(No, I don’t agree with Calvin’s doctrine of predestination. In fact, because it reduces the teachings of the gospel to heaven or hell (and what you do now doesn’t really matter), I’ve come to reject all soteriology that posits damnation. Because the teachings of Christ (and Paul) focus on how we care for each other, not on how we escape hell in the hereafter.)cursed ads during Tucker Carlson's show tonight pic.twitter.com/OybDZatyQ1
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 6, 2021
Wednesday, October 06, 2021
Jean Calvin Would Like A Chance For Rebuttal
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I like Macrina and Gregory of Nyssa's idea that you're like a rope in the mud and to get to heaven, sooner or later, you've got to get the mud off. They likened hell to a hole that a mud covered rope has to be pulled through to be saved but that all would be. It's better to get yourself clean to avoid that. And that what you do to others here is how you either get muddier or get clean.
ReplyDeleteThe obsession with hell has been one of the most unhealthy things about the Western church and to an extent other churches. Jesus said the way to perfection was to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. But not exclusively. I couldn't get into the Orthodox "Jesus prayer" because it seemed to be obsessed with sinfulness instead of trying to live a better life. That they emphasize monasticism so much might have something to do with that. I don't know but I don't remember anything like that given by Jesus as a recommended form of prayer.
I find the emphasis on "salvation" (as in, "Got my ticket punched for heaven!") to be a dodge to get out of Matthew 25: "Lord, when did we see you?" I don' t have to feed the hungry or visit the sick or clothe the naked, I'm going to heaven! Calvin tried to foreclose that with predestination, but it's as pernicious in his version as it is in any other. "Religion is responsibility, or it is nothing at all," and claiming you have "bought" your place in heaven is dodging responsiblity for each other here on earth. Or it almost always is. Just like the basileia tou theou is here and now, not in the "sweet bye and bye," I think salvation is available here and now. If I can purchase it for consumption later with just my thoughts ("I believe!"), then it is cheap grace, indeed. Bonhoeffer had that much right, but the burden of responsibility is in simply caring for each other. Or, back to Matthew 25.
DeleteWhich oversimplifies, but it's just a blog comment, right?