Calvinism

Calvinism is one of the most controversial theologies in the modern Protestant era. Many pastors and theologians don’t even touch it, and those that do often feel very strongly about their side, fueling further division. It’s for these reasons that I have felt not just a desire, but a compulsion to write this blog, despite the daunting nature of the task. My hope is that this offers some clarity, peace, and understanding to those who may believe one side or the other, but aren’t sure they know enough about it to feel confident.

In order to stay accessible, I will be splitting up this blog up into several sections, with this overview explaining the top-level arguments, and expanded sub-blogs on the topics that call for more steelmanning or exposition. That way you can choose how deep you want to go on each topic. If any of what I’m writing raises alarm bells or makes you bristle, I encourage you to click on the links and I’ll have much more room in the sub-blogs to flesh out everything I’m saying.

What is Calvinism?

For those who may be new to the concept, Calvinism is most commonly summed up in the acronym T.U.L.I.P.

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Skubalon

Skubalon. This word is far more than a simple debate for amusement amongst Greek scholars. This word encompasses lifestyles and a general understanding about the kinds of people the Apostles were, and poses a certain threat, or comfort, depending on which side of the isle you happen to be on.

A little context: Paul and I seem to have some connecting points. I was raised in an incredibly conservative home, and we grew up under the pretext of always seeming to want to outdo the purity index. My mom’s constant phrase was, “don’t water down your faith”. In her perspective, “water down” could probably be seen as “not profitable” as a hail to the verse, “all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable”. The mistake that I think happened, was that my mom with golden intentions, translated that verse in her head as, “if it isn’t profitable, it isn’t lawful”. The issue with that, is that the term “profitable” should be relative, while “lawful” should be black and white.

Consequently, I grew up with a constant push to be more “lawful”. If music wasn’t Christian, or if it was too rocky, it wasn’t lawful.

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Of Nike, Kaepernick, and Referees

I rarely ever post political things. This isn’t because I don’t have an interest or a desire to be aware of politics. It is because politics are one of the most polarizing arena’s and, call it “middle child syndrome,” but I constantly feel the need to play referee in the fray.

Last week, Nike released an ad showcasing the very controversial Colin Kaepernick (as you may recall, it was Kaepernick who started the movement of not standing during the national anthem). At first, Nike’s stock plummeted. The right-leaning supporters pointed fingers in a childish “serves you right” kind of way, just to have the stocks start to rise again days later, which then had the left-leaning supporters pointing fingers in a “I told ya so” kind of way. And thus, explains my hesitance to ever get into the middle of these kinds of things…

The truth of what actually happened unsurprisingly lies somewhere in the middle. Nike was in the midst of it’s most successful year ever before the ad. Then the ad hit and their stocks plummeted briefly, but then soon after, they began the same trajectory upwards that they had before and made it all too convenient to say “Nike hits record stocks after Kaepernick ad!”.

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Operation – Make Mondays Happy Again

Mondays. For most people, just that word is enough to cause a sigh and a long list of negative associations. It’s like sledding: for most of the week you climb that hill with your sled, trudging up as far as you can, until 5:00pm on Friday rolls around and you can actually start sledding down the hill. You have a ton of fun through Saturday, relax on Sunday, and then Monday begins the climb back up the hill.

Mondays are even worse for entrepreneurs I think. People wake up on Monday and are often in a bad mood and forcing themselves to be productive. In consequence, they come up with all kinds of “urgent situations” and this turns into a sort of “kick the dog” scenario where the president kicks the COO who kicks the assistant who kicks the department lead and somewhere down the line, the entrepreneur gets kicked because he’s supposed to offer a service somewhere in the mix, and then down the line it goes until the kid kicks the dog.

So what happens to the entrepreneur, is that (in my case) I have 5-6 clients that I could be working with at the same time.

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