Tag Archives: Calvinism vs. Arminianism

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These are sections from a book, "Why I am Not an Arminian" by Robert. A Peterson and Michael D. Williams.

"The doctrine of divine sovereignty has always posed a problem for Arminianism. It is not too much to say tht historically Aminian theology has tended to pit human freedom against divine sovereignty as if the two are mutually limiting or even mutually exclusive. "

"We believe that incompatibilism, whether determinist or indeterminist, is wrong. It is built upon a false, either-or assumption, an assumption that the Bible everywhere disavows. The contention that human freedom renders God incapable of exercising his kingly sovereignty or that divine ordination of history turns human beings into chess pieces who do not make meaningful choices is patently false from a Biblical perspective. We believe that Scripture assumes compatibilism, the view that divine sovereignty and responsible human freedom are not contradictory at all.

I don't want to write more at any one stretch (copyright stuff) - this is a great book that explains a lot about both reformed theology and Arminian theology in a fair and balanced way.

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I grew up in an Arminian church, in an Arminian family, in a largely Arminian town. When I "grew up", I married the son of an Arminian preacher and when my sister "grew up" she married an Arminian preacher.

So, the reaction to my conversion to Calvinism was underwhelming. Nobody criticized me, but nobody encouraged me.

Because I live in an area where Calvinist and Arminians work together on many things, when I wrote of my beliefs on-line, the animosity astounded me - on both sides.

When my friend Phil challenged me to take a good look at Calvinism, it took me a year to decide it was time to change churches and longer to choose which reformed denomination. After that, God led me to the “right” church fairly quickly.

I find a great freedom in just saying that God gets to pick – and there’s a lot I don’t know and there’s a lot I don’t have to know!