Brandon's Blog

Have you ever been talking with a friend and said, in reference to another friend, "Yeah, he's a good guy". For most of you out there, that comment goes in and out of the ear of the listener, giving him no reason for pause or surprise. If you live in my world though, that comment can get you a strange look or even a rebuke.

I'm a Reformed Christian. If you like it, I'm a TULIP Christian (a Calvinist). That "T" on the tulip means "Total depravity". That doctrine states that man has a complete inability to work his own way to God. Salvation cannot be attained by our hands; it is only the gift of God as He grants us faith and repentance, which inevitably cause us to walk down the not-so-primrose path of sanctification. The doctrine is very Biblical and even practical. Total depravity's emphasis on the sinfulness of our hearts and minds rings true of the Biblical text and our human experience.

Yet I feel that Reformed people take this doctrine so far that I cannot even say that someone is a good guy. Am I not allowed to use the parlance of our times to express that a fellow (Christian or not) is a decent human being? Is my language to be so couched in theological terms that if I want to express someone's generally good morals, I have to say "Yeah, he's a good guy, but he's not good enough to earn his salvation!"?

You might ask "How do you know that he's a good guy?" or "What makes a good guy?", and I'll respond: a good guy is a guy who is generally good. A moral fellow. A man of decency, even chivalry. Y'know, Jimmy Stewart in "It's A Wonderful Life". True, I know this man is getting hard to find in this day and age, and I know that even though he's moral, he's still a sinner. Yet, I'd very much like my colloquialism back. It's been hijacked by John Calvin's kids.