TULIP was written to refute Arminius’ points.Free-Will or Human AbilityAlthough human nature was seriously affected by the fall, man has not been left in a state of total spiritual helplessness. God graciously enables every sinner to repent and believe, but He does not interfere with man’s freedom. Each sinner possesses a free will, and his eternal destiny depends on how he uses it. Man’s freedom consists of his ability to choose good over evil in spiritual matters; his will is not enslaved to his sinful nature. The sinner has the power to either cooperate with God’s Spirit and be regenerated or resist God’s grace and perish. The lost sinner needs the Spirit’s assistance, but he does not have to be regenerated by the Spirit before he can believe, for faith is man’s act and precedes the new birth. Faith is the sinner’s gift to God; it is man’s contribution to salvation.
Total Inability or Total Depravity
Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not - indeed he cannot - choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit’s assistance to bring a sinner to Christ - it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God’s gift of salvation - it is God’s gift to the sinner, not the sinner’s gift to God.
We are totally depraved or we aren’t totally depraved. Saying Calvinism and Arminianism are not mutually exclusive still doesn’t explain to me how you can be both TOTALLY depraved and partially depraved at the same time?The Canons of Dordt The Decision of the Synod of Dordt on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands is popularly known as the Canons of Dordt. It consists of statements of doctrine adopted by the great Synod of Dordt which met in the city of Dordrecht in 1618-19. Although this was a national synod of the Reformed churches of the Netherlands, it had an international character, since it was composed not only of Dutch delegates but also of twenty-six delegates from eight foreign countries.
The Synod of Dordt was held in order to settle a serious controversy in the Dutch churches initiated by the rise of Arminianism. Jacob Arminius, a theological professor at Leiden University, questioned the teaching of Calvin and his followers on a number of important points. After Arminius’s death, his own followers presented their views on five of these points in the Remonstrance of 1610. In this document or in later more explicit writings, the Arminians taught election based on foreseen faith, universal atonement, partial depravity, resistible grace, and the possibility of a lapse from grace. In the Canons the Synod of Dordt rejected these views and set forth the Reformed doctrine on these points, namely, unconditional election, limited atonement, total depravity, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of saints.
The Canons have a special character because of their original purpose as a judicial decision on the doctrinal points in dispute during the Arminian controversy. The original preface called them a “judgment, in which both the true view, agreeing with God’s Word, concerning the aforesaid five points of doctrine is explained, and the false view, disagreeing with God’s Word, is rejected.” The Canons also have a limited character in that they do not cover the whole range of doctrine, but focus on the five points of doctrine in dispute.
** Each of the main points consists of a positive and a negative part, the former being an exposition of the Reformed doctrine on the subject, the latter a repudiation of the corresponding errors. **
As I said the entire framing of the issues come from Calvin not from the Church.Arminius believed quite differently on those 5 points than Calvin. So different that a council was called to write TULIP to Refute everything he said.
Calvinism
Total Depravity
Arminianism
NOT Totally Depraved
Now, can you explain to me how they are the same??
The framing of the issues doesn’t define the issues.As I said the entire framing of the issues come from Calvin not from the Church.
CDL
One may have to get outside of the reformed tradition in order to understand the issue.The framing of the issues doesn’t define the issues.
Remonstrants ARE outside the reformed tradition. This is my point. I don’t believe in Total Depravity. I am Protestant. I’m not Reformed.One may have to get outside of the reformed tradition in order to understand the issue.
CDL
Please explain to me your understanding of original sin as it relates to Prevenient Grace.Remonstrants ARE outside the reformed tradition. This is my point. I don’t believe in Total Depravity. I am Protestant. I’m not Reformed.
OK well honesty, I had to think about this quite a bit, mainly because the terms are not ones I usually use. I’ m a bit under the weather tonight, so hopefully I’ll still make sense.Please explain to me your understanding of original sin as it relates to Prevenient Grace.
CDL