Friday, March 21, 2008

Arminian Encounter in Crossville?

Don't let your eyes deceive you. I had an encounter this Wednesday with some of the most apparently Armenian people I've ever met. And of all places, I ran into them at a winery! I thought most Arminians were opposed to alcohol consumption. They must not have been Baptist.


Of course, if you've paid close attention, I was speaking of Armenians with an e rather than an i. The folks pictured are from the Repulic of Armenia, three of them at least. The other three are from the Republic of Georgia. I took the photo while covering the story for the Crossville Chronicle. These Eastern Europeans had been visiting the states to gain understanding of how American food processing and agriculture works.

I wasn't able to speak with them since they seemed to understand very little English aside from the translator from the Armenian embassy. Had I though, it would've been tempting to tell them I hailed from the "Republic of Calvin."

I say all this to segway into setting up a time where we can together as a blog view the most extensive and well-presented documentary on Reformed theology to ever be produced -- Amazing Grace: The History & Theology of Calvinism.

It would be beneficial for us as the DVD presents of the debate over God's sovereignty in salvation and man's responsibility through the course of church history--from Augustine to the Reformation and on--and then moves on to examine and defend each letter of TULIP by Scripture.

What's more, the second disc is a 45-minute overview of how we apply our understanding of God's purpose in election toward evangelism. It's likely the most comprehensive audio-visual analysis of Calvinism one could find.


Produced by the Apologetics Group, which is now The Nicene Council, the two-disc film runs around 3.5 hours, but it's well worth the investment of time. Since Calvinism is one of the main issues pertaining to the blog, and many of you have yet to see the DVD even though it's been in my possession for more than two years, I thought viewing it together as a blog might be the best way to organize a time we can collectively set aside for the film. Any ideas? Maybe a Friday or Saturday in the coming weeks?


I plan to be in Kingston Saturday, March 29, if everyone interested would want to try that date. Throw some suggestions out there until we can come to a consensus. This is way too exciting of a possibility for me to not to at least offer. With as much certainty as a finite, fallible human can muster, I can assure everyone they will not walk away from watching the DVD unsatisfied, if not, entirely impressed.

1 comment:

David said...

I will probably not be available until the middle of April