Dear Pilgrim,

Yes, I am familiar with Augustine and his doctrine, I also know of the Essenes and their similar beliefs. I think we crossed our wires here a bit. My only point was that one not need be a Calvinist to be a Protestant. I tried to prove this because you said, "Protestantism" IS Calvinism to one degree or another." And so I thought you were trying to back up the idea that I was not really a Protestant if I wasn't a Calvinist. For this to be true, it would imply that all Protestants were Calvinists (which is of course not true). That Calvinism was dominant at the start of the Reformation, you are correct and I will not contest that. But just as many of the creeds contained ideas and truths that pre-dated the Reformation by a thousand years, the creeds themselves were products of the Reformation. So yes, I do believe that Calvinism proper was an offshoot of Protestantism, even though some of the ideas in Calvinism probably pre-dated the incarnation of Christ. I'll leave it at that.

Concerning Revelation 22:19, you wrote:
"It is speaking of those who would remove parts of the inspired text (Revelation) for whatever reason. In doing so, they show that they had no part in the book of life, nor of the holy city, but contrariwise, they are false prophets, enemies of God, etc."

But my point is that they could not have their part "taken away" (lit. to take from, take away, remove, to cut off) if they had no part in the first place. Read it for what it says, it does not say, "And if any man take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, it shall be manifest that he does not have a part in the book of life, the holy city..." It says "God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city..."


In Christ,
Josh