Theology  

 Double click any word on this website for it's definition and audio pronunciation 

Free Will Baptists are Christians by necessity and Arminian by choice.
Calvinism vs. Arminianism - which side is correct?
Here is a statement from gotquestions.org that sums up the webmaster's perspective very well.
"Ultimately, it is our view that both systems fail in that they attempt to explain the unexplainable. Human beings are incapable of fully grasping a concept such as this. Yes, God is absolutely sovereign and knows all. Yes, human beings are called to make a genuine decision to place faith in Christ unto salvation. These two facts seem contradictory to us, but in the mind of God they make perfect sense."

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Calvinism

The five points of Calvinism. TULIP

Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints.

Hyper-Calvinism An unscriptural belief that God saves the elect through His sovereign will with little or no use of the methods of bringing about salvation (such as evangelism, preaching, and prayer for the lost).

Over-emphasizes God's sovereignty and under-emphasizes man's responsibility in the work of salvation.

 

Arminianism

Arminianism is essentially the opposite of Calvinism.

Attempts to explain the relationship between God's sovereignty and mankind's free will

The five points of Arminianism.

Partial Depravity, Conditional Election, Unlimited Atonement, Resistible Grace, Conditional Salvation.

 

Calvinism vs. Arminianism - which side is correct?

Both systems can be summarized with five points. There are five point Calvinists and five point Arminians, and at the same time three point Calvinists and two point Arminians. 

 

Many believers arrive at some sort of mixture of the two views. Both systems fail to adequately explain the relationship between God's sovereignty and mankind's free will due to the fact that it is impossible for a finite human mind to discern a concept only God can fully understand.
Organizing the teachings of the Bible into categorical systems and is an important tool in helping us to understand and teach the Bible in an organized manner.
Theology Proper / Paterology - the study of God the Father. 
Christology - the study of Person and work of Jesus Christ. 
Pneumatology - the study of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.
Soteriology - the study of salvation through Jesus Christ. 
Christian Anthropology - the study of the nature of humanity. 
Hamartiology - the study of the nature and effects of sin. 
Angelology - the study of angels. 
Christian Demonology - the study of demons. 
Ecclesiology - the study of the nature and mission of the church. 
Eschatology - the study of the end times / last days.
Dogmatic Theology  
Dogma Defined: something held as an established opinion; especially a definite authoritative tenet

 

The fundamental difference between Systematic Theology and Dogmatic Theology:
 
 Systematic Theology does not require official sanction or endorsement by a church or ecclesiastical body, while Dogmatic Theology is directly connected to a particular church body or denomination.

 

 Dogmatic theology is sometimes confused with Systematic Theology and the two terms are at times used interchangeably.

Moral Theology 
Essentially the Roman Catholic equivalent to what Protestants usually refer to as Christian Ethics.

 

The Bible is all we need to know how to live that Christian life. However, the Bible does not explicitly cover every single situation we will face in our lives. How then is it sufficient? That is where Christian Ethics comes in.

Cultural Relativism philosophy which declares that there are no absolutes, or that there is no such thing as an inherent truth

Antinomianism is the belief that there are no moral laws God expects Christians to obey.

Christian Worldview refers to a comprehensive conception of the world from a specific standpoint.

Moral Relativism states that ethical "truths" depend on the situation, culture, one's feelings, etc.

Situational Ethics states that there is a right and wrong, it is merely determined by the desired outcome of the situation.
even more....

Premillennialism

The view that the rapture and Christ's second coming will both occur prior to his Millennial (literal 1,000-year) reign.

 

Dispensationalism

The 7 dispensations are not ways of salvation, but manners in which God relates to man.

Innocence (Genesis 1:1  3:7), Conscience (Genesis 3:8, 8:22), Human Government (Genesis 9:1  11:32), Promise (Genesis 12:1  Exodus 19:25), Law (Exodus 20:1  Acts 2:4), Grace (Acts 2:4 Revelation 20:3), Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:4  20:6).

 

Replacement Theology

Adherents of Replacement Theology believe that the Jews are no longer God's chosen people and God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. There are really only two views, either the Church is a continuation of Israel (Replacement Theology), or the Church is totally different and distinct from Israel (Dispensationalism / Premillennialism).

 

Practical Theology

The doctrine of the Christian life.

 

Liberation Theology

Seen to be the false doctrine of a humanist viewpoint dressed up in theological terms.

 

Covenant Theology

Believes that there is and has always been only one people of God.

 

Open Theism

An attempt to explain the foreknowledge of God in relationship to the free will of man.

 

Neo-orthodoxy

Neo-orthodoxy is a quite broad term, but it is mostly used in the sense of modern contemporary theology or liberal theology

 

Predestination

God predestines who will be saved, and we must choose Christ in order to be saved. Both facts are equally true.

 

Tribulation

A future 7-year period of time when God will finish His punishment of national Israel and at the same time judge the unbelieving world.

 

Rapture

The event in which God removes all believers from the earth in order to make way for His righteous judgment to be poured out on the earth during the Tribulation period.

 

The Second Coming

The return of Christ to the earth to bring the Tribulation to an end and to defeat the antichrist.