000 @trublu1000 Romans is a letter to the church in rome, it was writen to christians "faith God has distributed to "each of you". Now, i urge you to read romans 3:11-17 following the verse 23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Eph 2:8,9 says faith is a gift of God, which men cannot earn itby themselves, only God can give it. And mark 10:26-27 says its impossible for men to earn salvation but not for God. Salvation is given by grace through faith, given by God.