Are You A Calvinist?

I’ve been asked this all important question a good few times in the past couple of years. Maybe it has something to do with the church I attend, or maybe questions like that are regularly used conversation starters that I’m not aware of!

I’ve given fairly cryptic answers each time I’ve been asked this question, partly because I’m not completely settled on the issue, and partly because I don’t want to encourage labeling people by the position they hold on various issues.

Something that’s been of interest to me in the past few years is working out how to determine the importance of any given spiritual issue. One particular article on InFocus titled “Levels Of Beliefs” tries to tackle this issue and breaks beliefs down into various levels.

So many of the commands given to us in the Bible revolve around our relationship with God and others, yet it’s so easy to swap that out for saying what is acceptable to the groups we identify with, and pridefully engaging in debates which serve only to bring glory to ourselves, all the while neglecting God and what he desires of us.

Here are a few verses that have been of conviction to me when I’ve let my focus turn away from what it should be:

Matthew 23:23,24

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

2 Corinthians 3:6

Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

The two guidelines that have helped me the most when examining myself are a mental check of how frequently a particular topic appears in scripture, and assessing what kind of priority scripture gives to the issue at hand.

I don’t want to sound like I’m saying there are issues that don’t matter, if scripture touches on a subject then it is important to seek and understand what it says on that issue. Notwithstanding, there are varying levels of importance which we should recognise and priotise our efforts and convictions by.

What guidelines have you found helpful in determining how important a particular issue is? Perhaps I’ll deal with this from the angle of separation in a future post, I’d appreciate any feedback!

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