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发帖数: 3781 | 1 By Dave Hunt
Synods, Assemblies, Councils, And Confessions
Those who disagree with Calvinism today on the basis of their understanding
of God's Word are accused of abandoning, ignoring or even defying the great
confessions and established creeds of the church. We must ask, "Which church
?" Roman Catholics also refer to "the Church" in a similar manner, but milli
ons of true believers were not part of it for centuries before the Reformati
on, refusing to bow to the popes or to submit to Rome's heresies. Calvinists
today, looking back upon the first century or so of the Reformation, refer
to "the church" in much the same way, meaning state churches carrying on wha
t Calvin began in Geneva, with those outside their membership viewed as here
tics. This false view is being perpetuated by today's calculated references
to "the Reformed faith," as though Calvinism deserves total credit for the R
eformation.
It is amazing how diligent Calvin was to correct and persecute even to the d
eath those who disagreed with his extreme views on sovereignty and predestin
ation but was apparently able with no trouble to overlook the many heresies
of Augustine. At least we don't find anything in his writings except praise
for this man who held to so much that was unbiblical. In fact, as we have se
en, Calvin not only praised Augustine, he looked to him as the authority jus
tifying his own beliefs and policies at Geneva.
While it is dangerous to launch into an independent theology that has been u
nknown to believers throughout the ages, that is not necessarily what one do
es in ignoring or even disagreeing with the so-called established confession
s. In fact, the Reformation creeds and confessions were formulated not by ag
reement among all Christians but by either the Lutheran or the Calvinistic s
egment alone.
The Synod of Dort and Westminster Assembly, most often referred to by Calvin
ists as so clearly establishing Christian truth in opposition to Arminianism
, were dominated by Calvinists and forced Calvinism as the official state re
ligion upon everyone. So the accusation that one fails to follow these "grea
t Reformed confessions" is merely another way of saying that one disagrees w
ith Calvinism!
It also furthers the false impression that it was the official belief held b
y all of the Reformers. Concerning the five points of Calvinism, Hodges writ
es, "None of these ideas has any right to be called normative Protestant the
ology. None has ever been held by a wide cross-section of Christendom. Most
importantly, none of them is biblical ... all of them lie outside the proper
parameters of Christian orthodoxy." 36 |
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