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Narrator: Hey, why are Calvinists so mean? The answer to that and other questions on Key Life. Welcome to Key Life. Our host and teacher is Steve Brown. He's nobody's guru, but he does have honest answers to hard questions about the Bible. God's grace changes everything: how we love, work, live, lead, marry, parent, evangelize, and worship. Now, here's Steve and Pete Alwinson from Forge Truth with street smart Bible teaching for real life.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. Don't say a word. We'll get to it when we get to it, okay?

Pete Alwinson: You've been very difficult to deal with all day.

Steve Brown: That's Pete Alwinson, and by the way, go to forgetruth.com. Trust me on this, especially if you're a guy and you identify as a guy, you will get so much. There is a dynamite podcast at forgetruth.com. Lots of great teaching that can be life-changing.

As you know, Pete comes in and we answer questions on Friday, and we honestly respect you and love your questions. You can ask a question anytime. You can call 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That's 1-800-539-5433.

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Pete, why don't you pray for us and we'll get to some of these questions.

Pete Alwinson: You got it. You got it. Our holy God, it's Friday, and we come to you now and we pause and take a deep breath and thank you for who you are and what you've been doing all week.

We thank you that you never change. Your affections toward us never waver, that you are the God who has a plan for us, and you've had that plan before the foundation of the world. We honor you, we revere you, and we thank you that you included us in your plan and we give you praise.

Lord, we need you. We have a lot of needs, and we're not going to lie. We need your strength, we need your wisdom, we need love for people that we don't love. We need forgiveness of things we don't want to talk about. And so we come to you right now and we ask that you would continue your work in our life. And even this weekend, Lord, we we really ask that you would use our church, use the worship, use the preaching of the word. May our pastors be bold and straightforward and just give us your truth.

May they also understand the gospel in a deep way and apply it to our lives. And so Father, we need you, and we ask for great worship, that your church would thrive in America and around the world until you come back, our Lord and Savior Jesus. Until then, may we be faithful to you. Thanks for Key Life. Thank you for Steve and the great crew here. We commit us all of ourselves to you and this Q&A now, in your holy name, Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Steve Brown: Amen. Pete, this is an email. It is my perception that those with Calvinist leanings generally tend to be pretty negative people. Is something wrong with my perception or is there a reason for that? You know, I I get asked that question a lot. People know I'm a Calvinist, and I get asked, because evidently I'm not seen as being mean. I get

Pete Alwinson: Oh, I see you as mean.

Steve Brown: I know, but that's because you know me. But most people don't know me, and I come over generally a pretty nice.

Pete Alwinson: Of course.

Steve Brown: Of course. So people come up to me and say, "Listen, why are you Calvinists so mean?" And I get it over and over again. Now, there are two reasons for that.

Pete Alwinson: Okay. One.

Steve Brown: The first is we're right. That irritates other people. No, I don't want to do that.

Pete Alwinson: Wait, you weren't talking about it?

Steve Brown: But there's a sense in which the gift that reformed people bring to the church, and every group and heritage brings a gift.

Pete Alwinson: I agree with that.

Steve Brown: And somebody said the Episcopalians bring a fife. I didn't say that just came before I could stop it.

Pete Alwinson: That's right, yeah.

Steve Brown: And but I do believe there's something to that, and I do think that reformed people bring the organization of theology. It's organized, it's systematic, it's biblical, and maybe sometimes they seem mean when they are really concerned about truth.

Pete Alwinson: You know, I I wonder about that because you're not mean. I mean, I remember when I years ago said, "Hey, would you be my mentor?" And you said yes. I I fully said thought you were going to say no, not from your teaching, but just how busy you were. And I I don't think I'm a particularly mean person. I do think that we I am I'm a truth person, and I know you are. And I think that we I do think you're right. I think the the calling the reformed niche in a sense is the gift we bring. The gift we bring is not a fife. It's it's to know the truth in all of its accuracy. And so temperament plays a part in that.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And and that we could be a little punctilious, we could be a little bit, uh.

Steve Brown: Yeah, you it could be. And some people are drawn to the reformed faith because of that temperament.

Pete Alwinson: Because of that, that's right.

Steve Brown: And and so we've got those of us who are reformed need to be very careful.

Pete Alwinson: I agree.

Steve Brown: You used words, and we were discussing before we came in here about being winsomely reformed.

Pete Alwinson: Yeah.

Steve Brown: And you were talking about how the church you pastored and where I was a member forever. You made an effort to be winsomely reformed.

Pete Alwinson: Right. Right.

Steve Brown: And that's because you knew the dangers of being right. It's it's the most dangerous place you are.

Pete Alwinson: If you and I think what happens is when we when we first a lot of a lot of these young guys that that come to reformed theology, and they they go, "I I got it. I got it. And I'm right."

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: And but they haven't put together spiritual maturity and identity in Christ. They haven't led gone to humility. And if you don't get there from grace, then you'll you'll get you'll go right into arrogance.

Steve Brown: Exactly.

Pete Alwinson: And you can stay that way the rest of your life. And self-righteousness, yeah.

Steve Brown: Self-righteousness.

Pete Alwinson: That's right. I know all the truth.

Steve Brown: But sometimes and then back to that original thing. And I don't think that reformed people have all truth by any means.

Pete Alwinson: No, huh.

Steve Brown: I just think that we systematize it in a way that is communicable and very helpful for the body of Christ. And it doesn't mean you have to walk that walk in order to be saved or buy into the five points of Calvinism in order to, but I think we do bring that thinking gift.

And you and sometimes just being sure that this is the way the Bible teaches it can be irritating to people and they think we're mean when maybe we're not.

Pete Alwinson: I I think there's some elements to that and I I think we also recognize the gifts that other people bring, our charismatic brothers, bring in and sisters bring in encouragement, joy, confidence, faith, they bring a lot to us.

Steve Brown: Right.

Pete Alwinson: And and and worship and and so, you know, we recognize those and we need to recognize those gifts.

Steve Brown: We do, absolutely. And and uh we've tried. You know, there was a time when Key Life was the only broadcast on Christian radio that that was reformed.

Pete Alwinson: Huh.

Steve Brown: You know, almost all of them were dispensational.

Pete Alwinson: Grace and reform.

Steve Brown: Yeah, that's true. And and so I really and this has been 30 years ago. I really thought, you know, I've got to be so careful.

Pete Alwinson: Yeah.

Steve Brown: I really need to be careful. And so I tried to do the things that you just said. And said so well.

Pete Alwinson: And you have. I I would say in the family, when it comes to matters of biblical interpretation and doctrine, we need to be lovingly we need to listen to each other better. And and we need to look at the text of scripture better and realize that some people will help us unpack it better. I don't care what denomination you're in or what church you're in.

Steve Brown: That's true. That's true.

Pete Alwinson: And we need to learn from each other in a loving manner.

Steve Brown: I agree. I and I I have such a desire that we do that. I really do, and I know you do.

Pete Alwinson: Yep. I do.

Steve Brown: And that brings me even to another one. You you have a number of Roman Catholics that come to Forge.

Pete Alwinson: Oh my goodness, yeah, we do.

Steve Brown: Okay, let me give you the question.

Pete Alwinson: All right.

Steve Brown: You have to answer with a yes or no because we're running out of time. I'm confused about Christianity and Catholics. Are there differences in the religion or do they overlap in belief?

Pete Alwinson: Yes, they overlap in belief.

Steve Brown: They really do. I mean, we both accept the Apostle's Creed as the basic belief system, but we all add a whole bunch more, and that's where you get into trouble.

Pete Alwinson: That's right. That's right. If we emphasize, I find with my Catholic brothers, when I emphasize Christ Christ alone for salvation and they shake their heads yes. I mean, we're we're in.

Steve Brown: We're in the same family.

Pete Alwinson: In the same family.

Steve Brown: Yeah, and you got to be careful when you when when you start ruling people out who are your brothers and sisters in Christ. I've noticed that people who have come out of Catholicism have a tendency to be anti-Catholic. And those who come out of Protestantism have a tendency to be anti-Protestant.

Pete Alwinson: Interesting.

Steve Brown: And I remember when the Vatican Council took place, and I was working as a morning disc jockey in Boston, and the man who owned the station never spoke to me.

Pete Alwinson: Huh.

Steve Brown: And he came in after the Vatican Council with Pope John, sat down across from me in the control room where I was working, and said, "Steve, for the first time, I feel like I can speak to you."

Pete Alwinson: Wow.

Steve Brown: And I said, "Why is that?" He said, "Because I always thought of you as a dark Protestant." And so we listen, the world hates us. We can't afford to pretend that we're not in the same family. So enough about that.

Pete Alwinson: That's right. Name the name of Jesus, we're in the same family.

Steve Brown: Everybody who belongs to Jesus belongs to everybody who belongs to Jesus.

Narrator: And Key Life is a listener-supported production of Key Life Network.