I was over at a church members house yesterday and we started talking about a co-worker of theirs who was a Calvinist. Without getting in to the whole theological discussion here, I do not believe in the predestination that a Calvinist believes in.
Over the course of the conversation, Reformed Theology was mentioned. I've had quite a few conversations and read a lot of material from people who have made Reformed Theology a major part of their beliefs. If my perception of RT is correct, the main tenet is the Glory of God. I say Amen to that!
The Glory of God is the whole purpose of His entire Creation. He has and will be glorified in and through everything that has and will happen throughout all of time. He is glorified in the justification and sanctification of His people. He will be glorified in the final damnation of those who refuse His gift of eternal life. God is glorified in all whether we perceive it as good or bad.
As I said a moment ago, I do not believe in Calvinism...which is also a tenet of RT. A common thread I get while reading RT writers is that God receives more glory based on the Calvinist view of salvation rather than the Biblical doctrine of salvation. Let me stop here and explain that I believe the work of salvation has been entirely completed by God through His Son, Jesus. However, I don't believe that faith is a work. Faith is a gift from God that is imparted to us through exposure to His Word. It is a gift He desires to give to all.
Now, to the point of this post: I believe that many have used the tenet of glorifying God, rather than the Bible, as the filter for their doctrine. Since a Calvinist believes that God gets "more" glory under their theological system, that is what they believe. I do not filter my theology through my belief that the chief end of man is to bring glory to God. My theology comes from the Bible.
Biblical doctrine does not contradict the purpose of God's Creation. I believe strongly that God gets more glory when His Holy Spirit convicts a person of their sin and they choose out of their free will to receive His gift of eternal life. God doesn't get glory from robots who have no choice. He gets glory when people choose to worship Him. Like I said earlier, He even gets glory when people don't.
PS This post is not an invitation for debate on this subject...I've done enough of that with enough people. If you believe differently than I do, you won't convince me and I won't convince you. This is simply an observation of a thinking preacher.
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