Repent!
My mate Ali, over Kiwi and an Emu, has sent me an e-mail about my comments on Calvinism and evangelism. He hasn't been able to work the comments function on this blog (perhaps by God's grace for me - by this I mean that Ali would have exposed me!). Ali thinks I've been a little too sweeping and general in my comments. On reflection, he's right and I apologise and repent. One of the hazard of my vocation is that you tend to shoot your mouth off and then apologise later. As Ali pointed out to me in an e-mail, Calvinism doesn't lead to the end of evangelism and many Calvinists are leading the way in evangelism. So, if I gave the impression that Calvinists aren't into evangelism, then forgive me - that's not true (and not what I wanted to say). I stand by my comments that I find the 'mysterious will of God' in Calvinism (where some are locked into heaven and some are locked out of heaven by God's will) very problematic. Ali made a very perceptive comment in his e-mail - "I think you'll find that if a person follows the system of Calvinism alone, then evangelism may fall by the wayside. However, if, as in the case of all the people I've mentioned above, they base their beliefs on the Bible, they understand Calvinism as presented with everything else the Bible talks about, including the need to spread the good news." For some middle ground, I suggested that perhaps there's a distinction to make: Calvinism in service of the Scriptures and not the Scriptures in service of Calvinism?
I don't want to get into a prolonged discussion on the blog about the merits or the problems with Calvinism, I simply wanted to allow a (Calvinist) friend's voice to be heard:-) Ali, I hope you don't mind me putting this on the blog... I posted it because you said you wanted to post this but couldn't. If you want it removed, just e-mail me - here I am again, shouting my mouth off then apologising later :-)