Soteriology 101: Former Calvinistic Professor Discusses Doctrines Of Salvation

We discuss John Piper's sermon: TULIP, Part 1 of 9: 
Introduction
A Seminar for The Bethlehem Institute
March 7, 2008 | by John Piper | Topic: The Doctrines of Grace / Calvinism John Piper introduces his 9 part series on the topic of Calvinism with this quote from AW Tozer. "It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the 20th century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity. All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral being must do about Him.  The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of 10,000 temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters that at the most cannot concern him for very long… Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold t

Do non-Calvinists believe we save ourselves?   Can we respond to the gospel without the aid of the Holy Spirit? Can a non-Calvinist ever correctly represent Calvinism? What about men like John the Baptist or Paul, who seemed to be predestined to be followers of Christ?  Doesn't that prove God predestines all believers? Does proving that God predetermined the crucifixion of Christ prove that God predestines all sin? How does someone who holds to the corporate view of election deal with verses which clearly address individuals? All of these questions and more will be addressed in today's podcast.   If you have questions, rebuttals or comments please visit us at www.soteriology101.com.  

Picking up where we left off last time in our discussion covering the debate with Dr. James White via Twitter... Which view of Sovereignty is really greater?  The Calvinistic view or the non-Calvinistic view? Which is more impressive to you? The man you has to play both sides of the chess board to ensure victory or the man who can soundly defeat every opponent? AW Tozer said, "God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, 'What doest thou?' Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He wo

Earlier in the week I engaged with Dr. James White, host of the Dividing Line and notable Calvinistic scholar, on Twitter regarding the doctrine of Predestionation and election.  Oh, and Stewie is back by popular demand. Below are some of the messages from the twitter discussion from my side of the discussion and this podcast dives in a little deeper on the subject.  Enjoy! "From Augustine of Hippo to the twentieth century, Western Christianity has tended to interpret the doctrine of election from the perspective of and with regard to individual human beings. During those same centuries the doctrine has been far less emphasized and seldom ever controversial in Eastern Orthodoxy. Is it possible that Augustine and later Calvin, with the help of many others, contributed to a hyper individualization of this doctrine that was hardly warranted by Romans 9-11, Eph. 1, and I Peter 2? Is it not true that the major emphasis in both testaments falls upon an elect people -- Israel (OT) and disciples or church (NT)?" No