What songs can a Calvinist teach to their children?

Amen rc, I am doing the same (my children are young, the oldest is 3 1/2).

Many churches are so theologically bankrupt that they only know to teach there children little "ditty" type songs that are theologically worthless.

 

There are CD's out with the hymns being sung by kids... it's good stuff.

 

If I had a friend and "hooked him up" with a girl that said " She loves everything about you! She thinks your the best! Just the way you are! She thinks about you all the time and loves you even with your oddities and failures"... And my buddy then said " Wow... I love here! I want to marry her!"

What kind of love does my friend have for that woman? .... It's a love BASED ON HIMSELF! It is not a love for who SHE IS and her qualities, but is centered on HIM !! This is not a true love for the woman at all... not even love...

He can't love her until he KNOWS her and loves her for HER attributes.

Same with God. We shouldn't love Him because "what he can or has done for us" but for who He is and His attributes... His Holiness, His Love, His WRATH, His perfection, His aseity, His beauty. I love Him for HIM and nothing else.

As Jonathan Edwards said, A true love for God would be (if possible) a love for God EVEN IF He didn't DIE for you or EVEN love you. Would you still love Him then? Would you still love Him for His perfection? His glory? His Holiness?

THis is a true selfless love.

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found;
Was blind, but now I see.

Written by the captain of a slave ship after the Lord saved his soul..

Selah,

Bro. James

 

That's right... HE FOUND you! You didn't find Him! HE gave you sight to see HIM. You didn't GIVE yourself sight. (regeneration by the way)

 

The benefits of using powerpoint abound ... not least of which is changing words.

 

He Found You--Amen.

Depraved man does not even know he is lost--why would he seek God?

God takes care of every aspect of salvation--that is what the doctrines of grace are about--they are five or six in number, and they existed from before the foundation of the world--certainly long before Jean Chauvin was born.

Selah,

Bro. James
Not a Calvinist

 

My two favorite are "At The Cross" By Isaac Watts and "Rock of Ages" by Toplady. Augusta Toplady wrote the song as a response to the Arminian theology that he believed insulted God.

At The Cross

Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
And did my Sov'reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

Chorus:
At the cross, at the cross
Where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!

2. Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree!

Chorus:

Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shut his glories in,
When Christ the mighty Maker died
For man, the creature's sin.

Chorus:

4. Thus might I hide my blushing face
While Calvary's cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt mine eyes to tears.

Chorus:

5. But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
'Tis all that I can do.

Chorus:

 

Here's Rock of Ages by Toplady. I wonder if Arminian churches know what they are singing when they sing it.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood,
from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure;
save from wrath and make me pure.

2. Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law's commands;
could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone;
thou must save, and thou alone.

3. Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

4. While I draw this fleeting breath,
when mine eyes shall close in death,
when I soar to worlds unknown,
see thee on thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.

 

dale kesterson,

Great song!

God bless, KJB

 

We're wobbling around in a puddle of moveable tenses here. When you say that God loves and chooses, it sounds like each is currently going on. But the Doctrines of Grace place "choose" in the distant past. What about love?

Diane and the writer of the children's songs say that God loves all the children during Sunday School. The Doctrines of Grace, regardless of the ordo salutis way back when, say that, on any given Sunday morning, God does not love most of the little children of the world and Jesus didn't die for them.

Calvinism is a marvelous thing: towering in stature, impregnable as a mountain, glorious in beauty, honorable in heritage, brilliant in design, and nourishing to multitudes of adherents.

It may also be embarrassing to its defenders.

Jesus doesn't love reprobate children, does he? Diane is right. Admit it and move on. You still have God, history, philosophy, and all real Bible believers on your side, so you should be able to concede this one little point.

Or maybe you do believe that God loves the reprobate children and sent his Son to be the propitiation for their sins? I won't accuse you of anything that you deny in plain language, so correct me if I'm wrong. I don't know your heart or your mind. But I've read half a hundred texts on Reformed theology and they seem to be rather consistent with one another.