Unfair treatment

Just yesterday I posted a link to what I thought was a fair and accurate comparison of Calvinism and Arminianism.

Unfortunately, most of what goes on these days are attacks between the two sides. Please do not misunderstand me. I am all for debate, but it should be done by A) using scripture as the authority for all belief, B) correctly interpreting scripture in light of the teachings of the entire bible, C) displaying a loving spirit, and D) striving for the goal of building one another up in Christ.

Since we are living near Savannah, GA, I like to keep up to date on what is happening in Southern Baptist churches here. Well, one of the Southern Baptist Convention's biggest opponents of Calvinism lives right here in Savannah. His name is Dr. John Connell, and he is senior pastor at the largest Baptist church in Savannah, Calvary in Savannah.

That in-and-of-itself is no problem. Dr. Connell is free to believe what he wants to regarding God's sovereignty. I am not concerned with Dr. Connell's opposition to Calvinism. However, I am perturbed about both the tone he takes in his attacks, and the negative things he says without using scripture to back these up.

What is his motivation is all this? He believes that Calvinism hurts evangelism. However, I have never seen one piece of concrete evidence to show that this is the case. As for our family, Calvinism has actually spurred us on to be more evangelistic because we know God controls the outcome, and we do not have to depend on the quality of our own witnessing skills for someone to be saved.

All I ask is that those who oppose Calvinism do so fairly. Please present scriptural reasons why the Doctrines of Grace are false. Please interpret scripture fairly. Please do so in love. Please do not follow Dr. Connell's example (by the way, we Calvinists should follow these same suggestions).

To find out more on this situation in Savannah, click here.