URC Learning: Sinners & Saints

http://www.start.urclearning.org/audio/SS-Bad_Reasons_Why_You_Are_Not_A_Calvinist_5.mp3(13:42)

That election is “in Christ” does not in any way overthrow the idea that the Father’s election of His people is sovereign, personal, fixed, definite, and individual.

http://www.start.urclearning.org/audio/SS-Bad_Reasons_Why_You_Are_Not_A_Calvinist_4.mp3(16:13)

So John chapter six is about Christ’s unity with the Father. Yes, but that does not set aside His clear statements regarding the way in which the Father and the Son save their elect people. The Father drags His previously unwilling people straight to His Son, Who never loses them.

http://www.start.urclearning.org/audio/SS-Bad_Reasons_Why_You_Are_Not_A_Calvinist_3.mp3(18:49)

If you were wondering how an educated Arminian would read Romans chapter nine in a way contrary to how we have, here’s your answer (at least the first part of it). The authors make spotty references to this or that phrase in this or that verse and essentially ignore the immediate context of Paul’s argument.

http://www.start.urclearning.org/audio/ss_Bad_Reasons_Why_You_Are_Not_A_Calvinist_2.mp3(28:50)

Everyone agrees that the words “predestination” and “election” are in the Bible.  Everyone also agrees that Romans 9-11 is a central passage in understanding what those words mean.  Here, we work verse-by-verse through Romans 9:1-24, in order to show that the straightforward reading of this text indisputably teaches what we today call “Calvinism.”

http://www.start.urclearning.org/audio/ss_Bad_Reasons_Why_You_Are_Not_A_Calvinist_1.mp3(37:48)

We present a new series discussing the Calvinism/Arminianism debate by reviewing the new book titled “Why I Am Not A Calvinist.” Today, we alert the discerning reader to some less than helpful analyses and introductions to the topic by the book’s authors.

http://www.start.urclearning.org/audio/SS-Every_Member_Ministry_Remix.mp3(20:47)

Note: This show’s content was re-edited and replaces the original posted in July 2006.

One sacred cow of many church growth gurus, including those of the “Presbyterian” or “Reformed” ilk, is the idea that every member of the church should be involved in “ministry.” Ministry, however, is committed by Christ in His Word only to the officers of His church. When we assign the duties of the officers to every member, we compromise the ministry and hinder every member from giving themselves entirely to the service Christ has called them to in the first place.

http://www.start.urclearning.org/audio/sns_atheism-8.mp3(38:31)

Dawkins’ worldview lacks foundation for his outlandish claim that instructing children in the Christian faith is worse than sexually molesting them. His telling extreme stories of religious abuse is a cheap tactic to try and give credibility to this obviously ridiculous claim, and to hide its sinister implications.

Dawkins’ critique of typical God-proofs simply avoids the main one: the transcendental argument for the existence of God. Last time, we introduced this argument as an answer to the “ultimate Boeing 747 gambit”; this week, we present the transcendental argument to bolster the other more traditional proofs which Dawkins attempts to refute.

http://www.start.urclearning.org/audio/Atheism_6.mp3(24:56)

Note: This show’s content was re-edited and replaces the original.

Dawkins’ central argument against God’s existence—the “ultimate Boeing 747 gambit”—fails for at least two reasons. First, the gambit needs Darwinian evolution by natural selection to be true in spite of its glaring logical and factual flaws. Second, the gambit’s conclusions cannot account for the principles it used to draw its conclusions.

As if his simplistic attack against the Scripture’s moral fabric wasn’t enough, Dawkins marches forward to assault the Bible’s factual credibility. But evidence, common sense, and the modern scholarly consensus (even of the Bible’s detractors) are major obstacles to the credibility of his argument.