Being a Calvinist, I cringed. I wanted to say, "Hey, now, let's not name names. Coz, you know, Fundamentalists are the same."
That's when it hit me. The Calvinists here in my area are really just theologically dressed up Fundamentalists. It's just that most of them aren't so much about behavior as they are about doctrine. Now, I've already touched on where this sort of combination leads in a previous post, so I'll take a different line this time.
My current pastor is right. Hyper-Calvinists focus on how evil we are. They neglect the focus of Scripture that says, "You are now a child of the King. You are saved from all that. 'Such were some of you, but now....'" And what they really neglect is the teaching of what the Holy Spirit does in a roll as our helper. Oh, yeah, they've got it down that He is the one who draws us to Christ because we can't do it ourselves. Very good. But that's where they leave Him. It creates a sick and twisted theology, if you ask me.
In the churches that follow after the teachings of a certain seminary which, until I review the book, will remain "unnamed" ... (hint-hint--->)
the Holy Spirit basically doesn't exist. They simply do not believe that anyone, even God, is capable of helping restrain you from sin. Oh, they'll never come out and say this, but that's how it's lived out and spoken of practically.
In other churches, with other influences, God has no power over the things of the earth. We are to live in fear of the society around us, and to protect ourselves from the unsavory elements, because God simply cannot control it.
Honestly, none of this sounds like Calvinism. I've read Calvin, more closely now that I've left the churches who claim to follow his teachings, and he never sounded like anything I hear in my area.
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