What I have narrowed the debate between Lacob Arminius and Jean Calvin is the understanding of the process of progressive sanctification.
That is, they both think that paedobaptism puts a human into the Kingdom of God, when it does not and cannot, Even immersionists (baptizers of responsible adults) often suggest that baptism of the "believer" is a sure sign of tegeneration, and that failure to progress in justification is consistent with "backsliding." Personally, I reject those insecure theological propositions. I reject "backsliding" as a term applying to true regeneration. What I accept is the use of the Greek present tense in the description of true salvation, justification, regeneration, and progressive sanctification,And that means that John 3:16 needs to be interpreted as saying:
". . . that whosoever continually without failure exercises complete irreversible trust in and faithfulness to Him shall never perish, but have eternal absolute life (in Him)(a never-ending spiritual union with God for ever).
Some, maybe many, are not going to like this, but there it is, the correct and precise definition of what true salvation means. It means no going back from the Christ of the Bible.
And it means that those who appear to do so must be viewed as and treated as those who began by professing, but never possessing, the new-born inner spiritual man.
I think that ought to clear up how one regards Catholicism, Armininanism, Calvinism, or whatever ism that tolerates habitual sinfulness without discipline in its membership.
Jacob, not Lacob
rgeneration, not tegeneration
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.â€
1 John 3:21-24
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
The Calvinists recognize a salvation is arranged from the God end. The Arminians recognize that choice occurs and that this is valid choice. Only an explanation that melds the two can approach viability. A Free Methodist pastor I know calls this “Calminian.” An explanation of choice that is rooted in eternity, not in moments’ whim, is the only explanation that will do here. C. S. Lewis used the illustration of figures standing around a chessboard of time upon which the actual action took place to illustrate this in “The Great Divorce.”
I don’t get all uptight about it. People ask, I say I am Calminian. Simple explanations are the best.