Calvin and TULIP

This is my first blog entry, and so requires a little explaination.

My father, Rev. David Greentree Snr. is an Anglican Priest, so I have always grown up with Christianity. My mother, a doctor, is also an excellent Christian with a deep understanding, so I grew up discussing theology round the dinner table, where my parents indulgently gave my childhood opinions more attention than they perhaps deserved. This encouraged me to think widely and express opinions freely, without worrying about how famous a person one was disagreeing with. Therefore, I realise I must appear somewhat arrogant to others when I wade into deep theological debates with no more than an honours degree in Philosophy. None the less, if it seems wrong to me, should I remain silent? I will leave it to whatever readers come along to judge if I add anything tot he debate, and add their own attenpts at correcting me to the comments box.

What can I say? Calvin irritates me. And Calvinists more so. Apologies to present company, if you happen to be a Calvinist.

So I have been reading up on the Calvinist - Arminian debate. Start with a bit of history to the debate so you know what I am talking about. Wikipedia, whatever its limitations, gives a great overview of this:

John Calvin wrote his Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536, and espoused various Augustinian doctrines, particularly:
Total depravity, Unconditional Election and Irresistable Grace. (To be explained later)

Jacob Arminius disputed these teachings, and his followers issued the 5 points of Remonstrance:
Conditonal Predestination, Universal Atonement, Inability for man to save himself, Grace is not Irresistable, Saints do not necessarily persevere.

So the council of Dort issued its summary of Calvinism in repsonse, commonly known as the 5 points of Calvinism, or TULIP:
Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace and Perserverance of the Saints.

When I first heard of TULIP and read Calvin's Institutes, various objections of my own sprung up very quickly just from the piece of scripture I could easily recall to mind. I found myself readily agreeing with one of Arminius' teachers, Johann Kolmann who taught that high Calvinism made God both a Tyrant and an Executioner.
However, when I read Calvin again, I realised he was entirely fmailiar with these passages and he recommends a back projected reading onto them that accomodates his own theories, which I find a distrubing attitude to scripture. So I think it is best to start with describing accurately exactly what TULIP is. When I later read the 5 points of the Arminian remonstrants, I found they had neatly captured many of the objections that had immediately occured to me, so to give them their due credit, I ought explain them next. And then I would like to have my say, if you are patient enough to bear with me that long...and you can judge yourself whether I add anything worthwhile to the debate.

Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistable Grace
Perserverance of the Saints...

Next time.