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This is so much codswallop as well. Calvinists go out of there way to be offensive and then congratulate themselves on being "oppressed" for God's sake. It speaks to the neurosis that requires constant re-assurance, and the deliverance from consequence that drives the believer.

Hey, ksen, I should have said that the majority of venom comes from non-Calvinist.

What I find amusing about this is that SoothingDave and xzins have been having a very humanistic discussion about whether or not someone must have Christ in order to be saved and then SD comes over here and tells me that I have to have some kind of mental or emotional disorder to be a Calvinist for actually believing the Bible over the humanistic ramblings of two non-Calvinists.

Hey dave, aren't you the one who boasted on this thread that he gets pleasure watching the suffering of others? It does seem as if there is still actually a mental disease with that description.

BTW, dave, speaking of constant re-assurance, I like what J.C. Ryle has to say about the nature of God's re-assuring grace:

God is continually holding out inducements to man to listen to Him, obey Him, and serve Him... He has... shown His perfect knowledge of human nature, by spreading over the Book a perfect wealth of promises, suitable to every kind of experience and every condition of life... Their name is legion. The subject is almost inexhaustible. There is hardly a step in man's life, from childhood to old age, hardly any position in which man can be placed, for which the Bible has not held out encouragement to every one who desires to do right in the sight of God. There are "shalls" and "wills" in God's treasury for every condition. About God's infinite mercy and compassion,--about His readiness to receive all who repent and believe,--about His willingness to forgive, pardon, and absolve the chief of sinner,--about His power to change hearts and alter our corrupt nature,--about the encouragements to pray, and hear the gospel, and draw near to the throne of grace,--about strength for duty, comfort in trouble, guidance in perplexity, help in sickness, consolation in death, support under bereavement, happiness beyond the grace, reward in glory,--about all these things there is an abundant supply of promises in the Word. No one can form an idea of its abundance unless he carefully searches the Scriptures, keeping the subject steadily in view. If any one doubts it, I can only say, "Come and see." Let us tremble in awe and wonder before the One who came to serve, the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, who is the constant re-assurance for those who humble themselves by casting their anxiety upon Him.

What I find amusing about this is that SoothingDave and xzins have been having a very humanistic discussion about whether or not someone must have Christ in order to be saved

Does "humanist" mean "not Calvinistic?" Cause our discussion was within our Christian experience, just not in the narrow bounds Calvinists restrict God to.

and then SD comes over here and tells me that I have to have some kind of mental or emotional disorder to be a Calvinist for actually believing the Bible over the humanistic ramblings of two non-Calvinists.

You believe your own self-flattering interpretation of the Bible. And that this is a great comfort to those who used to be terrified of doing something wrong is testified to by several of the Calvinists here. They were afraid that God would punish them if they did something wrong, so they embraced a philosophy whereby their salvation is arbitrary, yet assured, and that their actions are guranteed to be exactly what God desires. It is a very attractive theology and it is no wonder that many people cling to it.

Hey dave, aren't you the one who boasted on this thread that he gets pleasure watching the suffering of others? It does seem as if there is still actually a mental disease with that description.

Yes, thanks for bringing that up. The difference here is that I confessed it as a guilty pleasure, with a wink ;-) to indicate that I was speaking partly in jest. In any event, even if I am guilty I in no way considered my sinful acts to be "the Gospel." Which is entirely different from the mental coping mechanism that Calvinists construct, then cling to. They hold it to be "the Gospel."