Sunday, May 25, 2008

THE NEW CALVINIST

UPDATE: Pltypus is on the move. He has been SEEN skateboarding the great divide and muck of the protestant ghetto. Last HEARD he was with La Tey (having epileptic fits: having a good time, debunking dispensationalism and paying $15 to find out what THEY have done to Jesus) (Not necessarily in that order...)
This is live, caffeine drips and all. From the good doctor site, the spiral link to the nether world of the NEW CALVINIST. If the mud rucking sounds familiar, then it is. We have seen the bastard sons of these NEW CALVINIST coming in the name of SEMPER REFORMANDA but spewing crap all over their own blogs. And defecating other blogs uninvited. Some of them come in the guise of medic-white coat with bibles in their pocket. If you find that sick, then it is. The sick puppies of evangelicalism are out there. Call them NEW CALVINIST, call them what you want. Call them crap. Another sub-ghetto demanding monopoly of minds in the name of theological arrogance.
If you are in town. Hit the starbucks, down your espresso. Open your studies BUT not handbooks, and release your minds. Study till kingdom come. Set yourself the task of having a broader understanding of the chrisitian tradition. Go where the fundamentalist fear to tread - engage church history. FIND OUT FOR YOUSELF THE TRUTH. Time was, Schaeffer walked that path. He blazed it. You should. (And you do not need to have the 5 volumes to do so!)
Recommended reading:
THE PROBLEM WITH EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY
DR BEN WITHERINGTON

8 comments:

Edmund Lau said...

I read your comments over at Doctor Ben's blogs while chatting over Yahoo! Messenger with La Tey late last night.

Time was, La Tey was ecstatic over "The Christology of Jesus" by Doctor Ben. So ecstatic he was that he mistook that volume for his MAL passport, naively thinking that the SIN customs would let him pass on the basis of that book and a smile!

Time was, a page of notes, a badly photocopied stack of papers stapled together and a second-hand book was what kept the faith of a few youngsters burning. Time now - thick handbooks are referred to frantically but people still do not have a semblance of the faith that turned the ancient world on its heels.

Also read that post on New Calvinism and I nearly vomitted my "Char Koay Teow" all over the keyboard. Where did these young turks learn to label themselves (and others) so presumptuously? Even so, do the labels even matter?

~ Edmund
(Last seen running from Transylvania back to London chased by succubuses...)

Anonymous said...

Hi Edmund,

I must have forgotten my medication, seeing I am commenting on your blog twice in 2 days.

From the time I understood Reformed things, I was persuaded by some to read the "old writers".

New Calvinists are just not the same as the old-school Calvinists. I do not find them as consistent, or spiritually-minded as their forefathers. But that is just me...

Sincerely,
Jenson

Edmund Lau said...

Hi Jenson,

Honestly, I don't even know the difference between Old Calvinists and New Calvinists. I've learned to be wary of people who walk around with labels. Are you familiar with the old Tozer book called "Of God And Men"? That's my religion in a nutshell. God and the Human Condition. God and me: unworthy, inadequate, fumbling and full of hot-air. My religion is intensely private - it's always about "the Father who sees in secret". I've got no use for labels of any sort. That was why I was so adamant to reply to Daniel's and Vincent's probing/interogations previously (like what they're doing to that Seventh Day Adventist girl now). Objective, multiple-choice questions to determine a person's beliefs so that he/she can be typecast (or reserved for a future "anathema"). Sorry, not interested. Haha!

New Calvinists? Old Calvinists? I don't care. On a good day, I wake up Arminian. On a better day, I wake up Calvinists. On a really, really good day, I wake up with a beautiful lady beside me and Sting's "When We Dance" playing in the air. What do I care about labels?

Keep smiling... :)

~ Edmund

Anonymous said...

Hi Edmund,

"I don't even know the difference between Old Calvinists and New Calvinists."

The difference is whether a person is spiritually-minded or not - e.g.

1) One who loves God's Word
2) One who is humble
3) One who loves fellow Christians
4) One who longs for the Lord's Return
5) One is inwardly/outwardly (dare I say it?) Holy
6) ...
7) ...

I have not read Tozer's "Of God and Men" - looking at the content page, sounds like a good read. I have enjoyed his sermons - very refreshing and convicting.

I regularly return to his series on "The Voice Of..." and the one entitled "The 4 seasons of life", based on Jer 8:20 (all available on sermonaudio.com).

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."

You keep smiliing too.

Anonymous said...

I was walking down the street today, felt like a marxist. I mean there are sales everyhere and I haven't even got my coffee yet. The ATM is on long Q and blast the capitalist pigs for shrinking the dollar to a dime.

One bloke here said this here a calvinist, this there is a clavinet. Sounds the same. Requiem in the note of #C.

There was this gucci bag who wants to be a prada. Till the LV ladies strut down the street and proclaim hosanna to the buffalo, cow and kangaroo. All de-skinned. So much for labels.

Some insist on labels. 7 points at best. 5 if forced. There's pne label down these capitalist street. The word is SALES. So's religion.

Yesterday I was under the statue of Mary. Crying out the guts of Anselm. So that makes me catholic. Right?

The other week I was facing the supper. Kodee call it a banquet. I sat alone. I lit a candle. That makes me orthodox?

I read Witherington. So he's Wesleyan. Meaning? meaning nothing. There's a lady named bridgette who claims to be lutheran. I am sure she's not related to martin luther king. See, she's of german descend and of aryan blood. the balck preacher a negro. He's smells like the ghetto. where the gospel is preached. where the gospel bleed. whre it still bleed today.

On a bad day, I walked down the street like a seething marxist. On most days I am a cursed capitalist like everyone else. Today i heard a calvinist playing a clavinet. 7 tones. 5 if forced. Sounds like an arminian tune on a good day. Sounds like a lutheran tune on a bad day. Here's wishing for an old negro spiritual. nobody better start crapping about that being a baptist tune!

PLTYPUS

Edmund Lau said...

Hi Jenson,

The difference is whether a person is spiritually-minded or not.

I don't care for labels. The difference is between genuine-ness and being a prick. Sometimes you get sub-categories (like being a genuine prick, for instance).

~ Edmund

Anonymous said...

Hi Edmund,

Hey, watch it buddy! I was brought up a "good" Brethren - so I have a better reason not to care about labels!

I wrote that book!


"spiritually-minded" = "genuine-ness"

"not" = "prick"

Glad we are on the same page here...

Jenson

Edmund Lau said...

Hi Jenson,

You should thank your Brethren lineage for getting out of the ghetto so many times. In fact, I learned about the evils of denominationalism and labels from the Brethrens as well.

~ Edmund