R*o
发帖数: 3781 | 1 By Dave Hunt
Making Certain Of Accuracy And Fairness
To make certain that no mistaken interpretations of the doctrines under cons
ideration survived in this book, a preliminary manuscript was submitted to a
number of Calvinist friends and acquaintances for their critique. Reading a
nd discussing with them their valuable comments, for which I am deeply grate
ful, has been an education in itself. In that process it became clearer than
ever that Calvinists don't agree even among themselves on everything.
Most Calvinists agree upon five major points. Others insist that there are t
en or even more relevant points. Palmer suggests, "Calvinism is not restrict
ed to five points: it has thousands of points."4 It's not likely that we can
cover all those alleged points in these pages! Palmer himself deals only wi
th five.
There are disagreements between "five-point" and "four-point" Calvinists. Fo
r example, Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, call
ed himself a "four-point" Calvinist because he rejected limited atonement. 5
Vance points out that "Many Baptists in the General Association of Regular
Baptist Churches are four-point Calvinists." 6 To deny one point while accep
ting the other four, however, has been called by five-point Calvinists the "
blessed inconsistency."
It is widely declared that one "must hold all five points of Calvinism" beca
use 7 The Five Points of Calvinism all tie together. He who accepts one of t
he points will accept the other points." 8 Even those who agree on all five,
however, have different ways of understanding and defending them. Obviously
, we cannot cover every variety of opinion in this book but must stick to wh
at the majority would accept as a fair presentation of their beliefs.
In the further interest of accuracy, we quote extensively not only Calvin hi
mself, but from the writings of numerous Calvinists who are highly regarded
by their colleagues. One book from which we quote extensively in The Potter'
s Freedom by apologist James R. White, which is endorsed by a number of toda
y's evangelical leaders, including R.C. Sproul, Jr., Jay Adams, Irwin Lutzer
and many others. It is an especially valuable resource because it was writt
en specifically to answer Norman Geisler's objections to certain points of C
alvinism which he raised in his recent book, Chosen But Free. There should b
e more than sufficient citations from authoritative sources for the reader t
o make absolutely certain that Calvinism is being fairly presented. |
|
