Puritan Board members may be interested in a post on my blog entitled:

The Arminianism of the Federal Vision

If what I have written is correct, then why is their even a debate about whether or not the FV is in the Reformed mainstream?

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

Interesting article, Brother Ritchie.

Please excuse my denseness, but are you saying that the FV folks are arminian or that they are like arminians? If it
is the latter, what term would you coin for this view?

I'm not disagreeing, for I think you are definitely onto something here, just seeking clarification in my own mind.

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~James Helbert~, Wytheville, VA
Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCUS
TheBibleAlone.com / The Edinburgh Inn
"Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” - Zechariah 3:2

I suppose I had better say that they are like Arminians, as they do not have the honesty to admit to being Arminians. I am not sure that it makes much difference one way or the other.

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

Well, you are bound to get some increased blog traffic.

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Chris Coldwell
Lakewood Presbyterian Church (PCA), Member
• Naphtali Press: Presbyterian & Reformed Books
• The Confessional Presbyterian, A Journal for Discussion of Presbyterian Doctrine & Practice
• The Blue Banner Archive

When heresy rises in an evangelical body, it is never frank and open. It always begins by skulking, and assuming a disguise. Its advocates, when together, boast of great improvements, and congratulate one another on having gone greatly beyond the ‘old dead orthodoxy,’ and on having left behind many of its antiquated errors: but when taxed with deviations from the received faith, they complain of the unreasonableness of their accusers, as they ‘differ from it only in words.’ This has been the standing course of errorists ever since the apostolic age. Samuel Miller, Introductory essay, The Articles of the Synod of Dort (1841).

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

BTW, do you have a link to a larger version of the poster that you have at the top of the blog? It looks very
intersting, but my aging eyes can't makeout all the detial in the small version posted.

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~James Helbert~, Wytheville, VA
Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCUS
TheBibleAlone.com / The Edinburgh Inn
"Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” - Zechariah 3:2

Well, in most cases they don't have the honesty to admit that anything they hold to is outside the reformed
camp (IMHO). However, to say that they are "like" arminians would indicate (to me at least) that their views
could lead one down a path toward arminianism, which I think is valid. So in that sense they are guilty of
"leading" reformed folk toward an arminian view, just in the same way that they are guilty of "leading" reformed
folk into the RCC. Am I making sense? Maybe I'm splitting hairs.

Anyway. Good article. There are many dangers to their "views" and you have shown the light on yet another.

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~James Helbert~, Wytheville, VA
Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCUS
TheBibleAlone.com / The Edinburgh Inn
"Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” - Zechariah 3:2

Glad to see you have caught up

My blog post from September 2006:

Federal Vision is the teaching of a group of Presbyterian and Reformed men in the United States. The teaching has been set out formally in the “Summary Statement of AAPC’s Position on the Covenant, Baptism, and Salvation” which was approved by the session of Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church on 26 September 2002. A revised statement was adopted unanimously 3 April 2005. In a book entitled The Federal Vision one can find a number of papers which explain in greater detail what is found summarised in the summary statements and which are based upon addresses from the 2002 Auburn Avenue Pastors Conference.

One aspect of its teaching is that through baptism the children of believers are brought into the covenant and this “baptism marks them out as God’s elect people” which “is a status they maintain so long as they persevere in faithfulness” (Lusk, The Federal Vision, pp289). However it is possible to become un-elected. Steve Wilkins writes that “the elect are those who are faithful in Christ Jesus. If they later reject the Savior, they are no longer elect – they are cut off from the Elect One and thus, lose their elect standing” (Wilkins, The Federal Vision, pp58). So how do they come to this conclusion? John Barach explains: “I believe that the Bible teaches that God makes His covenant with believers and their children, but some in the covenant have not been predestined to eternal glory with Christ” (Barach, The Federal Vision, pp23).

The foundation of this teaching is a wrong understanding of the covenant of God. They teach that the covenant is conditional and that grace within the covenant is universal. So every child of believers are elect and in the covenant but one stays within the covenant and maintains their election through works. This they teach as the historic, confessional Reformed faith! The truth however is that they have introduced Arminianism into the theology of the covenant of God.

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Richard
CofE
UK

I think John Robbins designed it; though I am not aware of a bigger version online.

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

It turns out the graphic was designed by Jeff Meyers - an FV proponent.

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

Daniel:

Doug is blogging about you-
BLOG and MABLOG

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Rev. Daniel Kok
Pastor of Grace Reformed Church (URCNA)
Leduc, Alberta CANADA
Church Blog

"there is no creature, either in heaven or on earth, who loves us more than Jesus Christ"
Belgic Confession, Article 26

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Thanks, I know, but he has not answered the objection about the extent of the atonement or the unconditionality of election. Just more double-talk.

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)