I AM A CHRISTIAN:

;

I affirm the Trinity - One God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I affirm that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

I affirm that Christ, born of a woman, eternally existant, creator of all things, was crucified, buried and risen from the dead.

I affirm that by grace we are saved, through faith. By grace, we have faith in the saving power Christ.

I am "Reformed"I don't consider myself a "Calvinist" - with all the stuff that goes along with it. I do say I'm "Calvinistic" in sotierology, but not in ecclesiology.

Reformed theology differs from both Roman Catholic theology and Arminian theology (Wesleyan/Nazarene/most of what most Americans think is "mainstream"). There are two fundamental "nutshells" that are recognized as "Reformed". The first are the "Five Solas" and the second is "TULIP". There is a lot more to "Reformed theology" than these two pieces, but these are the very basics.

Here's a basic "I'm Not Going Back" post...

The Five Solas

(along with links to other posts I have written):

SOLA SCRIPTURA

• My Thoughts on Sola Scriptura - originally post 7/31/05 - reposted on 8/22/06
• More on Sola Scriptura - 8/13/05
• Sola Scriptura in 20 Words or Less - 8/17/05
• Grand Finale; “Sola Scriptura - the problems” - 8/18/05
• Sola Scriptura - recap - 7/10/06
• Does Sola Scriptura Matter? - 7/24/06
• Sola Scriptura! - First Essay - 7/27/06
• Sola Scriptura! - A History Lesson - 7/30/06
• Sola Scriptura! - The Establishment of Scripture - 7/31/06
• Sola Scriptura! - The Authority of Scripture - 8/20/06
• Sola Scriptura! - The Sufficiency of the Written Word - 9/3/06

SOLA GRATIA

• Sola Gratia
• Sola Gratia - 3/16/14

SOLA FIDE

• Sola Fide - 8/10/05
• More on Sola Fide (Saving Faith, Charles Spurgeon) - 8/14/05
• Sola Fide - 8/2/06
• Faith Alone - 8/2/06

SOLA CHRISTUS

• Solus Christus - 8/3/2005
• First Importance

SOLI DEO GLORIA

• Soli Deo Gloria
• Soli Deo Gloria (The Glory of God in Salvation Through Judgment)

"TULIP":

Total depravity of man

• Total Depravity - 10/01/06
• Spurgeon and the "T" - 4/24/08
• Why does the "T" Matter? - 5/10-/08
• The Wages of Sin...The "T" - 5/11/08

Unconditional election

• About That Free Will - 8/29/06
• "T"..."U"...Unconditional Election - 5/13/2008
• TULIP - The U - 3/29/09
• Free Will...vs...not - 8/28/09

Limited Atonement

• The L - 3/24/06
• The L - Limited Atonement - 9/29/08
• The "L" and 1 John 2:2 - 10/01/08

Irresistable grace

• Irresistible Grace - the I - 7/11/10

Perseverence of the saints

• assurance is not perseverance is not "once saved always saved"12/2/12

General "Calvinism" posts

• Calvinism vs. Arminianism (Act 1) 7/5/2005
• Calvinism (Act 2) - 7/8/2005

On Miraculous Gifts

On Gender Roles

abusus non tollit usum

or (in English)

"abuse does not preclude proper use"

There are many, many examples of abuse of things, people, doctrine, beliefs, politics, authority, and on and on.

If Scripture is abused to say something that it was never meant to say, that does not preclude using it to say what it DOES say.

If authority is abused so that the leader lords it over his/her flock, that does not preclude authority being used to shepherd or steward another flock.

If a man uses male leadership teaching in order to pressure a woman into submitting to something she should not, that does not mean that Scripture teaches Egalitarianism.

abusus non tollit usum