In our frequent exchanges with those who accept the idea of exhaustive determinism, we often hear that it's not a fair comparison to say that their philosophy makes people into robots, radio controlled planes, puppets (to include sockpuppets), or some similar deterministic automaton. They insist, despite every aspect of our being and our decisions having been meticulously crafted due to the 'Potter's freedom,' people actually do things of their own free will and are thus themselves still responsible for their own actions. For anyone who believes this to be a viable line of reasoning, we present a special offer....

Announcer:

"Ever had that urge to accomplish something truly vile, but don't want to be held responsible? Well your wait is over! Introducing:

Radio-controlled, flying free-agent ceramic sock-bots!

“The Remonstrants clearly were not Pelagians.”

You would think that such a statement comes from the lips or pen of an Arminian scholar or pastor, but it originally came from Reformed Baptist scholar Mark A. Ellis, who had even pastored a Reformed Baptist church. This quote appears in Ellis' introduction to his landmark scholarly translation of The Arminian Confession of 1621 (Mark A. Ellis [trans. and ed.], The Arminian Confession of 1621 [Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2005]). We are excited to be able to make this introduction available.* Click on this link to read the story behind this historically significant document.

_______________________________________

Here is an absolutely chilling quotes of John Calvin. It is hard to believe any Christian can believe such a thing:

John Calvin writes: “Solomon also teaches us that not only was the destruction of the ungodly foreknown, but the ungodly themselves have been created for the specific purpose of perishing (Prov. 16:4).” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, pp.207-208)

Wow.

[Note: This post was originally entitled, "Some Chilling Quotes of John Calvin", and gave three quotes. However, someone alerted us to the fact that, out of context, one of the quotes gave the wrong impression of Calvin's meaning, and that another quote was actually Calvin quoting an opponent's characterization of Calvin's view for the purpose of denying that to be his view. For more on this, see http://evangelicalarminians.org/node/863 .]

Since I spend so much time expounding upon what I find wrong in Calvinism, I thought I would briefly survey what I find right in Calvinism. This will be my brief quid pro quo -- lit. something for something. Since I am always offering people thoughts against Calvinism and never offering them insights of truth which Calvinism promotes, I thought it would be appropriate to do so -- to offer something for something.