The Christian Science Monitor (which, by the way, has little to do with Christian Science and is a respected mainstream news source):
Much of modern Christianity preaches a comforting Home Depot theology: You can do it. We can help. Epitomized by popular titles like Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, this message of self-fulfillment through Christian commitment attracts followers in huge numbers, turning big churches into megachurches.
I agree. And I thought this comment was quite perceptive coming from a more or less secular news source:
From conservative evangelical churches to liberal new-age groups, the message of much modern teaching is man’s need for betterment. Not New Calvinism; its star is God’s need for glory. And the gravity of His will is great: It can be denied, but not defied.
Calvinists cannot lay exclusive claim to a concern for God’s glory; all regenerated people have that desire planted in their hearts as part of the New Covenant, no matter their formal theological affiliation. But I recently heard an Arminian leader admit that New Calvinism’s rise has been a response to excessive man-centeredness in American Christianity. May all Christians learn to be increasingly God-centered!
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