The Tulip Driven Life

            I suppose there are many ways and places to start unraveling and explaining the teachings of Calvinism. Many may go through the acrostic TULIP which may be what Calvinism is most known for to those who are unfamiliar with what it teaches. And I’ve done that before, going through things point by point, but I am not going to do that this time. Instead, I am going to try and write in a more conversational tone, and address some of the common questions and objections that usually arise.             So I have decided to start with what it means to be a sinner. We have to start with ourselves, after all, before we can move on and understand anything else rightly. To put it succinctly- to be a sinner is to love self and sin, to live for self and sin, and to despise God and His law/commandments by our very nature . For many Christians, including myself before I really studied the Bible, I put little thought into what it meant to be a sinner. In fact, I thought that was a rather

            There are really only two questions that matter in life: are you a Christian, and are you a Calvinist? The first, being a Christian, determines who you live for- yourself, or the God of the Bible. The second, being a Calvinist, describes how you actually know God, think of God, and ultimately live for God, as a Christian. Being a Christian means you live for Christ, and being a Calvinist is the correct way to live for Christ, at least for the purpose of this writing.                                  I say that without hesitation. I have come to learn, in the nearly three years of embracing and growing in the doctrines of grace (the doctrines of grace being another name for Calvinism), that you can’t fully know God, love God, and live God apart from Calvinism. To be a Christian and yet to not be a Calvinist is like being married and barely knowing your spouse. A Christian who thinks he or she knows God, loves God, and lives for God, yet denies or is ignorant of the truths