We Are Arminian

Jacobus Arminius
Rachel Held Evans has a fun blog posting about how to make arminianism cool. This is good stuff for United Methodists to talk about. Heather Hahn, a United Methodist news reporter, has an interesting article here. She briefly explains,

"In John Wesley’s day, the big debate among Protestants took place between two theological schools: the Calvinists and the Arminians. The Calvinists took their name from John Calvin, the 16th century reformer who taught that God predestines the elect for salvation and foreordains eternal damnation for others. Calvin emphasized God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge.

"The Arminians take their name from Jacobus Arminius, a Dutch priest who was born around the time Calvin died. Arminius criticized Calvin and his followers for limiting God’s salvation. Arminius taught that God gave humans the free will to accept or reject God’s love. John Wesley was firmly in the Arminian camp."

Here is another good article that speaks to the issue of arminianism in the UMC. Many of the people I meet in United Methodist congregations have not learned the differences between these two schools of theology, and therefore do not understand our (UM) theological positioning.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 12, 2011 at 10:34 AM

    This was a truly interesting article. It poses some very difficult points to grasp as believers. I definitely feel that I do not agree with the TULIP model and that I would struggle to agree with double predestination as it would seem to remove our role in our saving relationship. What I still must reconcile in my mind is how we as believers can be confident in our eternal salvation if our confession and belief in Jesus Christ has not assured it because I can see the scriptures lay out that any practice of sin still puts us at enmity. Do we bounce in and out of salvation? This is the ongoing debate in my mind and this article helps bring more items into the debate. I appreciate the article. - Joe Dunnwald

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  2. John LoukMay 12, 2011 at 11:13 AM

    Thanks, Joe. Yes, as United Methodists (at least following John Wesley's theology) we do believe that "backsliding" can occur. That is, even after salvation, we can still turn away from God and lose our salvation. That is part of the free will. But that is different than simply sinning. We continue to sin as humans, even after our salvation, but we get better at repenting and returning to the Lord. What do you think about that?!

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