its just not biblical for people to put faith in a man made man inspired doctine such as tulip, the doctrine does not line up with the bible (limited atonement for example), yet there are those like john piper (and others)whom hold fast to this man made man inspired doctrine, what this does, is create 2 ideas of God when there is in fact only 1 - that is there is only 1 truth that Jesus died for all man kind without exception, not some men!

Very well written article. Here's another Spurgeon quote I love, "Some call it Calvinism; I call it the Gospel." Calvin simply took the Gospel taught by Jesus, Paul and the other NT writers and put it together into a system. My favorite flower: TULIP!!! Much better than Daisies. You know, "He loves me, He loves me not..."

It is correct to say that Luther was more of an exegete than a systematician. However, that should not be taken to mean that Lutheranism lacks a "system." For that, one can look to the "second Martin", Martin Chemnitz and his Loci Theologici. Theological systems arise from and develop around a material principle. For Calvin the material principle was the sovereignty of God. For Luther it was salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And this accounts for the difference in their systems. As for logic, I agree that modern evangelicalism often rejects and ignores logic. But it seems to me that Calvin sometimes let logic rule over the Word of God. E.g. his famous alleosis that "This is my body" means "This represents my body" because logic dictates that the finite cannot contain the infinite. If that is the case, what then do we make of the incarnation? This is why the work of the systematician must be limited by the work of the exegete.

Sorry, but the crackling of flames as Calvin burned anyone who disagreed with him in the slightest drowns out his 'marvelous theology' What kind of theologian is so hated by his own parishioners that they buried him in a hidden unmarked grave?

John Calvin was not a theologian, but a false philosopher. God's Word does not state that... God so loved "a select few", that he gave his only begotten Son, that "only those chosen to believe in him, before the creation of the earth" should not perish, but have eternal life. That is just a sampling of the errant thought process in Calvin's philosophy. I agree with Ambient_Riot, Calvin created a quagmire of false and misguided "doctrine" that has sucked in the likes of R.C. Sproul and J.I. Packer. Calvin tried to justify his position in his writings with statements like, "what Paul probably meant was..." and many others. Calvin's Institutes is flawed philosophy and misleading to those who do not have a firm grasp on the true Word of a living and sovereign God. "systematic and masterful"? The "legacy" he left is dangerous and deceitful.

The Theologian of theologians? Please, Calvin was the epitome of what a theologian should NOT be. He was imcompetent in both exgesis and philosophy, leading to the intellectual swamp of predestination, iressitable grace, and limited atonement. In this age of irrationality, however, it is of no suprise to me that Calvinism is having a resurgance.

Calvin did explore and endeavor to understand the Bible to it's fullest extent. I came to my faith in God however through the doctrine of Luther which I understand completely and follow to this day. I have read several comparison's of Luther's doctrine and Calvin's, granted I have not done an exhaustive study of both, and I have yet to understand or place assurance in Calvin's . I do not know of any Bible scripture that states there are people predetermined by God who will be saved and share eternity with him. If this were true why would Jesus have worked so exhaustively to try to teach the word of God while he was here? I have read Calvin's belief on this matter several times and I just can't "see" it. I always end up asking myself at least a dozen question's from scripture, how can this be? It just does not seem to fit with Bible scripture overall. I would love to know how one can start with the basis of predestination and then interrupt the remainder of scripture around it.