If you read this blog you notice that on occasion, there are comments posted. Now I don't mind comments, but I do mind insulting comments. So, instead of meeting insult with insult, lets pretend we are in class and someone actually says what this "unnamed" commentator said:
Your Reformed theological training and thinking suggests that of a seminary student. That is why I asked where you attended seminary. Your latest blog demonstrates your belief in 5 point Calvinism. In other words, you right and everyone else is wrong.
First of all, there is no indication in my latest blog that I am a 5 point Calvinist. This may or it may not be true. I merely argued that the Bible does not support the thesis that God will not send additional revelation unless men respond properly to natural revelation. One does not have to be a five-point Calvinist to see the serious error in the opposing view.
Second, how is that one equates five-point Calvinism as being the same thing as believing I am right and everyone else is wrong. This is a non-sequitur if ever there was one. Not only this, it is an insulting remark which does not belong on a Christian blog. Of course in a time when we have pastors using vulgar language from the pulpit, I guess we think anything goes. Anything might go for apostates, but anything certainly doesn't go for those who claim t0 be Spirit-filled and captive to Christ.
Finally, this comment reveals a position that is quite absurd. Before you get worked up, the word absurd is NOT insulting unless you choose to take it that way. Absurd simply means preposterous or incongruent. It means something is clearly untrue so much so that it is laughable. Why do I classify this statement as absurd. Because I have never met anyone who holds to a position with the conviction that it is true, and at the same time does not also think anyone and everyone who opposes him is wrong. Let's take this person's apparent contempt for five-point Calvinism as an example. This person likely does not hold to this particular theological system. And by taking that position, this person would hold that all Calvinists are wrong in their theological viewpoint. Which is another way of saying that in regards to Calvinism, this person thinks he/she is right and everyone else is wrong. Therefore, the same assertion that is made about five-point Calvinist directly, and about me by inference, can also be made about this person. The difference is that I accept the fact that this person believes they are right about what they believe their right about and everyone else who disagrees with them is wrong. Why? Because this is logic 101. I have no problem with this principle because it is logically sound.
On the contrary, if the commentor really does hold to convicted positions that he thinks are wrong and everyone is actually or even probably right, perhaps he/she should reconsider why he/she holds to an erroneous position in the first place. You see, it is absurb.
I hope this more detailed response to the commentor serves to help the individual slow down and give a greater amount of focus and attention to the art and skill of critical thinking. I suggest Norman Geisler's book "Come, Let Us Reason Together." It is an excellent resource for the study of logic.
People LIVE what they believe, EVERYTHING else is just noise. -Ed Dingess
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