Arminianism and Calvinism
I've alluded to this before, so I felt that I might as well dig into it.
From spreadinglight.com:
The clash between these two views comes down to a matter of free will and whether we have any at all as compared to what God wills. Some will say that God will override human will in all cases if God wills something different. Others say that God gave humans free will and because he created humans with free will, he will not override. Finally, there are some who do not believe humans have free will and that the sovereignty of God causes everything to happen.
I will examine the five points of Calvinism and contrast them with Arminianism. To save my fingers from typing the words a hundred times, I’ll use (C) for Calvinism and (A) for Arminianism from now on.
(C) Total Depravity vs. (A) Natural Ability
Total depravity is best explained by quoting Romans in saying, “no one seeks God, no not one.” Because of an inherent sinful nature, man does not search for God and will not ever. Natural ability is not the idea that man can save himself but rather once prodded by the Holy Spirit a person may choose Christ. Man, while flawed, is not so bad that he will never look to God on his own....
(C) Unconditional Election vs. (A) Election based on (fore)knowledge
In Unconditional Election, God hand selects who is going to be saved. No matter what a person may have to say about it, God is going to save them despite themselves....
Election based on (fore)knowledge acknowledges that the Bible speaks of people being elect. The argument is made that God knew how a person would react to the gospel before it was ever presented to them. It is not a matter of God forcing His will on anyone, but rather God knew they would become saved and God chose them because of that....
(C) Limited Atonement vs. (A) Unlimited Atonement
...In limited atonement, Christ died only for the elect....This is the point which some Calvinists stumble. Some willingly accept the other four points of Calvinism but believe in unlimited atonement. They are dubbed by some as “four point Calvinists.”
Unlimited atonement is much easier to explain and to believe for most. Christ died for the world....
(C) Irresistible Grace vs. (A) Prevenient Grace
Irresistible grace is the notion that when God extends grace to a person, they have no chance, opportunity, or will to reject it. Just as in the case of unconditional election, the person has no choice over the matter. Prevenient grace is grace that is extended to a believer before salvation. It is a matter of God opening the doors to heaven and a person choosing for themselves to walk through....
(C) Perseverance of the Saints vs. (A) Conditional Perseverance
Perseverance of the Saints is the idea that once a person is saved, they are always saved. Because God has elected them and they had no choice in the matter, no one has any choice in the matter of becoming “unsaved.”...Conditional Perseverance believes that salvation is dependent upon faith. If a person stops believing in Jesus to take away their sins, they are no longer saved....
The important thing to remember is that both believe that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and him alone.
I do not wish to downplay the issue but as long as both sides agree on this, everything else - even what actually happens in the process of it all - is pretty trivial.
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