Tuesday, July 10, 2012

John Macarthur's Journey Through The Calvin Arminian Divide

John Macarthur is categorized as a Calvinist but prefers to call himself a biblicist. Here are some wise words from Dr. Macarthur during a Q&A session:

One of the benefits that I had, is I grew up in an environment where my dad was the preacher and it was basically a Baptist kind of environment. And what I learned growing up was sort of a middle ground. In my upbringing, we didn’t like the Calvinists and we didn’t like the Arminians; we sort of had that Baptist middle ground. That’s probably what a lot of you…you grew in the same kind of environment. You didn’t talk about predestination or election--that was kind of a frightening thing and that was for dead Presbyterians, and there were only about 30 of them in the whole city of Los Angeles--at the time, and they were over in a room somewhere contemplating their navel and reading John Calvin. You know, it was very introspective and they were thrilled with their theology, but they were a small little group and we weren’t into that.

I went away to college and essentially I went to two colleges, the roots of which were both Methodist. So, they were steeped in Arminian theology. One was sort of a Revivalist environment, and the other was a more traditional Wesleyan environment, where we read Wiley and Miley and all of that, and we had to imbibe all of this Arminian theology. I got out of that; I went to a seminary that had Presbyterian influences. So, I went from the Arminian kind of side to the Reformed side, and there I was in the middle of this mix and I just decided I’d go to the Bible and find out what the Bible said. I think, in a sense, all of that experience sort of canceled each other out, which was good for me, and I went back to the Word of God and in the Word of God, without all the presuppositions cast in stone, I was able to let the Bible speak. Through the years, the Bible I believe speaks very clearly about what the truth is.

But, I think if people could divest themselves of their presuppositions and if they could be willing to eat a little humble pie and say, “It’s possible that I might be wrong,” and take another hard look at the Word of God, they would come to the right answers. It’s a very simple point to make, and it is this: if two people take two opposing views of something, they cannot both be right. Somebody is wrong. And it’s not us, right? Well, I mean, I don’t say that in a proud way. I just believe that we are where we are because we believe this is true.


As many of us immerse ourselves in this debate, we would do well to immerse ourselves in Scripture and abandon the turbulant sea of subjective emotionalism of taking a side based on studying the behavior of advocates from either side. I was once rebuked by someone I found to be obnoxious - and with good reason. By the grace of God I managed to evaluate his rebuke in the light of Scripture rather than his behavior. Good thing too - because he was right!

5 comments:

Sarah Munn said...

I 100% agree with Macarthur! We are fololwers of Christ not men.The whole debate about Calvinism and Arminianism is an completely irrelevant argument! I thought as believers we were followers of Jesus Christ! That the Word of God is what we should be reading and following not the words of an imperfect man! How completly ridiculous that there would be a debate about which man is right or wrong! Last time I checked there was only one God and his word is the final authority on all matters. Maybe the people who are debating such a trivial matter should sit down, open their Bibles, and pray and ask God to open their hearts and teach them truth from His Word. I am embarassed that fellow believers would waste one moment of their time on this matter! I don't know about everyone else but I am a Christian, A Believer, and Follower of Christ. For a Beleiver to say they are a Calvinist or an Arminian is taking Honor and Glory away from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Anonymous said...

Sarah Munn....

May I ask if you fully understand both the Calvinist and Arminian theologies? What they are both claiming, and why?

Anonymous said...

Do you think on the day of Judgement we will be judged on how we spent our time e.g instead of walking down the road and giving someone a gospel tract and telling them the gospel we spent days reading about Calvinism /Arminism then had lots of debates.Is it fair to say that all we need is the bible and not endless books about predestination and election.Dont get me wrong there are some good books e.g pilgrims progress,spurgeon etc

Timothy said...

Yes, I've eaten some humble pie, stepped back and I have to admit... MacArthur is clearly wrong! After all, the three positions, Calvinism, Arminianism, and Macauthorism cannot all be right.

Mr. Mcgranor said...

Such dense intellectualism taken to church, can give the impression that no one takes a middle way.