Thursday, June 23, 2011

Asking about Walther and Calvin



Northwest SD Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "Dr. Lito Cruz on Predestination. Chemnitz Delivers...":

Calvinists would believe in Double Predestination and thus there is no Gospel, as it could be predestination to destruction or in the case of the Waltherian all are predestined for life according to Romans 11:32-33 ; only if I believe as Walther did. This would be as unscriptural as Calvinism and make Walther and Calvin twins separated at birth but at different sides of the spectrum and essentially Rob Bell universalists then Atheists.

I remember Nagel once saying in a sermon that what God wants to do he cannot do by force. If faith is cultivated by Godly force it is coercion and not faith. Coercion leads one to be universalistic and then atheistic because there is no need for Christ or his merits. Am I on to something here?

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GJ - The running and planting quotation from the Formula of Concord, below, is very good. Chemnitz dealt with the Calvinists more than Luther did, because Calvin pretended to be Lutheran until Westphal flushed him out of the tall grass.

I do not like dealing with speculative theology. There is a difference between what God could do and what He does do through His gracious will. Lutherans have neglected the efficacy of the Word and the Means of Grace. That should be our focus.

The priestly elite is threatened by an articulate, informed laity.