 |
| Is it predestined that I drew this card? |
Most people summarise Calvinism via TULIP. However, this fails to understand why TULIP was created (and that Calvin did outline much more stuff). TULIP was created to summarise Calvinists' objections to the Arminians, rather than condensing the entire theology of Calvin.
Who are the Arminians?The Arminians follow the theology of Dutch reformist Jacobus Arminius, who argued that salvation was a cooperation between God and humans. Traditionally, Methodists do adopted Arminianism.
Calvinists, on the other hand, argued that salvation was purely God's choice, and outlined their argument points through the acronym TULIP.
T- Total Depravity
T- Total Depravity
Calvinists believe that humans are unable to choose to follow God due to sinful human nature. In others words, humans cannot follow God through their own effort.
Arminians believe that while humans are sinful, they can make themselves "saveable".
U- Unconditional Election
Calvinists argue that God chooses (or has predestined) who He will save and not save based on His mercy alone.
Arminians on the other hand, explain that humans can be saved by making themselves "saveable" (such through repentance and submission to God).
L- Limited Atonement
Calvinist believe that since God chooses who to save, only some (who were elected) will be atoned by Jesus's sacrifice.
On the other hand, Arminians believe that every human has the potential to be saved. It depends wheteher they cooperate with God to be "saveable".
On the other hand, Arminians believe that humans can reject cooperation with God's will.
P- Preservation of Saints
Calvinists assert that since God is sovereign, then He will save who ever has been predestined to be saved.
Arminians assert that people, through lack of coopeartion with God, can lose their salvation.
For more details:
