I think this cartoon is a very biased representation of an angry stubborn Arminian versus the calm reasonable and laid-back Calvinist. I copied it from SBC Voices for a critique of sorts. Not only is it biased in the demeanor of respective characters, it is a misrepresentation of the New Calvinism today.
Just look how happy-go-lucky that old and settled, Calvinist appears with his hand tucked carefully inside his pocket, versus the scowling dark countenance of the Arminian who has his hair slicked back like a Fonzie wannabe and his arms folded in defiance blocking all comers who try to soften his stand.
Yep...this is not a fair and balanced neutral representation at all. Most New Calvinism folk don't wear ties, or suits and they are young and restless and rapper-friendly looking. At least that's how they showed up at the microphone in Orlando to ask the convention to affirm their co-harts, ACTS29 Network, a strictly reformed group of brethren of the Mark Driscoll paradigm. Though the Josh Shank rap was received amicably, with laughter and frivolity, the motion died a quick death. Who knows, with the new and improved look from the new ACTS29 president, Matt Chandler, the hip "rappers" may be able to get a second this year on a motion to affirm the network of reformed thinkers.
Anyway, some fellas have a little discussion going on over there at Voices. You might think it worth following if you are into the historical, and not-so-historical, origin of the SBC and all-things related to the undeniable Calvinist influence via ten-percent of the SBC. I think it might help you see some of the conversations and how that those who do not hold to the 5-point Petals of the Tulip find themselves being accused of attitudes unbecoming, and well, just plain under-read and rather lacking in knowledge in all things Calvin.
Six years have come and gone with me trying to define (in my own mind), the positions of Calvinists on stuff within the SBC since I discovered it meant so much to a tiny portion of folks within the convention. I had no clue they'd felt so ostracized all my years in serving SBC churches, you see. But after my hubs retired to the Oklahoma territory, had a heart attack and we lost our 33 year-old son, my internet writing tossed me right in the center of the discussions I'd never known existed. I'd been too busy, teaching youth, young-married Sunday School classes, being a minister's wife, running a conservative newspaper, operating my own antique business and sharing Jesus with whomever I met, to even notice that I'd been doing church all wrong all my life--including how I came to know Jesus. (Well, according to the Calvinists I ran into on the blogs.) To be sure, I know I know Jesus. Just don't know if He and I met quite the way Calvinists say I was suppose to. But...no biggie.
I confess I am still at a loss as to how they feel about a bunch of things and just when I think I am figuring something out, another spokesperson from the camp-of-all-things-soteriological (coats), tosses another cloak over my eyeballs. It is just more than I can wrap around my right-sided brain and stuff inside my frontal lobe. I think, that the older I get, the less it matters anyway. The reason I think this way is because the core of folks with whom I associate are about as oblivious to this and apathetic to it as I was once ignorant. And, my ignorance is still border-line stupidity.
Granted, I comprehend a few buzz-words, and grasp enough of the jargon to know when I probably ought to stay out of a conversation and refrain from agreeing or disagreeing. Heaven forbid, I jump into the stream and ask a question. The idea of that makes me shudder more than a hound-dog after a swim in an Oklahoma mud-hole. Ya see, I've already been hooked, tagged, weighed and found to be about three points shy of the looney-bin. Anyone who would dare post 4 back-to-back video sermons of Dr. Adrian Rogers on predestination really needs to be under therapeutic care for their "passive aggressiveness" if they can't recognize them for the "rants" they are, don't you think?. (I called my therapist this morning and have an appointment for May 14th to determine what to do about my passive aggressiveness. jk)
That said, until then, I am going to stand where I have always stood, like a tiny shrinking violet in the center of these two cartoon dudes and bloom where I am planted. And if more violets bloom around me and Dr. Adrian Rogers and those of his kind, all the better. selahV
Recent Comments