Exploring Calvin

Let me begin by pleading relative ignorance concerning the belief system held by most Christians who hold to the teachings of the covenant community.  How much more ignorance, then, might I be burdened under upon probing the inner-mind of this most powerful man who spun off such a powerful community of believers who proclaim such a belief system.  But probe I must.  A long journey, it seems, awaits me.

It is not the absolutism of the Calvinistic system that causes me to pause and possibly disagree.  TULIP?  Fine, live with it.  I suppose that if one were to ponder that the God of the entire universe could create the first hydrogen atom, and all that followed such an effort, could certainly be the cause of all things following.  This would include election and all that that implies (including free will at the same time?  Let God be God).

It is not the theology of the Reformed/Covenantal community that has caused me to pause and to begin a disciplined exegetical pursuit of various truth claims, rather, it is the a-millennial tendency of many in that community who eschatologically supplant a literal and futuristic understanding of prophetic utterances with an allegorical-like interpretation of those utterances that has caused me to pause.  Usually it is a straw-dummy in the form of Dispensationalism  that has been the standard by which they judge.  Straw dummies are easily knocked over.  BTW, I am not a Dispensationalist!

The Divine Utters Forth  -  The Amanuensis Records!

When one utters forth a series of declarative predictions as do many of the prophets in both testaments, should not the burden of proof be on those who declare such statements to be allegory, types  and metaphors, rather than on those who declare them to be literal statements?  I understand that many allegories, types and metaphors abound within such writings.  Sometimes it seems as though the Book of Revelation was designed to break one's heart.  But, to declare that the New Covenant has replaced the Old (which it certainly has) does not necessarily translate to the emasculation of the prophetic writings of the Old.  Much damage has been, and is being, committed to our understanding of how current events are affecting our lives at the present time.  This is not a small matter; there really is a freight train coming and some of us need to sit down over coffee and talk a little. 

Or so it seems to me.  More, much more, to come on this subject.