Tozer- Calvinism tends to be more stable than Arminianism

I sent this explaination of what I meant to a Brother on BB who kindly approached me with the same concern in the pm.

I hope this helps. I do not intend to backtrack. I mean what I have said. And I can think of no better way to put it. But I can see that it could use clarification. That is the goal of the following. To clarify that I DO mean backwoodsy but that I myself come from the backwoods and many come from the backwoods who are not like the people to whom I am referring. But these people do come LARGELY from the backwoods so I know of no better thing to call them.

Here is my response:

Brother _____________, I always think of you before I make comments like I do concerning things I call "backwoodsy." [or redneck for that matter]

I think of you because I fear you might take it personally and those comments are not meant for you or people like you at all.

You are backwoodsy the same way I am. I was raised in Mississippi. I pastor in the woods in a great little county for hunting and fishing in South Mississippi. I love to run trot lines and pull in monster catfish on the Tombigbee River. I love to hunt and eat squirrel. I love rabbit. I love venison. I ate last night a big plate of peas and cornbread- peas I just picked Monday out of my garden which I planted in which I grew a truck load of peas and butterbeans and squash and cucumbers and tomatoes.

I bet most of these are things you enjoy. This is not what I mean by "backwoodsy". I am referring to a snakehandling type of backwoodsy. A type of rural mentality that you and I do not have (we have rural mentality but I am referring to another type)- the kind that gave rise to Pentecostalism and paved the way for the dominanace of Arminianism in our culture. I am referring to ignorance and arrogance combined that is sometimes found in people who like the same things you and I like and come from the same areas you and I come from. I am contending that these people are the greatest problem the Church faces in our culture.

These types do not tend to come from large cities. Though there is a liberalism that comes from many universities- this TYPE of person that I am referring to is not usually found on campuses of universities. They are found in the woods or in the mountains in the Midwest and Deep South. They are the kinds of people that make a theologically shallow type of Christianity possible and indeed enable it to thrive.

The best way to describe these types to my knowledge is to call them "backwoodsy." There are many folks from the holler like you and I who are thinkers and theologically sound. But it is from this same holler from which MANY, MANY people come who promote a theological ignorance and arrogance and haphazard shallowness that is KILLING Christianity in our nation.

I hope this helps.

God bless!

 

He was no Calvinist, Bro. Jim.

And you either believe man is totally depraved or not. If not you automatically take up the more Arminian view point.

You either believe in unconditional election or conditional election. There really is no middle ground there.

You either believe in Limited Atonement or Unlimited Atonement.
There is no middle ground there.

You either believe grace is irresistable or it is resistable- no middle ground there.

You either believe all saints will persever or you believe some will not- no middle ground there.


Many who do not like to call themselves Arminian are BEST described that way.

 

Yea, there are plenty of folks who HAVE NO SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY who likie to think of themselves as neither.

That is the VERY REASON why they HAVE NO SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY.

But it does not change the fact that they are, or at least lean heavily to one side or the other on each major point of contention.

Do you believe that God unconditionally elected in eternity past based on nothing that he foresaw any man do who would be saved?

No?

Guess what? You are Arminian on that point. You may dislike the title but it does not change the fact that it is what you are MOST LIKE- at least on that point.

And as far as Perseverence of the Saints is concerned- just because you believe eternal security doesn't mean that you are not an Arminian. Arminius HIMSELF was not settled on that one.

I don't have to explain them. They are the historical exception- not the historical rule. But I will tell you something else- though they are avowed Calvinists- they are the ESSENCE- I mean the very ESSENCE of backwoodsy as I define it above.

The historical rule is one that Tozer eloquently laid out for us- that Arminians tend to be the more unstable bunch emotionally. That Westboro is an unstable bunch is without doubt! That they happen to claim to be Calvinists is an exception. But they are NOT mainstream Calvinists either- they are HYPER Calvinists. These types, at least in our country, tend to have the same problem that the Arminians have to which I am referring in the OP. They are usually very poorly educated. But they are STILL the minority of Calvinists.