- Apr 20, 2002
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I came across this book while browsing in a Borders recently and decided to check it out. Since I am a die hard Calvinist with a heart for evangelism it looked to be right up my alley.
The book was written by Richard Mouw who is a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and he draws the title from a scene in a movie entitled: "Hardcore" in which a man played by George C. Scott tries to explain his Christian faith using the TULIP acronym to an unsuspecting young girl who happens to be a prostitute. The setting is in the Las Vegas Airport - hence the title. I've never seen or heard of this movie but apparantly the producer/director was at one time Calvinist and later rejected it along with Christianity as a whole and the Calvanist portrayed according to the author was projected as cold and uncaring. Needless to say - it was not a film produced to promote Calvinism.
The book itself is very easy to understand and is a quick read but it has its problems. Thinking this was a book on how we could use Calvinism (TULIP actually) as a tool in evangelism I quickly realized that the author believes that this isn't such a good idea. In a nut shell what the author believes we Calvinists should use in evangelism is not the acronym TULIP but question one from the Heidelburg Confession - which answers: "That I with body and soul , both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, hath satisfied all my sins, and delivered me from the power of the devil..." I agree with him on this.
Where I disagree with him though is his willingness to just shove TULIP under the rug - especially when dealing with others who are of the Christian faith. It seems to me that there is a trend lately within reformed circles to not talk about Calvinism from the pulpit - because it might scare people away or who knows what - and Dr. Mouw is one espousing it. I don't like this. I've heard pastors say "try not to use the 'C' word or the 'R' word - and stay away from acronyms like TULIP because it confuses people. As one who has known about TULIP for less than three years - I can tell you that is rediculous.
Dr. Mouw is also way to quick to jump on the "all faiths are one" bandwagon. He is also too willing to accept Roman Catholicism for me. I think the good Dr. would do well to go back and re-learn what it is we "reformed" from and why. The primary problems that existed in the RC church during the Reformation are still in place today. Problems which jeopordize one's eternal state - yet for some reason Mouw seems to want to overlook that - a dangerous notion in my opinion.
Also the author uses another disturbing term in the book called "divine generousity." The author, using Calvinism as his justification makes the outrageous assumption that most people - regardless of their profession of faith - are of the elect. He says in the book that he is not universalist - but his hope in divine generosity sure seems to say otherwise. I get the impression that Dr. Mouw believes that only the very evil people such as Hitler and Bin Laden will wind up in hell. He even has the audacity to use the "Westminster Confession of Faith" teaching on infant baptism to try and justify this thought process.
In my opinion this thought process is very dangerous in evangelism. The Bible is very clear that there is only one way into eternity - which is through faith in Jesus. If one is of the elect - they will make this profession of faith.
So - I don't recommend this controversial little book. I definately agree that TULIP isn't something that should get immediately shoved into an unsuspecting unbelievers face - but it is something we Calvinists need to keep in our back pocket when we do evangelize - and at some point it needs to come out to explain just how awesome God's grace really is.
The book was written by Richard Mouw who is a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and he draws the title from a scene in a movie entitled: "Hardcore" in which a man played by George C. Scott tries to explain his Christian faith using the TULIP acronym to an unsuspecting young girl who happens to be a prostitute. The setting is in the Las Vegas Airport - hence the title. I've never seen or heard of this movie but apparantly the producer/director was at one time Calvinist and later rejected it along with Christianity as a whole and the Calvanist portrayed according to the author was projected as cold and uncaring. Needless to say - it was not a film produced to promote Calvinism.
The book itself is very easy to understand and is a quick read but it has its problems. Thinking this was a book on how we could use Calvinism (TULIP actually) as a tool in evangelism I quickly realized that the author believes that this isn't such a good idea. In a nut shell what the author believes we Calvinists should use in evangelism is not the acronym TULIP but question one from the Heidelburg Confession - which answers: "That I with body and soul , both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, hath satisfied all my sins, and delivered me from the power of the devil..." I agree with him on this.
Where I disagree with him though is his willingness to just shove TULIP under the rug - especially when dealing with others who are of the Christian faith. It seems to me that there is a trend lately within reformed circles to not talk about Calvinism from the pulpit - because it might scare people away or who knows what - and Dr. Mouw is one espousing it. I don't like this. I've heard pastors say "try not to use the 'C' word or the 'R' word - and stay away from acronyms like TULIP because it confuses people. As one who has known about TULIP for less than three years - I can tell you that is rediculous.
Dr. Mouw is also way to quick to jump on the "all faiths are one" bandwagon. He is also too willing to accept Roman Catholicism for me. I think the good Dr. would do well to go back and re-learn what it is we "reformed" from and why. The primary problems that existed in the RC church during the Reformation are still in place today. Problems which jeopordize one's eternal state - yet for some reason Mouw seems to want to overlook that - a dangerous notion in my opinion.
Also the author uses another disturbing term in the book called "divine generousity." The author, using Calvinism as his justification makes the outrageous assumption that most people - regardless of their profession of faith - are of the elect. He says in the book that he is not universalist - but his hope in divine generosity sure seems to say otherwise. I get the impression that Dr. Mouw believes that only the very evil people such as Hitler and Bin Laden will wind up in hell. He even has the audacity to use the "Westminster Confession of Faith" teaching on infant baptism to try and justify this thought process.
In my opinion this thought process is very dangerous in evangelism. The Bible is very clear that there is only one way into eternity - which is through faith in Jesus. If one is of the elect - they will make this profession of faith.
So - I don't recommend this controversial little book. I definately agree that TULIP isn't something that should get immediately shoved into an unsuspecting unbelievers face - but it is something we Calvinists need to keep in our back pocket when we do evangelize - and at some point it needs to come out to explain just how awesome God's grace really is.
