Video: Why James White Is Sick of The Calvinist Club

[Humble Disciple]

I understand the things James White says in this video. There does seem to be too many arrogant Calvinists on the internet, and I think it's in large part an overreaction to ignorance commonly displayed by non-Calvinists on the scriptural proofs for the doctrines of grace.

Too many non-Calvinists seem to outright mock Calvinism, without realizing that Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and other Protestant Reformers taught the same basic doctrines as John Calvin, as did the church fathers along with numerous passages of scripture.

Here are quotations from the early church fathers supporting the five points of Calvinism, most of whom from before the time of Augustine:
Calvinism in the Early Church (The Doctrines of Grace taught by the Early Church Fathers) | Reformed Theology at A Puritan's Mind

Here are passages from the Bible supporting the five points of Calvinism:
What is Calvinism and is it biblical? What are the five points of Calvinism? | GotQuestions.org

This is from Luther’s 97 Theses, which he wrote before his 95 Theses:

29. The best and infallible preparation for grace and the sole disposition toward grace is the eternal election and predestination of God.
30. On the part of man, however, nothing precedes grace except indisposition and even rebellion against grace.
Contend Earnestly: Luther’s 97 Theses: Disputation Against Scholastic Theology

This ignorance of Calvinism's doctrinal foundations is no excuse, however, to act rudely in return. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek and love our enemies.

If you truly believe yourself to be among God’s elect, then your attitude should be that of thankfulness and humility, with a desire to serve God and others the rest of your life, no matter how the world and those who claim to be fellow Christians may scorn you.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

…I understand the things James White says in this video. There does seem to be too many arrogant Calvinists on the internet, and I think it's in large part an overreaction to ignorance commonly displayed by non-Calvinists on the scriptural proofs for the doctrines of grace. …

Curious. If his reference is to the paper I just read, the reasons as presented there are an unhealthy pride of knowledge that puffs up, perhaps even to an unregenerating head knowledge that cannot save.

As for resistance to Calvinism, White himself seems to think it mainly due to drawing Calvinistic swords and gracelessly lopping off their Arminian ears. How badly did I misunderstand?

(Disclosure: I only read the paper once, not the recommended ten times.)

 

[Humble Disciple]

I don't post on this forum to convince others of Calvinism. If God willed for you to be a Calvinist, you would be a Calvinist. Instead, I am here to provide lines of evidence in favor of Calvinism, so that fellow Calvinists will be strengthened in their Calvinism.

I have no reason to sling mud at non-Calvinists for their biblical and doctrinal inconsistencies, though I wish they would stop misrepresenting Calvinism and its doctrinal foundations.

 

[kyredneck]

I have no reason to sling mud at non-Calvinists for their biblical and doctrinal inconsistencies, though I wish they would stop misrepresenting Calvinism and its doctrinal foundations.

How Should Arminians and Calvinists Approach One Another?

See: also

 

[Humble Disciple]

A lot of people reject Calvinism simply because they dislike the person of John Calvin. Calvin himself, however, went to great lengths to demonstrate that the doctrines of grace didn't originate with him.

Anti-Calvinists are usually ignorant of church history, that the basic doctrines of Calvinism were already taught by Augustine against Pelagius and Luther against Rome, as well as the scriptural proofs for Calvinism.

The doctrines we know today as “Calvinism” are only called that because it was John Calvin who popularized them. I would use the term "Reformed" instead, but it's too imprecise for most people.

The fact of the matter is that, without the doctrines which later became known as "Calvinism," there would have never been a Protestant Reformation in the first place.

 

[Reynolds]

My only gripe with Calvinists right now is their willingness in the SBC to align with other questionable Calvinists for the goal of forwarding Calvinism. Many Very fundamental Calvinists will align with questionable Calvinists. That's how we got J.D. Greear. Until recently, people like Macarthur were still backing liberal hack jobs like Matt Chandler simply because they agree on Calvinism. Beyond that, I like Calvinists.

 

[Jerome]

fundamental Calvinists will align with questionable Calvinists. That's how we got J.D. Greear

Yes, one just has to chuckle at this tweet from Jared Longshore (Founders lieutenant to Tom Ascol) at the 2016 SBC Annual Meeting, showing they were supporting Greear against Gaines for President. Of course, a few years later, they turned Greear into the bogeyman LOL.

 

[Reynolds]

Yes, one just has to chuckle at this tweet from Jared Longshore (Founders lieutenant to Tom Ascol) at the 2016 SBC Annual Meeting, showing they were supporting Greear against Gaines for President. Of course, a few years later, they turned Greear into the bogeyman LOL.

The only reason they turned against him was the fact he forgot he was a Calvinist as soon as he got elected Prez.

 

[Humble Disciple]

A lot of people are against Calvinism because they think it's anti-mission, when exactly the opposite is true. If God has decreed that the preaching of the Gospel is the means by which God awakens faith in His elect, this provides assurance that our evangelistic efforts will be fruitful.

Some of the greatest missionaries and revivalists in history, such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, have been Calvinists. Paul Washer is an example of a contemporary Calvinist evangelist:

Washer reports converting to Christianity while studying to become an oil and gas lawyer at the University of Texas at Austin.[6][7] He moved to Peru where he became a missionary for 10 years.[8] In 1988, while in Peru,[9] Washer founded the HeartCry Missionary Society to support indigenous missionaries witnessing to people of their own culture.[10][11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Washer

 

[Humble Disciple]

My only gripe with Calvinists right now is their willingness in the SBC to align with other questionable Calvinists for the goal of forwarding Calvinism. Many Very fundamental Calvinists will align with questionable Calvinists. That's how we got J.D. Greear. Until recently, people like Macarthur were still backing liberal hack jobs like Matt Chandler simply because they agree on Calvinism. Beyond that, I like Calvinists.

What is wrong with J. D. Greear and Matt Chandler? Chandler is president of the Acts 29 Network, and it seems like his views are pretty much the same as John Piper.
Matt Chandler (pastor) - Wikipedia

 

[Jerome]

"Ignorant non-Calvinists" aren't to be blamed for what James White is describing in the video in the OP. What he's upset at was a Calvinist-on-Calvinist attack directed at some of his buddies.

You don't have to be an Arminian to be pigeonholed as one by the nasty sort of Calvinists, just look what they did even to Spurgeon:

The Spurgeon Library | The Ravens’ Cry

After Spurgeon preached to brethren "in a certain Ultra-Calvinistic place of worship",

"afterwards they all came round me professedly to know what I meant, but really to cavil and carp according to their nature and wont....After awhile, as I expected, they fell to their usual amusement of calling names. They began to say what rank Arminianism this was; and another expression they were pleased to honour with the title of 'Fullerism'; a title, by the way, so honourable that I could heartily have thanked them for appending it to what I had advanced. But to say that God should hear the prayer of natural men was something worse than Arminianism, if indeed anything could be worse to them. They quoted that counterfeit passage, “The prayer of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord'..."

 

[Humble Disciple]

 

[Humble Disciple]

If the Pope is a buster, 1517 will regulate!

 

[Reynolds]

What is wrong with J. D. Greear and Matt Chandler? Chandler is president of the Acts 29 Network, and it seems like his views are pretty much the same as John Piper.
Matt Chandler (pastor) - Wikipedia

They both liberals masquerading as moderates. Chandler is the most WOKE man in the SBC.

 

[Humble Disciple]

They both liberals masquerading as moderates. Chandler is the most WOKE man in the SBC.

You're not being very specific. What do you mean by "woke"? I'm a right-leaning libertarian, who believes in police reform and criminal justice reform. Does that make me "woke"?

 

[Humble Disciple]

Calvinists don't venerate John Calvin. To do so would violate the Reformation principles of Sola Christus and Soli Deo Gloria.

I believe that Calvin was wrong about infant baptism, premillennialism, and the separation of church and state, but Calvin was not a prophet and neither did he claim to be.

"Calvinism" is just a convenient term for the doctrines of grace, as taught by figures like Augustine against Pelagius and Luther against Rome, that John Calvin just happened to popularize.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

What is wrong with J. D. Greear and Matt Chandler? Chandler is president of the Acts 29 Network, and it seems like his views are pretty much the same as John Piper.
Matt Chandler (pastor) - Wikipedia

Piper seems adequate when preaching the Gospel, but his understanding and discernment socio-politically is virtually nil, which is a very bad thing for the church whenever such a church leader attempts to go there in the church.

 

[Revmitchell]

So the op posts white complaining about calvies attacks on those who are not while at the same time doing the very thing white is talking about but acting as if it’s something completely different.

that’s the arrogance white was talking about

 

[Reynolds]

You're not being very specific. What do you mean by "woke"? I'm a right-leaning libertarian, who believes in police reform and criminal justice reform. Does that make me "woke"?

You can do a bit of research yourself. "Matt Chandler Woke" will get you there.
That in and of itself wouldn't make you woke.

 

[Reformed]

You're not being very specific. What do you mean by "woke"? I'm a right-leaning libertarian, who believes in police reform and criminal justice reform. Does that make me "woke"?

Allow me to jump into the discussion. The Oxford Dictionary defines "woke" as, "[being] alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice." It is a hallmark of the Progressive movement. You want police reform and criminal justice reform, albeit from a right-leaning worldview. When needed, reform is good. Progressives do not want reform. They want to weaponize policing and the criminal justice system and use them against their enemies (anyone who is not a woke Progressive).

How does wokeness operate within the church? It runs the gamut from overt to subtle. There are churches that embrace the social justice movement minus the gospel. It is seen through pandering in weak preaching. It attributes sin to certain persons in the absence of evidence; i.e. you are white or Asian, so you are part of the oppressive class.

In the end it really is nothing new. Woke is simply the abandonment of the Word of God.