Review of New Book about Calvinism and Arminianism: Jerry Walls\u2019s Does God Love Everyone: The Heart of What Is Wrong with Calvinism<\/em><\/p>\nYesterday I was asked by bright, eager, young Christian student of theology to identify \u201cthe one major difference between Calvinism and Arminianism.\u201d Without hesitation I identified it the way evangelical Arminian philosopher Jerry Walls does in this book (published this year by Cascade Books, in imprint of Wipf and Stock): the character of God<\/em>. On page 80 Walls writes that \u201cThe deepest issue that divides Arminians and Calvinists is not the sovereignty of God, predestination, or the authority of the Bible. The deepest difference pertains to how we understand the character of God. Is God good in the sense that he deeply and sincerely loves all persons?\u201d\u2026<\/p>\nIn Does God Love Everyone?<\/em> however, Walls does an excellent job of driving home the Achilles Heel of five point Calvinism which is that a believer in it cannot say to any group of people or any individual \u201cGod loves you, Christ died for you, and you can be saved.\u201d Of course, John Piper and some other five point Calvinists argue that they can<\/em>say that to any group of people or to any individual. However, the \u201cexplanation\u201d of that basic evangelistic statement, if made by a five point Calvinist, is so tortuous as to be laughable. As one five point Calvinist explained the first part of it \u201cGod loves all people in some ways but only some people in all ways.\u201d And Piper argues that Christ\u2019s death on the cross benefits even the reprobate\u2014those God has predestined to hell\u2014with \u201ctemporal blessings.\u201d As I have said many times that amounts to giving them a little bit of heaven to go to hell in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nGo to the link to read the rest.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From Roger Olson: Review of New Book about Calvinism and Arminianism: Jerry Walls\u2019s Does God Love Everyone: The Heart of What Is Wrong with Calvinism Yesterday I was asked by bright, eager, young Christian student of theology to identify \u201cthe one major difference between Calvinism and Arminianism.\u201d Without hesitation I identified it the way evangelical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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