Sunday 5 December 2010

Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport

Richard J. Mouw is president of Fuller Theological Seminary in the U.S.A..  He writes the book Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport.  The title of the book is based on a scene in the film Hardcore, where a pious Calvinist elder tries to explain, in Las Vegas Airport, the acronym TULIP to a young prostitute. 

Mouw comes across as a very sincere and gracious Calvinist.  There were a couple of places where my more conservative heart departed from him.  However, overall, I found this a helpful and enjoyable read.  Here are two excerpts that I would like to record.

The first is his reference to 'Heidelberg One': the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism:
Q: What is thy comfort in life and death?

A: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth to live unto him.
The second excerpt is a quote for Spurgeon:
We win hearts for Jesus by love, by sympathy with their sorrows, by anxiety lest they should perish, by pleading with God for them with all our hearts that they would not be left to die unsaved, by pleading with them for God, that, for their own sake, they would seek mercy and find grace.

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