Theology of the Day - TULIP

This week, I am working through John Piper’s recent nine-part seminar about the five points of Calvinism or TULIP. The introductory first part, as well as links to the rest of this series, is available here. I have watched first five parts so far and greatly appreciated extensive textural analysis Paster Piper offers. I plan to post my notes after completing the series.

In addition, I am reading What We Believe About the Five Points of Calvinism, the 1985 booklet by Bethlehem Baptist Church Staff. I am grateful that Paster Piper’s ministry has made these lectures and notes available to wider audience.

In my Google search about Calvin and TULIP, I came across this article, “The Triumph of Arminianism (and its dangers)” by Keith Drury, which assets that “Arminianism has triumphed in the pew, if not in the seminary”. Below is an excerpt from its introductory section.

The evangelical church today is basically Arminian in its approach. For now, Arminianism has triumphed and Calvinism is in retreat. I don’t mean that the Calvinist denominations have officially changed their doctrine. Most Calvinistic theologians have stuck with their five-points (see TULIP Calvinism Compared to Wesleyan Perspectives). But most of the ordinary people have drifted from traditional Calvinism toward the Arminian position. The average Christian today might claim to be Calvinist, but they function as a “practical Arminian.” While many Calvinist pastors still ascribe to the Calvinist shibboleths, in their practical theology, they are functioning Arminians.

My initial reaction? I said to myself that I need to do more research to verify this assertion. However, towards the end of this article, Mr. Drury writes something that does not make sense to me.

Face it, Arminianism is simply more logical. It makes sense to the person on the street. And today’s church is scrambling to make sense to unbelievers. We want to sound sensible, logical, rational, enlightened, fair. Arminianism is so much more appealing to worldly people.

Huh? Is the main point of Christian faith and theology being more logical, making more sense and appealing to people? Which verses in the Bible support this idea?

NY Rangers and Christian Faith?

Look at these inspiring words I came across in The New York Times this morning.

The first thing we have to do is believe. If you don’t believe, you don’t have a chance. You have to believe and then everything is possible. When you start believing, it’s already happening. You just have to put the pieces together.

I risk reading too much into this but doesn’t it sound like part of a sermon about the role of faith for Christians? Perhaps inspired by the following Words?

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18)

In my head, I even hear some echoes of Pastor John Piper’s extensive sermon series about regeneration.

So, who made such an inspiring comment?? Surprise! It was Jaromír Jágr, the captain of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League, who was talking about what Rangers need to do in its Stanley Cup playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mr. Jágr scored the crucial first goal during last night’s fourth game which Rangers won to avoid being eliminated in a sweep. The full article is found here.

Matthew’s Shared Items

I have added a new feature to my blog. Please follow this link to see news and commentaries I have read and found interesting. In addition, the box which is marked “Matthew’s Picks” on the right side of this page contains titles of most recent items I am sharing, which should allow you to jump directly to those posts. Behind the scene, I am using Google Reader to assemble these shared items and would appreciate any feedback (technical or editorial) you may have.

What “Value” Means to You?

I attended a meeting last evening where Professor Joan Jeffri from Columbia University’s Teachers College discussed her recently-published book entitled Respect for Art: Visual Arts Administration and Management in China and the United States. In spite of (perhaps thanks to) my lack of knowledge in visual arts, I ended up learning a lot about the fascinating world of artists, galleries, auction houses and museums in contemporary China as well as their interactions with their peers in the United States and Europe. I also came away with an appreciation for the often crucial role government policies play in shaping production, distribution and consumption of arts in both countries.

One side discussion dealt with the rapid increase in the price of Chinese art over the past few years and whether such an increase was warranted. “The auction value of Chinese contemporary art has skyrocketed, not necessarily because they are excellent and therefore deserve high prices, but because some hedge fund managers are willing to pay high prices for even some mediocre pieces,” went one casual comment. [I am paraphrasing here and not quoting verbatim.]

Which begs this age-old and one of my favorite questions: what do we mean by the word “value“?

Why? Doesn’t everyone know what value means? No! I have seen many instances of public policy discussions where the meaning of this (sometimes emotional and ideological) word is unclear at best and confused at worst.

Black Conservatism

As someone who practically spent every Thursday evening watching the Cosby Show on NBC from late 1980s until its final episode in 1992, I could not resist clicking the link to the article “The audacity of Bill Cosby’s black conservatism,” written by Ta-Nehisi Coate and published in this month’s Atlantic Monthly. I found the article to be informative and well-written. We need more thoughtful expositions about racial experience, particularly in light of this year’s political, social and religious controversies related to U.S. Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

Somewhat surprisingly, what I ended up appreciating the most about this article was Mr. Coate’s anchoring of Mr. Cosby’s messages into much longer historical context. In addition, I relished sidenotes to two Atlantic Monthly articles from more than a century ago (written by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois in 1896 and 1897, respectively) which brought back some faded yet fond memories from the U.S. history classes I have taken.

Notes on God’s Two Wills

Last night, I finally had a chance to read John Piper’s article entitled “Are There Two Wills in God?” which Susan pointed out to me almost a week ago. This work from 1995 focuses on the theological subject of election as its subtitle [Divine Election and God's Desire for All to Be Saved] suggests.

In my shallow first reading, I found the idea of hierarchy or rank order of God’s wills (to fearlessly coin a phrase) to be most beneficial, although I am not sure whether such a reading is an accurate portrayal of Pastor Piper’s thoughts. At any rate, this insight allowed me to construct a preliminary framework to think more clearly about the nature of unconditional election which remains the most challenging doctrine (at least for me) among the five points of Calvinism.

The Starting Point

Thank you for joining me here at the starting point, as I embark on a personal yet public journey.

What are my reasons to start this blog? And, why now? Those are fair questions. While I have toyed around with the idea of maintaining a personal blog for as long as this format has become popular, my recently heightened interest in Christianity—either a sign of my emotional maturity or of simple aging—provided the final impetus to create one so that I can begin to organize my thoughts and commit them to “paper.”

In particular, watching Pastor John Piper’s extensive sermon series about the issue of regeneration and beginning to analyze Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus earlier this year motivated me to study the Bible more carefully and systematically, perhaps as any thoughtful academic scholar would treat his important primary sources. One positive result so far is that I am finding more depth and intellectual challenges in the biblical studies and theological discussions than I had expected. My initial expectations were admittedly flawed since they were based mostly on my readings of political history as well as various secondary sources about Christian philosophy and practice.