r/Reformed

Hi,

This is not meant as a troll, but it is meant to be a direct, hard question for Calvinists. I, personally, would otherwise lean neither for nor against the Reformed faith, save for this one major issue. I even attended a Reformed church for quite awhile, but it was because I didn't know (and it didn't help that they never told me):

John Calvin and the Geneva Council were behind 58 executions during the Reformation; the most famous being Michael Servetus. Burned at the stake Servetus' sin? He was Christian, but denied the Trinity. And that was contrary to John Calvin's "reforms", which formed an important part of the Reformation. That is not to say the Pope was innocent: he executed over 500 people. But no matter, two wrongs don't make a right. A nontrinitarian Anabaptist is not a Catholic.

Calvinists declare themselves to be followers of John Calvin, and his version of the "Reformed" faith.

The question: how do you address being a follower of someone who murdered people to attain his reforms, and how do you reconcile yourself following his reforms in spite of the way he attained them?

The harder question: do you support Calvin and the Geneva Council doing it? Would you do it again today, if you could? Should we fuse Church and government again today and execute people who don't play ball with the Reformed Council? Or.was John Calvin just wrong about executing people, but the reformed doctrine itself (that he was executing people for) is sound? In my book, if anyone needs to "reform" the faith by executing people, that man is not of God. Quite the opposite. The doctrine MIGHT be right, just by pure coincidence, but that is unlikely. Quite frankly, I'm more inclined to go along with the people getting beheaded for their truth--not the people doing the beheading. Why would you take on Calvin's name? Is it just some history that you prefer to downplay, attribute to just the culture of that time etc ? What?

Is there any unanimous translation that's recommended? I grew up reading the NIV but have enjoyed the NASB, NLT and a few others. What is the consensus on the best balance of readability and accuracy?

Any thoughts on the World English Bible? I appreciate that it's in the public domain and I like it okay but would love to know what others who have given it more discernment think.

Edit: looks like I'll be checking out the ESV. Thanks!

Do you believe in common grace? Why or why not?

I talked to a brother of Christ who does not believe there is one, and his argument is pretty convincing. He said that the “mercies” that are being given to the reprobates are for condemnation, so you couldn’t call that grace. And all the good things being showered to Earth is for the good of the saints, and not all people so their participation is only incidental/divinely permitted. Lastly, the most convincing one that he told me is all blessings are due to our union with Christ, no one mediates with reprobates so you couldn’t really reconcile the idea of common grace.

Do you have articles or books that I can dive to study it further?

I always thought He did with how I've read the Gospels, but have discovered there is actually a huge debate about the issue (and not just because of Catholics and their whole Mary thing, but among Protestants as well).

What are your thoughts?

Hi Brothers and sisters,

I have recently joined a reformed church. I have found out that one of the members is a lesbian. She is not just a member but also Family with the pastor (sister). I am not sure wether I should stay at this church or leave to find a new one.

Please help me out on this one

Long overdue. So glad this is finally happening!

Newlywed here. My wife and I are devoted Christians, and we genuinely love each other and love Jesus.

Since we started dating, our biggest point of contention has been church and worship style. One of our spiritual mentors has joked, “You know what a relief it is to have that be your biggest argument over some of the other stuff I’ve seen?!” We laugh about that, but six months into marriage, it’s still a very real source of tension.

I tend to gravitate toward smaller, intimate churches (50–200 people). My wife is more drawn toward larger churches (1,000+). I tend to feel most spiritually nourished by preaching and teaching; she feels most nourished by worship.

When we got married, my wife graciously agreed to attend my church for a season because I have a deep history with it: I’ve been a member there for seven years. My pastor has walked with me through one of the most difficult periods of my life. He genuinely loves Jesus, loves his congregation, and has been an incredible shepherd to me personally. I have often said, "Before this church I had great preachers, but never a true shepherd until him."

But our church is now very small - around 40 people - and has been shrinking for the last couple of years. We inherited a building from a neighboring church in our denomination that closed, but rather than seeing growth after obtaining our own space, we've continued losing families as people have moved away, without many new families coming in.

And, honestly, I understand many of my wife's concerns.

My pastor is exceptionally gifted at pastoral care, but he also does almost everything else: preaching, leading worship, coordinating services, etc. As a result, the service can sometimes feel pretty clunky.

We advertise a 10:00 start but routinely begin 5-15 minutes late. The worship team is filled by non-members who only rehearse 30 minutes before each service, and IMO it feels they treat it like they're there for a gig than to worship Jehovah. IMO, sermons can be scattered, particularly when the pastor has been doing pastoral crisis and hasn't had as much time to prepare. When he's absent, things can become even more chaotic.

I want to be careful here because I don't think my pastor is a bad pastor. Quite the opposite. Some of the very things that make the church struggle organizationally are connected to how much he cares for people personally. He's trying to be pastor, worship leader, administrator. Everyone (including my wife) see his greatest gift as pastoral care. But we fear it is actually getting crowded out by all the other responsibilities.

And that's where I'm torn.

I have a church that has deeply loved and cared for me, but also has some very noticeable weaknesses.

And I have a wife who loves me and is genuinely trying to devote herself to this church, but who comes away most weeks feeling discouraged rather than spiritually nourished.

Neither of us want to treat church like we're shopping for a product. I also don't want to dismiss my wife's experience simply because this church has sentimental and spiritual significance to me.

At the same time, I feel a real sense of loyalty to the people who have invested in me for seven years. Leaving feels, in some sense, like abandoning people who have loved me.

How do you discern when you should stay and work through the weaknesses of a church versus recognizing that it may simply no longer be the right church for your family?

Welcome to r/reformed. Do you have questions that aren't worth a stand alone post? Are you longing for the collective expertise of the finest collection of religious thinkers since the Jerusalem Council? This is your chance to ask a question to the esteemed subscribers of r/Reformed. PS: If you can think of a less boring name for this deal, let us mods know.

Hypothetical: If 2 people of the same gender live together the same way a married couple would but refrain from sexual activity are they living in sin? Let’s say they love each other like Christ instructs us to love our spouses, they’re legally married by government standards, they are devoted to a covenant made between themselves, yet they refrain from sexual activity. Are they living in sin?

Can any calvinist draw out a summarized picture of calvinism and discuss with me for a bit?

I know I can look it up and read long articles and such but I have specific questions and I tend to learn better with discussion. Not really trying to debate here but I might ask some pointed clarification / follow up questions.

I can also get a broader set of understanding from multiple people. I will read and answer every single response (unless it goes to the hundreds).

Thank you.

If you have requests that you would like your brothers and sisters to pray for, post them here.

Hello,

I will probably delete this post after a little bit since this should ideally be from a more anonymous account but one of my grandparents is very old and I struggle with my belief regarding their salvation. They have been going to a very liberal mainline church that seems to not have much of a focus on the gospel, if it all (their pastor is a gay unitarian universalist).

However, as I meet up with her alongside my father, I feel like I don't know what to say. I don't know if I'm afraid of seeming weird or just that anything I've already said would fall on deaf ears (In my experience a lot of these people have grown up hearing "the gospel" so telling them about it won't really seem to do much), but I'm admittedly feeling very lost regarding this whole situation. My father most likely believes she is still saved too, so talking to him about it would feel like opening another can of worms. I will also be leaving soon to college so I don't know if I'll even see her again.

I plan on talking to a trusted Christian mentor about this soon but I also wanted to hear if other people have been in this situation too, and how they've handled it. I obviously have a whole bunch of different feelings about this situation so I'm just curious how other people have approached these types of things before.

Looking for wisdom..I exposed an elder for lacking integrity, wisdom, maturity & honesty. It was dismissed & turned on me for being quarrelsome. I confronted him privately but he did not listen. I got the head pastor involved..dismissed. Other members have approached me with their own concerns regarding this elder & also the other pastor. Also, I haven’t gone to this church in years but have remained in contact with people from the church. The concerns developed after I left & how the one elder interacted with me & treated me.

My questing is since I’ve already tried to handle this privately & it didn’t go anywhere would it be appropriate to write a google review to express concerns about the leadership to warn others?

I am 18 & from the West Midlands area more rural side of it and I am feeling a strong calling to God in time and I am looking to attend a church of the Reformed tradition but I am finding it quite a struggle to find any churches that identify in such a way and also are welcoming for someone being quite an outsider?

I have no history of being in faith at all and I am from a very generationally agnostic family so have not been baptised into any denomination or apart of any faith in general.

I humbly very much want to find church community and spiritual guidance and a church that can help guide and with a strong biblical focus of course and to my knowledge no Presbyterian church exists and the URC is in a very dire state here and I have some quarrels as I am sure many do.

Any advice on specific denominations or organisations/alliances which is a good collection of churches for seeing those still adhering to these ways or good resources or even specific churches you can help usher me to? Any help I would greatly appreciate and advice on settling in and what my first service will be like also I would be gracious for.

Recently, I've found myself questioning the hard determinism of a man like John Piper.

The more I read the Bible, the more I realize that it isn't necessary to interpret the passages about God's sovereignty and providence as if He is micro-managing every little circumstance.

For example, it isn't necessary to believe that it was God's eternal decree that I stub my toe this morning in the same way that it was His eternal decree that Christ go to the cross.

I've begun to understand God's sovereignty as 'authority' rather than 'control.' Forgive the crude analogy, but I've started to think of God's sovereign rule over creation like the sun. Without the sun, there is no grass. It is by the sun's sustaining power that grass is able to grow or exist at all. But it isn't the sun's direct will that causes every single blade of grass to sprout and reach for its rays.

Are there any other reformers who preferred a 'soft determinism' to a 'hard determinism?' If so, I'd love to be pointed in their direction.

I was curious about what people thought about the software. I thought about maybe trying it, but there is definitly something special about using a physical book. Has anyone here tried it? I'm not a pastor or anything just a regular dude wanting to learn more.

From what I'd understand, the denomination overall is very liberal, ageing, and in very significant decline. But amongst it there are a minority of more evangelical churches which are holding the line and have a more balanced congregation.

I was taken an URC church by a family member a few years ago, and remember the preacher n using more analogies that was probably necessary, 'we can see the resurrection in all areas of life, whether it be within the immigrant, the person claiming benefits, the disabled and the unloved'. For what of a better word, the focus seemed to on teaching vague Christian spirituality without Christian religion. Most of the congregation were over 70, and it was fairly uninspiring in terms of the worship.

During the intercessions, prayers were made that that Palestine would be recognised by the United Nations. Some of the prayers were drawn from URC Prayer Book. As someone who is not familiar with it, it seemed a bit over simplified in terms of use of its language and overall really off for reason.

I've got adverts for the URC on Facebook over the years, with one church emphasising that out of loving thy neighbour, they held a Muslim prayer group in their church hall.

I've occasionally flicked through the URC magazine (called Reform), and its certainly very wide range of perspectives, and over the years had carried articles about writers who are not sure about there being life after death.

What are people's experiences with the URC?

If you have requests that you would like your brothers and sisters to pray for, post them here.

Since I have been hearing about the Puritans for years from such prominent Christians as John Piper, John, MacArthur, Kevin DeYoung, etc., I recently took advantage of a Truth for Life offer and acquired three Puritan Treasures for Today titles. Then I stumbled across a Room for Nuance podcast featuring Stephen Yuille, in which he recommended two PTT titles specifically:

William Perkins's "Perfect Redeemer"

George Swinnock's "Blesses and Boundless God."

I've started reading "Perfect Redeemer," and I'm thinking he's committing eisegesis? He's expounding on Phil 3:7-11 and is arguing that Paul is counting as loss things that, in my opinion, don't line up with a natural reading of the text--his Apostleship, the fruit of the Spirit in his life, etc. this led me to understand that, even though the Puritans were spiritual Giants, they were also just men who are also capable of reading their own biases into the text.

This being the case, are they still really worth the time and money I could potentially invest in them, or does this experience serve to confirm that, in some ways, they will be no better than reading, say, John Piper or Sinclair Ferguson?