One Point, Too Few

I have a friend, who insists he is a one-point Calvinist. I guess that's sort of like umm....being 20% pregnant. As I understand it, he believes that man is born with a sin nature and is not, at his core, basically good. That's a great start, but one cannot stop there...which he does. He believes that man has the ability to choose (read: free will) whether or not to lift himself out of his fallen predicament. Just as Charles Finney said, "You can make for yourself a new heart." Hey, I thought that was God's job! Isn't that what He said in several places? For one, Ezekiel 11:19 is pretty clear,"And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,...."

Notice that God uses the first person, singular pronoun, not the first person, plural pronoun. It is not a cooperative effort between God and man. God says, "I will" three times and once more implied.

In addition to the clear biblical teaching on the subject, there is also an undeniable, logical progression through each of the doctrines of grace (popularly known as the Five Points of Calvinism). When I say undeniable, I mean that each logically and necessarily builds upon the preceding points in an orderly, rational outworking. To affirm one point and deny the others, is logically (and spiritually) inconsistent and, I would argue, dishonest. More later....

What's in a Name?

So, why the name FoggyPitt? Well, this is where I live, a place where the church at-large seems to be murky on just what the Bible indeed says about such things as gospel and law, educating children, worship, obedience, God's sovereignty, covenants and the like. My purpose is to present cogent and compelling biblical evidence to clear away the fog.

If no one else reads this, so be it. By writing it out, I am forcing myself to understand and articulate what the Bible says about the things mentioned above. Then, by God's grace, I will apply that which I espouse. As one theologian put it (I don't remember who), our theology is not what we say, but that which comes out of our fingertips.

Why Bother?

My purpose in engaging in this blog thing is to explore, from a layman's point of view, the many and varied church and cultural issues in light of a robustly biblical, theologically reformed and unashamed Christian worldview; all seasoned with a dash of common sense. I have as models and therefore acknowledge my gratitutde to Grantian Florilegium, Blog and Mablog, Slice of Laodicea and others.

New Territory

Well, since everybody else is doing it, I decided I would, too. Not much of an endorsement, I agree. However, that, in and of itself, does not make me a lemming. Though I may be plunging off and into something, I pray this does not result in harm to me or anyone else.

Since compelling, cogent writing has not been my forte, I am not a particularly confident or exuberant pilgrim into such a brave new world. But, I want to try my hand at it and see where it takes me. Kind of reminds me of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...You don't quite know what is behind the next set of swinging doors, but you feel sure that it is going to be fun.