Calvinism

I promised to provide sort of an overview of Calvinism. Perhaps the place to start- as with any theological discussion- is a brief overview of fundamental convictions. These are from an article by John Frame, a theologian whom I recently discovered in his book, The Doctrine of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002). The article is posted at monergism.com under articles regarding Calvinism. Anyway, here are the core convictions:

(1) God is a person, infinitely wise, just, good, true and powerful, the ultimate reality,
exclusively deserving religious worship and unquestioning obedience, who made the world out of
nothing.
(2) Man, made in the image of God, willfully disobeyed God's command, and thereby
became worthy of death. From that time on, all human beings save Jesus Christ have been guilty
of sin before God.
(3) Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man. He was (literally, really) born of a
virgin. He worked miracles. He fulfilled prophecy. He suffered and died for our sin, bearing
its guilt and penalty. He was raised physically from the dead. He will come again (literally,
physically) to gather his people and to judge the world.
(4) Salvation from sin comes to us not by our good works, but by receiving the free gift of
God by faith. Saving faith receives the sacrifice of Christ as our sacrifice, as our only basis for
fellowship with God. And such saving faith inevitably motivates us to obedience.
(5) Scripture is the word of God, which makes us wise unto salvation.
(6) Prayer is not mere meditation or self-improvement, but a genuine conversation with
our creator and redeemer. In prayer we praise God, give thanks, ask forgiveness, and
make requests which bring concrete changes in the world.
These statements might be called "the fundamentals of the faith.

These are not specific to Calvinism as such, but are shared by most evangelical Christians around the world today. There are some gaps in these statements- for example, Frame agrees that Jesus is coming again, but there is no reference to when this coming will be (i.e. pre-post-a millennial for those of you who are theologically savvy- I'll explain these later as well.) And there is no word about the character and content of the church- which I have some things to say later as well.

But these statements do mark out a place to begin. So, more later....

I'll be out of town the next couple of days, so it will likely be next week before I get back to posting.

STEVE