The pyramid of common grace

[FSSL]

Below is a diagram. It was first presented by a Dutch Reformed pastor in the 1700s I believe. The name escapes me. Nevertheless... it is helpful for me to understand the world we live in.

This represents the distribution of common grace in society. The lowest part of the pyramid expresses the wide distribution of common grace. Most people do not argue about math. It is based on commonly accepted truths like 2+2=4.

As you ascend up the pyramid, the distribution of common grace shrinks. As you get to the top of the pyramid, many people do not have common grace as it relates to Ethics.

THEN, for the Christian, who is above the pyramid (because of special grace), there is a completely different understanding about God, salvation and biblical truths.

I hope this is clear. It helps me understand the Christian worldview as it relates to the rest of the world.

 

[Izdaari]

Interesting. I'm really not sure what to make of it.

 

[Ransom]

Below is a diagram. It was first presented by a Dutch Reformed pastor in the 1700s I believe.

Though apparently updated in more recent years, as abortion and gender identity would not have been as significant concerns in the 1700s. And "science" and "biology" are 19th-century terms in their present usages.

I'd love to see the original formulation that your Dutch pastor used, though.

 

[FSSL]

Below is a diagram. It was first presented by a Dutch Reformed pastor in the 1700s I believe.

Though apparently updated in more recent years, as abortion and gender identity would not have been as significant concerns in the 1700s. And "science" and "biology" are 19th-century terms in their present usages.

I'd love to see the original formulation that your Dutch pastor used, though.

Right. This is my modification of the original which I cannot find.

 

[Ransom]

This is my modification of the original which I cannot find.

Ah!

Well, if the original turns up, post it!

 

[subllibrm]

Ya gotta be careful with them thar' Dutchmen. We don't call 'em Hollanders for nuttin'.

 

[prophet]

Ya gotta be careful with them thar' Dutchmen. We don't call 'em Hollanders for nuttin'.

There may not be anyone else here that knows that term, so....
It is NOT a complement!

earnestly contend

 

[Izdaari]

Ya gotta be careful with them thar' Dutchmen. We don't call 'em Hollanders for nuttin'.

There may not be anyone else here that knows that term, so....
It is NOT a complement!

earnestly contend

I know who Xaviera Hollander is. She's an, uh, interesting character.

 

[FSSL]

I think the concept above was developed by Abraham Kuyper. So that puts him in the early 1900s. I just got one of his books. The chart is not in the book, but the concepts are there. Still looking...


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[subllibrm]

I think the concept above was developed by Abraham Kuyper. So that puts him in the early 1900s. I just got one of his books. The chart is not in the book, but the concepts are there. Still looking...

Of Kuyper College fame?

 

[Ransom]

Of Kuyper College fame?

Same guy, but there's no connection apart from the school being named after him. Kuyper was a Reformed theologian and the prime minister of the Netherlands around the turn of the 20th century. He also founded the Free University of Amsterdam ("free" as in independent of government or church), so he's a natural for naming a Christian school after.

 

[subllibrm]

Of Kuyper College fame?

Same guy, but there's no connection apart from the school being named after him. Kuyper was a Reformed theologian and the prime minister of the Netherlands around the turn of the 20th century. He also founded the Free University of Amsterdam ("free" as in independent of government or church), so he's a natural for naming a Christian school after.

Gottcha. Quite a few of my friends went there (the one in Grand Rapids MI, in case there are others). They changed the name a number of years back. It had been Reformed Bible College. Small school. They have a co-op relationship with Calvin for the hard sciences.

 

[Ransom]

Gottcha. Quite a few of my friends went there (the one in Grand Rapids MI, in case there are others). They changed the name a number of years back. It had been Reformed Bible College. Small school. They have a co-op relationship with Calvin for the hard sciences.

Kuyper's theology of "sphere sovereignty" laid the theological basis for church organizations operating their own institutions (schools, hospitals, etc.). So I think it can be fairly argued that without him, schools like Kuyper or Calvin wouldn't exist as such.