The Five Points of Galvanism by W. W. Wuuwuu
I'll be frank. I don't have much use for theology. But my grandson, Wayne, a freshman in seminary down East, insisted I take notes for him during our church's lecture series. I told him I don't take notes all that well, but he just laughed and said, "That's o.k., Pops. Do your best." So I did. Four pages worth. But wouldn't you know it, my hearing aid wasn't working so well that Wednesday night (I don't have much use for high-tech, either). So if these notes aren't too good -- well, I did my best.
The speaker, an Englishman with a pipe and a strong accent, said he had a few points to make. Called them the "Five Points of Galvanism". He never did explain what Galvanism is, so I penciled a note to myself in the margin to look it up later, which I did. But as to which definition of "galvanize" this Galvanism refers I'll leave to Wayne to figure out. The dictionary gave three, but I don't see how any of them other than the second could possibly apply. The first definition said, "To stimulate or shock with an electric current." The second said, "To arouse to awareness or action." And the third said, "To coat (iron or steel) with rust-resistant zinc." From what I got out of the lecture, I felt the right definition must be somewhere between number one and number two. Not that I know anything about theology, but I could imagine someone being shocked by what this English gentleman had to say, and then wanting to do something about it.
I didn't follow the discussion all that well, but as for the Five Points themselves, I remember them clearly because they made up an acrostic spelling of TULIP when you wrote them down in a neat column. They looked like this on paper:
Total Grace
Unconditional Atonement
Limited Saints
Irresistible Election
Perseverance of Depravity
When it was all over, I started checking out this TULIP in the pages of my Bible and decided the old boy wasn't too far off. Mind you, I'm not too much on theology, but I can whip the best of them when it comes to plain old Bible. As a matter of fact, I came up with a verse or two to substantiate each of the points.
Total Grace, for instance. I found Ephesians 2:8,9 to support it. It says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."
Then there was Romans 5:10 for Unconditional Atonement: "...when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son...".
For Limited Saints I found 2 Corinthians 4:7 which says, "...we have this treasure in earthen vessels...".
And for Irresistible Election, Isaiah 42:1 and 4 says this: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth....He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth...".
Finally, for Perseverance of Depravity, I hit upon a couple of verses in Romans 7 and 8: "...I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members...", and, "...we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
Like I said, the Five Points seemed biblical enough, but the theological folderol that followed on the heels of each of these points left me pretty high and dry. And I certainly had no use whatever for the fellow's frequent ethnic remarks (he kept denigrating the citizens of Armenia for some obscure reason). But all in all I suppose it was a pretty good lecture, as theological lectures go, and I trust Wayne will appreciate my copious notes. Still, why anyone would want to dedicate his life to the study of such things is way beyond me.
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