They (the non-Calvinist crowd) really do think that what we teach is that we are a bunch of antinomian robots who never move an inch towards God, rather we are dragged kicking and screaming against our wills by a terrible tyrant who cares nothing for us.
I tire of this mischaracterization, and almost feel that it is fruitless to argue with these people any longer.
I think it's fascinating to see these guys in action. Both Grammer and ftd post these quotes (well, ftd didn't actually quote Melanchthon -suprise suprise) of Melanchthon and they go hand in hand with everything we've ever professed.
One can find nearly identical statements from Calvin -but somehow those quotes don't count. Calvin truly did think he and Melanchthon were quite close in nearly all their doctrine. It was actually Melanchthon's protege Zacharias Ursinus who, according to most experts, wrote most of the Heidelberg Catechism which is one of the three confessions of the Dutch Reformed Churches.
For all this talk of Melanchthon being a synergist, I have yet to see ANY quotes by him that expouse anything which a calvinist wouldn't whole heartedly agree!
In other words, Melanchthon and Calvin had nearly identical doctrine (Melanchthon even accepted Calvin's doctrine of the Eucharist towards the end of his life -and that was, perhaps the biggest difference between Calvin and Luther!). Melanchthon can state that he isn't a stoic and that the doesn't espouse determinism and that's OK. Yet, when Calvin says nearly the same thing, it doesn't count! Amazing.
Jean