My Theology

So how would I describe my Theological Perspective? I'd say I'm a Reformed Christian Theist. I'll try to brefly explain why:

I am a Theist first, because I believe there is a God and that it would be irrational to believe otherwise. It is a common misconception that faith is "believing in something you know ain't true." This is a misrepresentation of faith. Faith and reason do not need to contradict each other. There are many rational reasons to believe in God, and to deny His existence is to embrace irrationality because you then cannot account for immaterial absolutes-like laws of logic.

Secondly, I am a Christian Theist because I could not rationally defend any the other "gods" proffered by other religions. Each of them is either internally inconsistent or undermine human reason and experience. For example, the god of Hinduism, named Bhrahman, is defined as the universal soul of which all things are part. Hinduism teaches that all thinking (maya) is an illusion because it presupposes distinctions between different objects in the universe. Therefore, Hinduism destroys any system of rationality. Other religions such as Daoism and Shintoism speak of impersonal forces ruling the universe without volition or intelligence-these forces are less than humans. Buddhism stresses meditation to empty one's mind of all content in order to drift away from consciousness of this world. Buddha taught that it is meaningless to look for an answer to God's existence. Instead one should follow the "Noble Eight-fold Path" (a strict ethical system) to escape the world and the cycle of reincarnation. When this occurs, one achieves "nirvana." Where does one go when one achieves nirvana? No answer is given-but the classical Buddhist will say the person ceases to exist. No rational answers are given for morals and laws of logic by the Buddhist.

Judaism and one offshoot, Islam, come closest to accounting for the inductive principle and use of laws of logic. However, both are internally inconsistent. For example, the Old Testament speaks of the need for blood atonement for the forgiveness of sins. Jews and Muslims of today no longer sacrifice animals for their forgiveness. It's true that Christians do not either, however we have an answer for that: Jesus Christ is our blood atonement and His sacrifice was complete for us so that we no longer need to offer sacrifices for our sins.

And third, I am a Reformed Christian Theist because I believe the Bible clearly teaches Reformed Theology or Calvinism. I believe in the Total Depravity of man and our inability to come to God under our own will. I believe in Unconditional Election-that God chooses who He will save without any regard to our works. I believe in Limited Atonement because it is irrational to think that Christ died for the sins of everyone-if that were the case wouldn't everyone go to Heaven? I also believe in Irresistible Grace-if God chooses us we cannot reject Him, thankfully. And finally, this system would not make any sense but for Perseverance of the Saints-that those whom God chooses will not fall away from Him and will persevere in the faith until they are glorified. These are spelled out plainly in Romans 8:29-30, known as the Golden Chain of Redemption:

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Last modified at 04/24/2004 23:07:00