Calvinism -Christian?

[amotive]

I am a novice in christian theology and its various denominations. I have great respect and admiration for work done by the theologists and the literature that exists for the religion.

about me: I am a 29 year old born in to Hinduism faith. I followed the faith religiously for most part of my youth. Then reality started to hit me harder and each time I tried to rationalise the events and find answers from my spirituality...I was never satisfied.

To give some objectivity to my thought process, I started exploring other religions.
I crossed off Islam from my list. I wouldn't bother with anything that injects a culture of killing people in the name of God. I also don't find any reasoning in that people who don't follow torah are not God's chosen ones..that crosses off Judaism.

More or less, Christianity has a tolerant view towards other religions. Some christians believe in religious pluralism while some believe you can only achieve salvation by the gospel of Jesus Christ but ultimately accept other religions' defintion of God but not the path chosen.

My personal belief is that no one book teaches or defines past, present and future. But Calvinism's TULIP give the best interpretation of what's happening with us, that is, if one were to believe there is someone like God.

I also think Calvinism doesn't have to be a christian denomination. Sans Bible and Jesus Christ, the theory can be applied to any religion. Right now, I am on that thin line of Calvinism/Atheism.

By above I don't mean any disrespect to anybody, they are just my views.

Please share your thoughts....

 

[ReformedChapin]

TULIP is a systematic form of biblical soteriology. Without the bible you lose calvinism.

 

[GrinningDwarf]

Sans the Bible and Jesus Christ, you are left will a simple moral code. In Christian terms, this would be considered 'Law', which does not save anybody. In fact, all the Law can do is bring condemnation and death, because nobody call perfectly fulfill any Law.

The essence of Christianity is Grace. Nobody could fulfill the Law, and that is what we are judged by, and it brings judgement from God. Jesus Christ, fully God and fully Man, was born of a woman and lived a life in perfect obedience to that Law that no human ever could. He who had no sin was sacrificed; His sacrifice is imputed, or transferred, to us who believe.

Christianity is 'tolerant' in that we believe that nobody can be coerced into saving faith. However, we also believe that apart from faith in Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, there is no salvation. We do not accept others' definitions of God, because God tells us who He is in the pages of Scripture, and the Scriptures describe him as existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Any deviance from that, and a you have a false God which is no God at all.

There is no 'fine line' between Calvinism...or any form of Christianity...and atheism. It's a chasm. From the way you describe your beliefs, I'm not sure you really understand TULIP, but I'd be glad to discuss it with you.

 

[heymikey80]

I think what you're describing for yourself is a view of philosophical determinism.

I'd probably suggest Spinoza as a philosophical viewpoint you might want to survey, as well as Pascal if you want to look into deterministic philosophies.

Calvinism is a view of determinism that is informed by God's statements about Himself and His creation. There are forms of mysticism that fit more or less the philosophy of determinism that Calvinism accepts.