The Calvinism Debate - Way of Life Literature

I am convinced that John Calvin has caused great andunnecessary divisions among God’s people because ofdogmatizing his philosophy about God’s sovereignty andelection. If men were le simply to believe the Bible’s ownstatements on these matters and if men were not forced todecide between the man-made theologies called “Calvinism”and “Arminianism,” the Christian world would be muchbetter off and many artificial and unnecessary divisionswould not have resulted.e Bible says “prove all things; hold fast that which isgood” (1 ess. 5:21). e Bible itself is the test of truth, notsome man’s systematic theology. I have the right andresponsibility to test every theology by the Bible, and I amfree before the Lord to reject any part of it or all of it. I do nothave to make a choice between human theologies. I can standstrictly and exclusively upon the Bible itself, the SOLEauthority for faith and practice. Many Calvinists won’t allowthat, though. James White, author of “e Truth about theKing James Bible Controversy” and “e Potter’s Freedom”and several other books, wrote to me in about the year 1999and challenged me to a public debate. He urged me to “defendArminianism.” at is a strange notion, because I don’t followArminianism and I don’t care anything about Arminianism. Ihave studied the theology of James Arminius some and I finderrors in it just as I have found errors in John Calvin’stheology. ough I do believe that Arminius was closer to thetruth than Calvin, this does not mean that I have anyintention to “defend Arminianism.” White has the idea that isso typical among Calvinists that if a man is not a Calvinist, heis surely an Arminian.is idea actually began with Calvin. He treated those whodisagreed with his position on election as enemies of Godand of the gospel and would not admit that men can rejectCalvinism and still believe God’s Word! From the time that Iwas saved by God’s marvelous and free grace 36 years agountil this very day, I have wanted to understand the will of10