Calvinist Crossing

Wicked Contamination of the Word
A challenging reminder from Calvin's in the Epistle Dedicatory to his Commentary on Romans.

The Calvin 500 Blog
Promising new blog from Beeke and friends in anticipation of the quincentenary of Calvin’s birth.

Edwards, Cross-Centeredness, and Application
Edwards, we love him! "Consider that great part of your happiness in heaven, to all eternity, will consist in this: in praising of God, for his free and glorious grace in redeeming you; and if you would spend more time about it on earth, you would find this world would be much more of a heaven to you than it is."

Individualism's Not the Problem--Community's Not the Solution
Perceptive and insightful remarks on an over-emphasis in much contemporary evangelism.

Calvinist Crossing

Happy Birthday, John Calvin!

The Glory of Preaching the Bible
"Thank you, John Calvin, for believing in the majesty of the word and for demonstrating by your life the glory of preaching the Bible."

John Calvin (1509-1564)
"Why do Calvin’s massive works live on? Charles Spurgeon wrote: 'Calvin is a tree whose "leaf also shall not wither;" whatever he has written lives on, and is never out of date, because he expounded the word without bias or partiality.'"

If You Can Be Godly and Wrong, Does Truth Matter?
"Since there are some Arminians who are more godly than some Calvinists and some Calvinists who are more godly than some Arminians, what is the correlation between true knowledge of God and godliness?"

Quick and Dirty Calvinism
Phil brings some of his earlier posts back into the light... "Yes, Calvinism is virile; it's relentless when it comes to truth; and it's not always easy to swallow. But it is full of truths that should humble us and fill us with compassion rather than swagger and conceit. The best Calvinism has always been fervently evangelistic, large-hearted, benevolent, merciful, and forgiving. After all, that's what the doctrines of grace are supposed to be all about."

The Will to Debate
"The issues at the heart of the Calvinist-Arminian controversy are intimately related to the Gospel. The controversy deals with the nature of God's sovereignty and human free will, the impact of sin upon human beings, the meaning of the atonement, the definition and power of God's grace, the possibility of assurance, and much more. Clearly, such doctrines lie at the heart of the Christian faith."

Calvinist Crossing

Sovereign Grace in Proverbs
Careful exegesis and reflection indicate that Solomon was a Calvinist too!

What is 9Marks?
The guys in D.C. have a new video that we thought was worth noting. "Churches that reflect the character of God." Simple. Profound. True.

Standing Firm
"When the truth of the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed, somebody is going to get beaten up or thrown in prison... The church must again realize that our strength for standing firm and for daily faith and obedience depends just as much on 'the grace that is in Christ Jesus' as our initial salvation did."

Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Reminder from JT that your reading of The Prostrate Calvinist should not replace reading the man himself.

Calvinist Crossing

Our apologies for the infrequent posting as of late, we've been sharpening our Resolve, but more about that in later. For now, read these other guys:

◉ Limited Atonement (HT: Strange Baptist Fire)
More on limited atonement from a young Puritan.

◉ Grow Up. Be a Man
An excellent exhortation from Phil for our emerging friends... who do tend to be weenies.

◉ Preaching the Solas
Addressing Roman Catholic World Youth Day with the truth!

◉ What's Happened with Starbucks?
While not theological, nevertheless vital to good theology... coffee. Our friend and fellow Calvinist, Fred Butler, raises valid concerns of Starbuck's new strategy and why "Coffee is probably one of the few things hippy doofuses do competently."

Calvinist Crossing

◉ The Foolishness of Preaching
"God is pleased to save sinners through the clear proclamation of gospel truth... We have no mandate whatsoever to use any other strategy —especially a strategy that attempts to harness aspects of worldly wisdom for influence under the misguided belief that these are more powerful than the gospel itself to transform our culture."

◉ Slaves, not Rulers
More timely, and much needed, exhortations from Phil Johnson's keyboard, "Service, not dominion, is the most effective way to win people in any culture."

◉ What Does "Social Action" Look Like?
The final installment of good thoughts on good works from the Sola Panel. (Parts One and Two, in case you missed the first links).

◉ The Wonder of Idiotic Perseverance
Challenging chronicle from the old French Calvinists, the Huguenots, who suffered much for their faith.

Calvinist Crossing

◉ Mark Dever on Personal Bible Reading
Dever on devotions, good stuff.

◉ How to Waste Your Theological Education
Some very convicting reminders about the privilege of formal theological study.

◉ Iain Murry on "Our Present Needs"
A helpful analysis from our favorite biographer... pay special attention to his six exhortations to young men.

◉ Spurgeon: Read Fewer Blogs
Of course, Spurgeon does not include The Prostrate Calvinist.

Calvinist Crossing

◉ The Hardest Aspect of Pastoral Ministry, Part 2
Dan Phillips explains further that there is no interim report card for ministry.

◉ Christ Alone
Helpful reminder of the implications of Solus Christus.

◉ 10 Ways to Know Whether a Blog is Reformed
Guilty as charged... for the most part.

◉ Study. Live. Preach.
Lig Duncan reminds us that "Practicing the truth is a prerequisite for preaching the truth, and all our power in the latter is caught up in the former."

◉ J. Gresham Machen
Tony visits the bodily resting place of an original fightin' fundy.

Calvinist Crossing

◉ The Hardest Aspect of Pastoral Ministry, Part 1
Phillips from TeamPyro reminds us that pastoral ministry has no way to quantify success...

◉ How a Roman Catholic Anti-Calvinist Can Serve Today's Poet-Calvinists
Piper on how Chesterton's "Calvinism-abominating" Orthodoxy made him a happier Calvinist.

◉ Of Coffee, Gospel, and Social Action and Social Action and the Last Day
At The Prostrate Calvinist we appreciate coffee, we love the Gospel, and we spend our days in social action, so this was an interesting read from the Sola Panel. Especially the counsel that "We should engage in social action because the world is going to be destroyed" and "We should therefore be cautious about grand schemes."

Calvinist Crossing

◉ Christ Alone
Helpful reminder of the implications of Christ's sufficiency and uniqueness.

◉ What Manner of Men Will They Be?
Stirring prayer for a new generation of heralds by Dallimore (Read his definitive biography of Whitefield to be greatly challenged by one of those rare lives thoroughly devoted to the cause of Christ).

◉ John Piper On...
Four interesting interviews with one of our favorite Calvinists. Especially the fourth, speaking about why he left academia for the pastorate... "I felt God saying to me, 'I will be proclaimed and not just analyzed.'"

◉ "What Does 'God-Centered' Mean?"
A little more from JP on the satisfaction of God-Centeredness.

Calvinist Crossing

Don't worry, we're still here! Just been a little busy lately... "maybe I need some new duties."

◉ Don't Waste Your Pulpit
Piper on story-telling and ear-tickling. (Be sure to watch the whole thing, the last line is the most perceptive and penetrating).

HT: Provocations & Pantings.

◉ Querying Calvinism
Speaking of Piper, here's the best exegetical and winsome defense of five points you'll come across or watch or listen...

◉ Jesus - The Powerful and Perfect Savior
Speaking of defending the doctrines of grace, James White does an excellent job summarizing the Gospel (Note especially his rebuke of allowing presupposed methodology to drive one's theology).

◉ Introducing the Sola Panel
A promising new blog from the guys who make you choose between two ways to live.

Calvinist Crossing

◉ Timmy Brister: The Face of Calvinism in the SBC
Those Southern Baptist Calvinists just cannot stay out of trouble.

◉ Baptist Standard On Calvinist Resurgence
If you are particularly interested in Calvinism in the SBC...

◉ Are You Bored with Good Preaching?
When Biblical expositions are normal.
(HT: Challies).

◉ Two Cheers for the Resurgence of Calvinism
Support for the Calvinist resurgence from an... Arminian (We trust that his examples of theological arrogance are not true of any of our readers).

◉ Theologian Trading Cards
Finally, a market for my John Knox rookie card!
(HT: Challies).

Calvinist Crossing

I know, we're getting lazy. An original post tomorrow, Lord willing... I promise.

◉ Martin Luther Taught Limited Atonement
Andrew of Strange Baptist Fire reminds us that Lutherans are Calvinists too!

◉ The Nature of the Atonement
But so is one of my shepherds in GraceLife (admittedly less surprising than Luther).

◉ What's So Great About the Doctrines of Grace?
Phillips' new book is finally available! A biblical explanation of the spiritual benefits of the doctrines of grace... perfect for both of our readers (If I can ever get on the stick, I'll post a review here shortly).

◉ Caricatures of Calvinism
Mr. Ascol exposes some recent public caricatures of Reformed soteriology. This post made me think of a Rabbi I know. He actually understands Calvinism better than most Christians (sad, but still very true).

Calvinist Crossing

This week, some hits for those who are given to extremes:

◉ For those who ignore the obvious, Andrew at Strange Baptist Fire notes the oddity of criticizing Total Depravity for missing the supposed degrees of death.

◉ For those who do not believe until they see, Reformation Theology attempts to visualize the Solus Christus in TULIP with a Chiasmic View of Calvinism.

◉ For those who expect masses of people to be reading this blog soon, Challies notes Scott Lamb's reminder... let's not get too excited about the apparent resurgence of Calvinism.

◉ For those who are enthralled with fiddle players, Calvin exhorts us to seek the Savior, not His servants.

Calvinist Crossing

At the Prostrate Calvinist we not only value blogging for the glory of God, but also reading blogs for the glory of God. Since the blogs we read are typically more helpful than the one you are currently reading, we've decided to add a new feature to our weekly posting... Calvinist Crossing.

This will briefly detail other posts or on-line articles that are helpful in understanding and connecting Biblical theology to life. So, here's the first installment (which, admittedly, is a bit of a review of some helpful blogging over the past year or so):

◉ Mark Dever clues us in on where exactly all these Calvinists came from (and why hip, young guys like me have pretentious blog titles like “The Prostrate Calvinist").

◉ The CT article, "Young, Restless, and Reformed," that prompted Dever’s blog survey.

◉ Tim Challies reviews the new book by Collin Hansen spawned from that CT article.

◉ And for something completely different... Michael Haykin clears up some of the confusion regarding John Calvin and missions.