So what's Monergism anyway? According to my alma mater (wikipedia): "Monergism describes the position in Christian theology of those who believe that God, through the Holy Spirit, works to bring about effectually the salvation of individuals through spiritual regeneration without cooperation from the individual." This post will contend that the gracious doctor taught … [Read more...]
Mormons, Mennonites, Roman Catholics and the IKEA Gospel of Fairness
"With repentance we can steadily improve in our capacity to live the celestial law, for we recognize that “he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory” (D&C 88:22)." (Mormon) "Salvation is variously expressed, sometimes as 'justification by faith', in which case it means that the just person has accepted the offer of a … [Read more...]
Civic v. Spiritual Righteousness and the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661-1662
In our society when something tragic or extreme happens – like the shooting in Colorado – it is portrayed as an horrific exception to the rule of the normative goodness of human beings. By comparison, in days gone by, things worked much differently. In a society which confessed the total depravity of man, when things were going well and there was a lack of egregious crimes, … [Read more...]
Work in Eden and Heaven
As I look forward to the prospect of job-hunting this week I've been thinking about the nature of work. I've often heard a sort of Weber-ian account of the virtue and greatness of work, as well as the often-remarked claim that there was even work in the Garden of Eden, and thus work was a part of Paradise for man. I've always felt this to be completely untrue. I hate work … [Read more...]
Vive La Counter-Revolution!
(News of the Christian Revolution spreads more slowly than those of its competitors, but for those of you in need of some, here's a great story of Muslims converting to Christianity in Germany) When the Communists took power in Vietnam the Marxists followed a pattern going back to 1870 when the Communards of Paris shot their city’s archbishop. Most priests and Christian … [Read more...]