Calvinism

I plan on coming back to "The Reason For God" posts. But I want to spend some time dealing with what is called Calvinism. I am a Calvinist and I think it would be profitable for everyone to understand what that is and what it is not. One thing I see many times, and I was once guilty of it myself, is that most people build a straw man argument when they argue against Calvinism. I don't mind if someone disagrees with me, but I think it is rude to misrepresent someone. Sometimes I am accidentally "rude" in this way, but never mean to be. When I am I try to admit it. I hope as some read this, if they thought Calvinism was something it is not, that they will at the very least admit they misunderstood it.

I want to simply introduce some points tonight and over the next few weeks/months I will tackle the more in depth version. First of all Calvinism has nothing to do with following John Calvin. I will take you through the history of this debate as best I can in short increments. I want to keep it simple so I will not be exhaustive by any means. This will be a skeletal study. But for now, John Calvin really had nothing to do with the construction of what is known as the 5 points of Calvinism.

Actaully, it may surprise you that the other side were more direct followers of a man than were those who adhered to these 5 points. The other side is best known as Arminians. They were followers of Arminius, literally, although they carried things a little further than he.

The 5 points of Calvinism are 5 doctrines. They are easily remembered by the acrostic TULIP

T=Toatal Depravity
U=Unconditional Election
L=Limited Atonement
I=Irresistible Grace
P=Perseverance of the Saints

These 5 points are essential to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And they are all dependent on each other. I hope to get to this soon. I will try to do the historical side and the Scriptural support.