Why are United Methodists Mute in face of Calvinism?
In a recent article , in The United Methodist Reporter, Rev. Donald W. Haynes discusses the apparent lack of "free will" authors. He also mentions the "secret weapon" of early methodism - Books. In "Why are United Methodists Mute in face of Calvinism?" he states...
"If we have no free will, we are not moral, responsible daughters and sons of the most high God, born in God's image. Rather we are robots, marionettes on a string, pre-programmed micro-chips.I am often amazed at the lack of "Wesleyanism" encountered in our Methodist churches. Maybe it's just those I've been associated with, but there seems to be a serious lack of "Wesleyan/Arminian" theology being taught in our Methodist churches today. Maybe it's just the location, that's deep-south, where there are as many "Baptists", theologically speaking, in our pews as Methodists.
Methodism, speak up! Preachers, become prophetic. Develop what your forebears called "holy boldness". Don't be intimidated by predestination in "grace clothing"."
posted by Allen @ 2/06/2006 07:30:00 AM
3 Comments:
I agree. There are not many vocal Arminian apologists.
Where does one go to learn Wesleyan theology? Certainly not UM seminaries, they're too concerned about being contemporary, Process, Liberation, Feminist, etc, to worry about what JW taught.
Just so you know there are still some of us who teach that part of the image of God in which we were created is our ability to chose good or evil.
Hmmm ... well ... I'm unapologetically Wesleyan-Arminian. However, I must admit that I find very few United Methodist Clergy today who can even articulate the Wesleyan Ordo Salutis, much less give a coherent counter to the 5 Points (TULIP) of Calvinist Doctrine. Our clergy, for being supposedly "educated," tend to be woefully ignorant of Systematics.
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