1. Total Hereditary Depravity. "For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous." Rom 5:19 Calvin believed that God was all powerful, and humans had no power. Once Adam sinned we had no power to choose God unless God chose us.
2. Unconditional Election. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom 5:8
3. Limited Atonement. "I am the good shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know me, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep." John 10:14
4. Irresistible Grace. Calvin believed that God was Sovereign: so powerful that He had all the power, we had none. If God called us, we could not resist. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6:44
5. Perseverance of the Saints. Once saved always saved. "All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37
Calvin also believed in double predestination: "All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestined to life and death."
Arminianism: The Five TULIP points of Calvinism were drawn up after Arminius (16th Century Holland) took issue with Calvin's predestination:
1. Free Will. God gives us free will in order that we can choose Him. If we are not free to choose or not choose, then of what value is our relationship with Him?
2. Conditional Election. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned." Mark 16:16
3. Universal or General Atonement. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation." 2 Cor 5:19
4. Obstructible Grace. "I buffet my body and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected."
5. Falling from Grace. "...that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander..." I Tim 1:18
Churches of Christ:
In the hard line Churches of Christ there is an emphasis on each person having a fair shot at heaven, and a partially works-oriented salvation-- a distinctly American frontier attitude: loading up the wagon, moving west, establishing one's own independent farm that depended on one's own hard work, no-one else's. This attitude was influential in the Churches of Christ because their theology was formed when they first started gathering in 1790-1810. Even though the settling of the United States ended about 1890, the attitude continued into the industrial age in the idea of American entrepreneurship.
This "pulling oneself up by one's own bootstraps" idea lives on today in the attitude that any American has the ability to build wealth, and once he/she has built that wealth, they have the right to keep it from the government's greedy hands. Americans tend to believe we are all born equal at the starting line of a success race, and anyone who falls behind in that race has fallen behind because of laziness or selfishness. This is a particularly Appalachian attitude.
