“We look to the professor leader with his big library and quick answers, and we think he’s the definition of biblical conviction.  In reality, he’s a distortion.  Our Christian solutionism is dangerous, because, like the Silicon Valley version, it’s permeated with misplaced eschatological hope.  The buzz about the latest conference, book, and blog is that they’ll help us “reach up to the heavens.”  But that’s not the message of the Bible.  It’s the message of Babel (cf. Gen. 11:4-7).  We somehow believe that having the right information will bring salvation.  But, while solutionism may work in principle, it fails in practice.  Ministry doesn’t function as simply as we hoped, so we just get angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed.  Like the Pharisees, we think that life is about mastering the Bible.  Convictional leaders haven’t master the Bible.  The Bible has mastered them.” – Daniel Montgomery.  “Leadership Mosaic” pg. 47-48 

Why “Foreknowledge" Doesn’t Solve the Problem

“…elect…according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…” – 1 Peter 1:1-2

     In light of the most recent #CalvinismDebate (which can be found here and here), I felt a blog regarding election was in order.  Proposition 1 of the debate was, “Calvinism necessitates unconditional predestination and unconditional election is incongruent with the God revealed in Jesus Christ”.  Each side was asked to debate in an affirmation or denial form.  Those who affirmed (who would prefer to be non-Calvinists) spent most of their time arguing how “double predestination” was at the heart of their problem with Calvinism.  The problem isn’t so much so that God chooses people and seeks them, but that He doesn’t chose  and doesn’t seek others.  Why would God do that?  Why would God , who as 1 Timothy 2:4 says, “desires all men to be saved”, allow men to go to Hell under His watch?  If God could save everyone, why doesn’t He?