S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

Calvinism and Arminianism are two systems of theology that attempt to explain the relationship between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility in the matter of salvation. Calvinism is named for ...

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July 01 2013 • 11 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Billy P Eldred Supporter

Let me say that I am the only person I know of that holds this view so be forewarned that this is my opinion only. 

I believe that both Calvinism and Armenianism are correct. I find scripture that supports both views. How can I say this, you ask, when they are basically opposites. The answer is, I believe, that they apply to two different groups of people. I believe there are those that God forechose to accomplice something specific in God's plan. For those, He placed an irrevocable, irresistible call and all five points of Calvinism apply to this group. 

Everyone else falls under the tenants of Armenianism. God wants us all to be saved and He has given us a free will to accept His plan for that Salvation. We have the ability to accept or reject that salvation and we can do so at any time, even after we have already accepted it. God did not create us as robots to just do what He would have us do. He wants us all to repent and accept Jesus as our Savior but the decision is ultimately up to us. 

The other thing is, God knows beforehand what we will do. This in no way changes what we will or can do. Also, we do not know which group we are in. Either way, we need to continue to believe and trust in Jesus as our Savior. Finally, whichever group we are in, in no way limits what God can use us to accomplish.

I believe that the reason for the two different groups is that God has a specific time table for certain events to transpire. (For instance, John the Baptist needed to be on the scene when Jesus came and most of the events in the Bible probably fall in this category.) But Jesus did many other things as well (and still does). 

I believe the entire Bible is true. I believe both Calvinism and Armen (or whatever his name was) were men of God and both were students of the same Bible. They came to two different conclusions though they were both filled with the same Spirit. Why, because different verses support both conclusions. It may just be my failing but this is the only way I can reconcile all scripture. And I believe as I said earlier that all scripture is true.

January 28 2015 • 5 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Michael Burch Supporter

As a Christian, I was a Southern Baptist for over 30 years. The only teaching I ever heard was the Arminian, or synergistic, concept of salvation. I believed that God opened my eyes to the truth of Reformed Theology about 4 years ago while listening to RC Sproul on the radio.

Ever since then, the truth of Calvinism and monergistic salvation seems to leap off the pages of the Bible every time I read it, going all the way back to the very beginnings of the Old Testament.

I believe that those holding to an Arminian view of salvation do a grave injustice to the sovereignty of God. To me, the concept I was always taught that God looks down the "tunnel of time" to see who would accept Christ is an affront to Him and renders Him little more than a bystander in the whole process.

January 27 2015 • 6 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

James Kraft Supporter 74 year old retired pipeline worker

My opinion is that both are doctrines made up by men who never understood the way of salvation in the first place. I believe what the bible says, and not the doctrines of men.

Galatians 1:8-9 There is only one gospel, the gospel of grace, and all other gospels are false gospels. I find fault with both Arminianism and Calvinism. 

Arminianism seems to be salvation by works instead of grace. It is trusting in your own righteousness to be saved. But Jesus is the only way of salvation. John 6:37-40

Calvinism says God only chooses those He wants to save and has condemned the rest to hell. Yet Jesus said He died for the sins of the whole world, and all that come to Him by faith He will in no wise cast out John 6:37

Calvinism says you have to persevere in he faith to stay saved. I believe that when I first trusted Jesus to save me He keeps me saved. Am I saved because I trusted Christ to save me, or did God choose me to be saved and I had nothing to do with it? John 3;18 Says we either believe the gospel and can no longer be condemned, or we do not believe it and are condemned already.

So I am neither one. I just believe what the bible says. I took Jesus as my savior by faith alone, and I can not be lost because Jesus paid for all my sin. Ephesians 2:8-9. I trusted in the free gift of salvation by grace, and can no longer be lost because Jesus paid my way to heaven. I can no longer go to hell to pay for my sins because Jesus paid the penalty for me.

I got saved the same way Abraham did. Romans 4:1-8 

If Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, and He draws all men to Himself to be saved, then I believe that He saves everyone that trusts in Him (accepts Him as our savior) will be saved.


God has made the way of salvation open to all that come to Christ by faith alone.

And Jesus said in that day MANY will come before me, and tell me about all their good works. Lord Lord, what about all of my good works, I taught Sunday School, I preached in your name, I even cast out demons and healed the sick. As Romans 4 says, you can justify yourself before men by what you do, but not before God. God justifies those that come to Him by faith, believing the gospel of grace for salvation. And Jesus told the Pharisees that there would be prostitutes in heaven before them.

We are either justified by faith alone in Christ alone or we have not believed in the only name above every name to save sinners. Jesus only came to save sinners, if you are not a sinner, then there is no need to apply to the blood of Jesus to save you. I am a sinner saved by grace, and I know I am going to heaven because Jesus paid for all my sin.

Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. Not my righteousness. My righteousness is nothing but filthy rags before a Holy God.

March 21 2017 • 7 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

John Appelt Supporter

Calvinism and Arminianism are two basic approaches to answering how people are saved. In a nutshell, Calvinism says God saves people by His sovereign will, and Arminianism says people have the free will or responsibility to believe to be saved. It boils down to the question, does God choose or does man choose? 

Or do they both choose? Some theologians attempt to combine both systems as a hybrid or see them as two equally valid vantage points. But still, someone has to make the final choice. The two systems still contradict each other. 

Calvinism and Arminianism and every variation in between are actually humanly devised schemes and interpretations that use a hodge-podge selection of Scriptures to support their positions but fall short of the truth. 

But the important thing is that this debate should never have taken place to begin with. It is based on assumptions. The futility of the debate can be illustrated this way: 

Suppose a number of graduates gather for an alumni reunion. At one point, one of them asks, “Who chose us to be graduates? Was it the Board of Education or was it us?” Those that hear him are either amused or confused because the question is not relevant at all. Everyone knows that they fulfilled the requirements for graduation and because of that, the institution conferred the degree with all its rights and privileges. Besides, the institution had this all planned for them from the very beginning when it was chartered well before they ever stepped foot in it.

In like fashion, Calvinists and Arminians wonder who chose them to salvation. Was it God or was it they themselves? Again, it is not relevant at all. Believers are sinners who fulfilled the requirement to believe on the Lord, and then God bestowed on them all the rights and privileges they deserve, that which He had planned even from the beginning of time. 

A verse that elucidates this is John 3:36. “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life.” Belief is the requirement and life is the privilege bestowed. The words of John 6:47 are Christ’s own promise to that effect. In this way, both parties, man and God, satisfactorily fulfilled their responsibilities.

This interpretation simplifies the doctrine of salvation. So, it is not Calvinism versus Arminianism, and not both or in the middle, but neither. This agrees fully with all the scriptures. 

There is no need for the labels “Calvinism” or “Arminianism” when looked at in this light. The debate is no longer necessary. The tragic thing is these are really old entrenched, lifeless, fossilized philosophies. The old relics of these confused, systematized theologies need to be discarded and forgotten. The matters of atonement, depravity, grace, predestination, perseverance, sovereignty, free will, etc., become peripheral discussions, not germane to the issue.

Calvinism vs Arminianism is an unnecessary battle that distracts from the truths of the Bible. These theologies muddy the pure Word of Truth and keep people from the truth of salvation.

December 20 2022 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report