The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Question about Calvinism from Arminian brother

My friend Pilgrim,

As I am participating in this discussion, I am being very careful to make sure that I fully understand your points, from your point of view before responding and that my response is something that encourages you to deeper thinking. I'm careful not to have any tone, and please let me know if I do, that might be belittling or argumentative. Let us be examples to the world on how to discuss our disagreements.

Now, I apologize for such a brief point, but can you please explain how you can argue that the following four statements are all true. You are correct in that I am not comprehending how you can state that all of these statements are true.

1. No action by any man will have any bearing on the salvation of any man.
2. Man DOES have a 'choice' and is wholly responsible to make that choice.
3. That choice does have a definite bearing upon one's salvation.
4. The bringing of the Gospel and a person's response to it are certainly to be considered "actions".

If we work this backwards and simplify, you are saying:

1. The action (bringing the Gospel) is a choice that has bearing upon one's salvation.
2. No action by man can have a bearing upon one's salvation.

I'm sure that you can see how supporting two opposites is confusing to me.

Another apparent self contradiction is where you say "All these things are done most freely, i.e., without a forcing of man's will" and yet you believe in Irresistible Salvation and Unconditional Election. In fact, you probably also believe in Compatibilistic Free Will, which states that God does not coerce man to choose against his will, but rather sovereignly determines what man wills in the first place. How is "determining what a man wills" not "forcing a man's will"?


1. No, of course not. That's the whole point of Arminianism.
2. N/A