As you may have deduced, since the arrival of McKayla, my morning routine has been altered somewhat. I will continue to post a blog daily, but it will now generally be mid-morning.
Jacob Arminius was the pastor of the largest Reformed Church in Amsterdam when he began a series of sermons on Romans 9 to refute a layman who questioned Calvinism. Romans Chapter 9 is the scriptural stronghold of Calvinist theology. However, his studies soon convinced him that early church fathers never taught Calvin’s views of predestination. Arminianism greatly influenced Wesley’s thought. Arminius and Wesley both believed in God’s omnipotence, but insisted that “foreknowledge does not equal fore-ordination.” In other words, God can know that I am about to make a decision that will be destructively sinful, but that does not mean I am a robot, pre-programmed by God to make that choice. Arminius and Wesley’s main disconnect with Calvin is that love limits power. The ultimate expression of love is liberty: If I love you, I must give you the freedom not to love me reciprocally. Love is vulnerable; it could be rejected as easily as accepted and for Wesley, his core conviction was that the ruling attribute of God was an uncompromising love for all. Wesley insisted that God continues to pursue us out of love, and while we may resist over and over again, God becomes the “hound of heaven” as defined by the Catholic poet Francis Thompson.
Jacob Arminius was the pastor of the largest Reformed Church in Amsterdam when he began a series of sermons on Romans 9 to refute a layman who questioned Calvinism. Romans Chapter 9 is the scriptural stronghold of Calvinist theology. However, his studies soon convinced him that early church fathers never taught Calvin’s views of predestination. Arminianism greatly influenced Wesley’s thought. Arminius and Wesley both believed in God’s omnipotence, but insisted that “foreknowledge does not equal fore-ordination.” In other words, God can know that I am about to make a decision that will be destructively sinful, but that does not mean I am a robot, pre-programmed by God to make that choice. Arminius and Wesley’s main disconnect with Calvin is that love limits power. The ultimate expression of love is liberty: If I love you, I must give you the freedom not to love me reciprocally. Love is vulnerable; it could be rejected as easily as accepted and for Wesley, his core conviction was that the ruling attribute of God was an uncompromising love for all. Wesley insisted that God continues to pursue us out of love, and while we may resist over and over again, God becomes the “hound of heaven” as defined by the Catholic poet Francis Thompson.
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