Why Call Yourself a Calvinist?

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Welcome to Conversations with a Calvinist.
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This podcast is dedicated to helping believers better understand scripture, defend truth and engage culture.
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Get your Bible ready and prepare to engage today's topic.
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Here's your host, Pastor Keith Foskey.
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Welcome back to Conversations with a Calvinist.
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My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist.
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Today we're going to have kind of a different discussion.
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Oftentimes on the program I'll discuss either some kind of a social issue or a theological issue or deal with the Bible verse.
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But today I want to answer a question and it's a question I receive quite often.
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And that's the question of why is it that we use the term Calvinism? And I want to kind of get into a little bit of the history of that word and why it's used and in what context is it used.
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And I want to talk about my own personal journey, but I'm going to do so relatively quickly because I have talked about this before.
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There are older videos on our website that document the journey of how I became Reformed in my theology and how the church, ultimately this church, Sovereign Grace Family Church, went through a period of what I would say was revival and then reformation.
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But what I want to talk about today really is just the word Calvinist, why I use it, and the fact that I know for some folks it can be a little off-putting.
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In fact, it hasn't been only one time that someone has come and said, you know, I was a little disturbed when I heard you podcast yourself as Calvinist, using that way of title.
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And certainly, it's not an attempt to be offensive, but it is an attempt to be clear right out of the gate because it was a long time that in this church there were folks who would say that Calvinism was bad, that it was false theology, and there was a time that early on in my ministry where people would have, and people did, accuse me of being a false teacher because I was teaching the doctrines of grace.
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And so, after that sort of settled and after some things happened, and again, if you want to sort of document this, you can go back and look up on our website.
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We have How the Church Became Reformed.
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Look that up if you're interested in how that journey took place.
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But I remember very specifically during all that, there was a local pastor who was very much opposed to Reformed theology.
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He did not like it one bit.
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And he even did a sermon opposing Calvinism.
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And I went into a restaurant, and there he was in the restaurant.
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And he saw me come in and somehow knew who I was.
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I didn't know that he knew me.
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But he said to the person sitting next to him, that guy's a Calvinist.
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And I just sort of laughed it off.
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When he noticed I heard him, he seemed a little embarrassed.
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But it was obvious to me that that was sort of how I was known.
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That was sort of how the community, if it were, of local ministries had sort of come to realize that I was the local guy who was preaching the doctrines of grace.
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And that's what Calvinism is.
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In fact, later this summer, we are going to do a five-part series.
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When I say we, I mean the elders of the church and I are going to do a five-part series, again outlining the five points of Calvinism.
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And someone might say, well, didn't we just do this last year? And the answer is yes, we do it about once a year to help clarify to the church what we mean when we use words like reformed, what we mean when we use words like Calvinism, what we mean when we use these terms.
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And what are the five points of Calvinism? What are the doctrines of grace? And by the way, those two terms are usually used interchangeably, the doctrines of grace and the five points of Calvinism.
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Some people refer to as the TULIP, T-U-L-I-P, Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and the Perseverance of the Saints.
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And so, like I said, today I just want to talk about why the label.
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And again, it sort of all started with that man.
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When I walked into the restaurant, he saw me, he identified me, that guy's a Calvinist.
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And I got to thinking, you know what, this is how I'm known.
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And it's not untrue, I am a Calvinist.
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I begin every one of my podcasts with Welcome to Conversations with a Calvinist.
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My name is Keith Foskey, and I am a Calvinist, not afraid to use that term.
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I know that some people are, and I know for good reason some people are.
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Because they're afraid that in their particular context, such a word would be too hot or too dramatic to be used.
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And some people say, well, I don't want to be identified as a Calvinist.
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I just want to be identified as a Bible believer.
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And certainly, those two are not mutually exclusive.
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Calvinists are Bible believers.
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So to say, I don't want to be known as a Calvinist, I just want to be known as a Bible believer.
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Well, that's a little bit unfair.
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Because that seems to indicate in some way, shape, or form that Calvinists are not Bible believers.
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And certainly, we are.
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And another person would say, well, why would you want to be a Calvinist? Why not just be a Christian? And I love the term Christian.
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Some people don't like that term, but it's a biblical term.
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However, it is a term that is used in many ways to identify people who are not genuine in the faith.
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Mormons consider themselves to be Christians.
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Roman Catholics, who have long abandoned the gospel, identify as Christians.
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In fact, the largest identifying Christian organization in the world is the Roman Catholic Church.
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So you have a lot of people who identify.
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And by the way, if you go and do a census of the United States, the majority of people still identify as Christian.
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But there is nothing in their life that would identify themselves as true Christians.
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And so the term Christian, though I love it and though it is biblical, has certainly become generic and a catch-all.
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People tend to identify themselves as Christians when they are nothing of the sort.
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So would I identify myself as a Christian? Absolutely.
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If I were standing and discussing something with a Muslim or someone of a different religion, and they said, well, what faith do you believe? I would say I am a Christian, I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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So by saying I'm a Calvinist, that is not superseding my Christianity.
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That is, though, clarifying what I mean when I say that I'm a Christian.
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Because, again, I go back to the fact that there are many people who say that they are Christians, but are not.
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Their theology is not biblical.
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Their view of Jesus is not biblical.
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And therefore, they are not genuine Christians.
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If I meet a person and they tell me I am a Christian, then I still have a thousand questions about what they believe.
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But if I meet someone and they say I'm Reformed, or more specifically, if I meet a person and they say I'm a Calvinist, then I at least know what they believe, or at least what they say they are believing about Jesus, about salvation, about atonement, about even things like the nature of man, the nature of sin, the nature of God as sovereign.
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All of those things become very clear when I identify myself as a Calvinist.
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And when someone tells me they're a Calvinist.
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Now, I have met people who call themselves Calvinist who aren't, because they use the term because it has somewhat caught on in some circles as somewhat kind of cool, as sort of edgy to be Calvinistic.
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And by the way, I want to be very clear.
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I am not edgy.
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I don't attempt to be edgy.
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Sometimes what I say is considered to be a little harsh.
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But I mean, look at me.
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Honestly, I look like I could be working at Target right now.
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I am not edgy in my dress.
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I'm typically not edgy in my speech.
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I'm not attempting to be edgy by calling myself a Calvinist.
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Some people do.
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Some people can't really define what it means to be a Calvinist.
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And yet they say, I'm a Calvinist.
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So I would say that it's not 100%, but I will say this.
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If a man says to me, I'm a Christian, I'll have a lot more questions for him than if a man says to me, I'm a Calvinist.
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I can clarify much more quickly.
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It's sort of like if I meet a person and I say, what do you believe? And they say, well, I'm a Methodist.
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And here's the thing, not to jump too far ahead in the conversation, but when someone says to me, why do you feel like it's right to be called a Calvinist? I would say, do you ask Lutherans that question? Lutherans are identifying themselves with the reformer Martin Luther, and not too many people would say to them, well, you're wrong for doing so.
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And why would, or someone who's a Wesleyan, Methodists are Wesleyans.
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If someone said they're from the Wesleyan church, would someone say, well, you're worshiping Wesley? No, not in any way, shape, or form.
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It seems to me that Calvinism has gotten sort of a negative connotation because that negativity has been pressed upon it by the outside.
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There are those who are absolutely opposed to God's sovereignty and election and predestination.
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They find that totally offensive.
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That's something you don't have to worry about in Wesleyan Arminianism, because they do not believe in God's sovereign electing choice.
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They believe that men make the choice and God responds.
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So, and I know that's oversimplification, but that is essentially their belief, that God looks down the corridor of time, sees what man is going to do, and makes his choice based upon his prescient knowledge or his foreknowledge of what they're going to do.
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And that's not offensive to the natural man.
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However, Calvinism is offensive.
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When I say to a person that God made his choice about who would be saved before the foundation of the world, that God knew me and chose me for salvation before I was ever created, before I had done anything good or bad, well, people get offended by that.
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And so I understand why Calvinism is offensive.
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But the same arguments used, well, you shouldn't call yourself a Calvinist because that's uplifting a man.
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Well, then Lutherans shouldn't call themselves Lutherans.
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Wesleyans shouldn't call themselves Wesleyans.
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In fact, why do Baptists call themselves Baptists? I know that's not tied to a man, but that is tied to a specific theological system.
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In the same way Calvinism is applied to a theological system of salvation, a soteriology, Baptist theology is connected to that.
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And I don't know many men who are offended by calling themselves Baptists.
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And again, I'm just kind of going through this as a thoughtful provocation for your mind.
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If you've ever listened to this program and say, why does he start by saying, I'm Keith Foskey, and I'm a Calvinist? Why that word? Is he so fascinated with Calvin? No, not really.
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I do think Calvin was a powerful teacher, a brilliant expositor, and commentary, writer, but Calvin wasn't perfect.
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By calling myself a Calvinist, I am no more espousing Calvin's perfection than Lutherans are espousing Luther's perfection, or Wesleyans are espousing Wesley's perfection.
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So understand the term Calvinism is no more offensive, or shouldn't be any more offensive than someone saying they're a Wesleyan, someone saying they're a Lutheran, someone saying they're a Baptist or a Methodist.
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But I wanna draw to a close with a final thought.
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As I draw to a close, I wanna talk about someone early on in my ministry that was very influential on me and helped me with this particular question.
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Why call yourself a Calvinist? Why use that term? And the man's name is Roy Hargrave.
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Roy Hargrave was the pastor of River Bend Community Church in Ormond Beach.
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Now, Roy has gone on to be with the Lord.
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I only met him a couple of times personally, but I did get to listen to many of his messages.
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And they are still available online.
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I would encourage you, if you've never heard Dr.
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Hargrave speak, to look him up on Facebook.
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Look up his messages on Calvinism.
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I said Facebook, I meant YouTube.
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And you'll find a man of God speaking powerfully.
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But one of the things that he said, and I remember being 24, 25 years old listening to these CDs.
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I listened to them in my truck.
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I listened to them multiple times.
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Must have heard these sermons four or five times a piece.
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Because they were just so powerful.
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One of the things that he would say in his messages that were often just so just profound in my own soul was that he would say that people would give him a hard time.
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Because he used the word Calvinism.
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And I always liked the way he said, because I use the word Calvinism.
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And he would say it very, had a very powerful way of saying, because I say Calvinism, people get offended.
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And he said, but here's the thing.
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He said, if I walk out to a field, and I see a big old animal.
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And that animal has got a long face, two big beady black eyes, big ears, and a big long head.
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He said, I don't say, look at that long face, big old animal.
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He said, I say, look at that horse.
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He said, because that horse has a name.
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We call it a horse because that's what it is.
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And you call me a Calvinist because that's what I am.
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And I always thought that was really great.
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Simple and yet straightforward.
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So yes, I'm Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist.
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I'm not ashamed of the term.
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I do know there are people who misuse it, people who malign it, and people who misunderstand it.
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I hope that if you ever choose to visit our church, that maybe you'll help me, or let me help you understand it a little bit better.
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Because what it does is it just clarifies what we mean when we say we're a Christian.
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Because when somebody says, as I said earlier, somebody can say I'm a Christian, and they can mean all kinds of things.
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But when we say we're Calvinistic Christians, what we're saying is something about the nature of God's sovereignty.
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Something about the nature of man and his sin.
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Something about the nature of God's election.
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Something about the nature of Christ and his atoning work.
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In fact, by saying we're a Calvinist, we're saying a lot.
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And we're clarifying a lot.
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And we're breaking down a lot of miscommunication right at the beginning.
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So if you've been thinking of maybe joining our church, or visiting our church, or learning more about our church, and the word Calvinism has somewhat been off-putting to you, I hope today has been helpful.
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I hope this has clarified our use of the term and why I use this term on my podcast.
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And if you do have a question about this term or anything, I would encourage you to send me an email.
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We have an email address.
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It is calvinistpodcast at gmail.com.
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And I would love to answer any questions you have about this or any subject regarding the Bible.
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Thank you for listening to Conversations with a Calvinist.
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My name is Keith Foskey, and I've been your Calvinist.
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May God bless you.
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Thank you for listening to Conversations with a Calvinist.
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If you enjoyed the program, please take a moment to subscribe.
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And if you have a question you would like us to discuss on our future program, please email us at calvinistpodcast at gmail.com.
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As you go about your day, remember this, Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
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All who come to Him in repentance and faith will find Him to be a perfect Savior.
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He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
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May God be with you.