Travis Cottrell Unknowingly Settled the Arminian vs. Calvinism Debate

...well, at least he did for my husband, Martin, and me.

Some people play Eye-Spy or Punch-buggy on road trips.  Not me and my guy.  We play, "What's a 5 Point Calvinist and Are You One?"

Although I've been a Christian for over 15 years now, I couldn't explain the difference between Arminianism and Calvinism if my salvation depended on it.  Some believe it does.  However, being someone who gets energized when discussing all things "God," it seemed a great game to play to stay alert while on a 1600 mile journey.

While I maintained a speed that was only slightly over the limit, hands at 10 and 2, and "eyes on the road," Martin got out the iPad and began to read the debate between Arminius and Calvin.  Their two detailed views on free-will, Christ's work on the cross, man's "contribution" to salvation , perseverance of the faith (once saved, always saved) vs. the ability lose salvation, and grace were heady and thorough, to be sure.  After about an hour or so, having been able to argue both sides of some of the "points" of Calvin, we determined that what we both understood of Scripture did not fit neatly into either camp.  We were camp-less!

It was actually a bit unsettling.

Something that prior to this road-trip game I thought I had nailed down (how salvation occurs) was being pulled up.

As the headache was beginning to set in, we decided to turn on the CD player and take a break from the heaviness of it all.

That's when the words of a song by Travis Cottrell settled everything.

You gave me a song,

You gave me a praise song to sing to You.

You opened my ears,

You opened my deaf ears to hear Your voice.

You gave me Your Word.

It entered my life

And consumed my very being.

I enter the mystery.

I enter the mystery.

I’m abandoning myself to You, O God.

I’m abandoning myself to You, O God.

I’m abandoning myself to You, O God.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Blessed are you

Who give yourselves over to God.

Blessed are you

Who turn your backs on the world.

Blessed are you!

And enter the mystery, enter the mystery,

I enter the mystery;

I am Yours, I am Yours, I am Yours!

Nothing comes close to You.

No one can take Your place.

You are Almighty God and I am Yours,

And I am Yours! *

As the song played, it was as if the Spirit was saying to me, "The details are a mystery.  The "important" part is not the mechanics of salvation.  It is the posture and condition of your heart before Me."  

Immediately, my mind's eye saw the story recorded in John 9 of the man who was born blind.  Then he had an encounter with Jesus and his sight was given to him.

The Pharisees wanted to know how it happened. 

He told them it was Jesus who did it but that did not satisfy them.  Finally he said, "...One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see!" 

Then I recalled the Parable of the Two Men Who Prayed told in Luke 18:9-14.  The man who had the right way of viewing himself before God and humbled himself who went home justified.  

You see, how God did it is not nearly as important for us to comprehend as the fact that HE DID IT. 

When the mystery surrounds, we can lean on his revealed character and love.

So, I may not fit neatly into Calvin's or Arminius' camp, but this I know:

He gave this girl a song to sing and ears to hear.   

His Word has absolutely consumed my being!

Now, my heart's cry is to abandon myself to all He is and enter His unfathomable mystery,

 reveling in the beautiful truth that I am His! 

Hallelujah!

*Psalm 40 (I’m Abandoning Myself) – ©copyright 2006 First Hand Revelation

Living Proof Live 3 – the Lamb has overcome  (Trust me, you want to hear this for yourself. Get a copy. )

Solidarity Made Easy: Standing With Pastors and For Freedom

If you haven't heard yet, 5 Houston pastors were subpoenaed for their sermons and other correspondence sent to their church members in an effort to find language against, in part, the Mayor herself and homosexuality.  

The infringement on the First Amendment is unprecedented.  But it very well could set a precedent for future action.

That's where you and I come in. 

Houston Mayor Annise Parker, and the City Council, and the judge who ordered a subpoena need to see they have "awakened the giant" (and yes, it was in a comatose-like sleep).  

No time to draft your own letter?  

Feel free to copy/paste. 

The Honorable Mayor Annise D. Parker

City of Houston

P.O. Box 1562

Houston, TX  77251

Dear Mayor Parker:

I want you to know that more important than any agenda, as well meaning as it may be, is never worth taking or losing freedom over.  Ever.

Americans have been asleep for years as our freedoms have been slowly eroding-most of which we have shamelessly given away.  But that ended when you and the numbers of people it took to draft and execute the subpoena went after preachers behind their pulpits. 

The exercise of our Christian religion involves preaching the WHOLE word of God and living out our WHOLE lives in submission to God, for the flourishing of all humanity, and to His glory.  I should think you would be supportive of a worldview that believes ALL people are born with dignity because they are born in God’s image-a religion that woos us to “come and reason together” instead of “convert or die”. 

We will stand and push back against anyone who tries to take our freedoms (or yours) away.  Not because we hate those who oppose us, but because we so deeply love and value what needs protecting.

I join with Russell Moore when he says, “The separation of church and state means that we will render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and we will.  But the preaching of the church of God does not belong to Caesar, and we will not hand it over to him.  Not now. Not ever.”

In all sincerity of heart,

The Poverty of Nations and the Body

Last night, I heard Wayne Grudem talk about The Poverty of Nations he co-wrote with Barry Asmus. It is a historical and Biblical look at what works to pull countries out of poverty. Part of the discussion was about how over 250 years ago, every country was impoverished, if one looks at per capita data.

But some countries came out if it.  How? Not really a spoiler, but part of the answer is found in the production of goods and services.  Sending money or food helps for immediate crises, but long term, taking in foreign aid has never in history lifted any country out of poverty.  What it does, in part, is create an insatiable monster in the form of corrupt government leadership that consumes the "aid" before it ever gets to the citizens most at risk.

This morning, I saw an article about Mars Hill Church and its fall.

And it got me thinking...

As the church, we keep growing but what are we producing?  How much "aid" do we take in? How much gets to those who need it?  Is what is true for the health of countries also true for what we now call the church? Do we create programs that soak up the resources in the form of tithes and offerings when we were called to bring the tithe in so that there would be food in His house?

Have we, with the best of intentions, created a den of robbers?

How much more effective would we be in current battles for souls, family, marriage, freedom, poverty, slavery, and racism if so much of our "aid" wasn't necessary to run the church as a business?

Were we really supposed to grow budgets and buildings or the Body?

We need to be very, very careful. And very, very humble.  Because if we are not, we will find that the demands between the building and the Body can become mutually exclusive.