Tonight i sat down with Bible, notebook, Systematic Theology, two cans of Mountain Dew, and a bag of popcorn. My goal was to learn the truth of God’s will, sovereignty, and man’s choices, but what i got was SO MUCH MORE!*
I was raised in an Armenian church and adopted those beliefs without ever knowing that some Christians disagreed. In college i learned what it meant to be “Calvinist” or “Armenian” and through long talks, prayers, and Bible reading i got more questions instead of answers. What is free will? Are we puppets? What does it mean to be sovereign? How does God work out His plan? Do my choices matter? The list was endless.
Theology has always interested me, but in a sort of distant way, like politics or curling. It was fun to talk about and i always want to know the truth, but for the most part it doesn’t affect my day-to-day living. The only reason i struggled so long and hard over Calvinist vs Armenian is that i could see real ways that a differing view would affect my life. So i borrowed Systematic Theology from my friend, cracked open a Mountain Dew and started reading. It was good. It was very clearly written with TONS of Scripture reference (an essential for any theology discussion) and i learned a lot. The reading was accompanied by long periods of staring at the ceiling and a dull aching feeling from my brain cells.
After a few hours i had an extraordinarily accurate mental map of the ceiling and a fuzzy, out-of-focus glimpse of a theory on how God works. At the end of all the ideas and explanations (of which there were plenty) there was one remarkable section that i hadn’t expected. It was titled…actually the title is rather long and incoherent if you haven’t read the rest of the chapter. In essence it was titled “Do Calvinists live like Armenians?” The author went on to list a few significant ideas about which both sides agree: people are responsible for their actions, God answers prayer, proclaiming the Gospel leads to salvation, etc. In the next paragraph he listed ways in which differing theological views lead to different practical outcomes. I read through them… and realized he was wrong? It doesn’t make any sense BUT HE’S WRONG. By God’s ridiculous awesomeness, he’s WRONG!
Sorry, i got excited. Let me explain. The author is Calvinist so his list talks about the ways that Calvinist theology leads to greater peace, more thankfulness, more patience during trial, etc. I thought about my Armenian beliefs and realized that a change in them would give the opposite result or no change at all. Then i thought about the Calvinists i know. And the Armenians. They live the SAME! They all chase after God and their lives are the SAME!
The author quoted an Armenian guy who talked about the wrong living that would result from Calvinist thinking as well as his confession that that’s seldom, if ever, the case outside of theory. The author had his ideas about what would result from an Armenian viewpoint, and this quoted guy had his ideas about what would result from a Calvinist viewpoint, BUT THEY WERE BOTH WRONG! In real life the results are the same. How is that possible? How can two radically different views on the very essence of God and how the world works have the same practical outcome? GOD IS AWESOME!! It doesn’t make sense but for the grace of God. My mind is utterly blown.
*Disclaimer: i’m writing this at 5am on no sleep, two cans of Mountain Dew, and a whole lota God. There might be a few exclamation points and all caps. Just saying.
Barefoot in the Rain 