On -isms and -ists

I want to take a minute tonight to respond to a comment from a previous entry. I suspect that this won’t be the norm, to write an entire post in response to a comment, but I think this one is worth it. Bruce H. made this recommendation today:

Avoid talking about “ism’s” or categorizing people as “ist’s”

Now Bruce H is an extremely smart guy, and knows Scripture better than I ever will. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, so this definitely caught my attention, and this is a particularly interesting comment, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to respond.

I suspect I’ve lacked a little bit in this area, so let me just clarify a bit. Since I’m no theologian, I could well be mis-using the term ‘Calvinism’. In fact, let me just re-define it. For the purposes of this blog, here’s the definition I’ll use for Calvinism from now on: Calvinism is the belief that an individual man can come to God only because that particular man has been elected by God. This definition is intended to be in contrast to the belief that man chooses with a will separate from God’s action to accept God’s salvation, which is freely offered by God’s grace to all.

As for -isms and -ists as a rule: here’s what I’ve come to believe. When doctrinal issues come up, I have an obligation to hold them up to Scripture, prayerfully, regardless of whether they come from my pastor, a saved brother, my wife, or a Muslim co-worker. I have this same obligation whether the idea comes from any -ism, or is suggested to me by any -ist. God’s Word never changes, His standard never changes, and far be it from me to shy away from it.

So, to anyone who would call themselves a “Calvinist”, or a believer in “Calvinism”, or if my use of the term makes you feel somehow lumped into some category to which you don’t belong, I apologize. I merely borrow the word so that I don’t have to give the same complicated definition all the time.

One last thing on this. There was a time when I was struggling with a particular doctrinal issue (I won’t discuss it in this particular post, as it would take much too long). I sat down with someone whom I highly respect, who is way smarter than me, and way wiser than me in the things of Scripture. I knew what his view would be of this issue, and took the opposing view. We went around and around, and, no surprise, he poked all kinds of holes in my logic. Then I went and did the exact same thing with someone who had the opposite view. Now what? Here I have two men whom I highly respect, strong believers, telling me that God’s Word says two very different thing. Both of them have sound arguments, and both of them can out-discuss it with me any day of the week.

Here’s what I came away with the situation with: there will always be someone smarter than me. My responsibility is to sort through God’s Word, and come to the best conclusion I can. As long as I am doing that, and relying on the leading of the Spirit as best I can, He will bless my efforts. And that’s what this discussion is meant to be. I’m not bashing anyone on either side, I’m not trying to show off some intellectual muscle, I’m just a humble computer geek, trying my best to muddle through, and sharing my thoughts as I go.

Oh, and Bruce, thanks so much for the thought-provoking comments!