Nice isn't it? I'm a firm believer in the doctrines of grace. Sometimes the TULIP is known as 'Calvinism'. This makes me a little annoyed. Mainly because I don't believe that Calvin (even though he was a good Bible teacher) should get the credit for what is clearly taught in scripture. As a result of Calvin being so closely linked with 'Calvinism' people think that he was a guy who ranted on about election and the sovereignty of God all the time. Mike Reeves states (in a series of mp3's on Calvin's book 'The Institutes of Christian Religion') that there is very little in the institutes on election. Instead Calvin's main purpose of writing the book was to attack the heresy of the Catholic Church. MP3's available here. They're very good. Well worth a listen.
As you can see the diagram shows that all of the doctrines point to God's love and glory. With this said some people are angry Calvinists. Boo to them. They make Calvinism their all in all. Calvinism isn't Jesus, we can't worship it! We have to enjoy doctrine but not make it our God. We must fight for truth but not at the expense of love. We fight for truth with love as the primary motivation-love for God and people.
It's easy to let doctrine make us proud (1 Cor 8v1) that's why we need humble orthodoxy. A dedication to guarding, preserving, and fighting for clear objective truth. And a humility that constantly explains the message as people who are rescued not just 'right'...
...I got that last line from Josh Harris. It's not my own!
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