I'm going to suggest something that will end this debate on CC once and or all.
We're going to have a triathlon of events in which two teams of three people made up of CC members from this particular thread will compete, and the winners of this triathlon will have their theological position accepted as the official position of CC. And debates will not be allowed henceforth (yeah, I said henceforth, you got a problem with my stuck-in-the-17th-century vocabulary???).
In honor of debates between Christians in church history (and considering the subject at hand) we will carry out this triathlon in the city of Dordrecht, Netherlands (site of the historic Synod of Dordt debates in the early 17th century).
The three events will be as follows:
1. A "Book of Romans" Speed-Reading Contest (anyone who skips over verses in Romans 9 will be immediately disqualified).
2. A "Book Burning" Contest (we won't actually burn books, but we will see who can come up with the best "burns" (insults) regarding the two writings of the Arminians "Five Articles of the Remonstrants" and John Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion"
3. Potato Sack Races (just because they are soooooooo much fun!!!).
The two teams will be represented by the following CC members:
1. The Calvinist Position (or what I like to call the "Bible-Based" Position):
Grace-Like-Rain, Kayem77, and Myself (NodMyHeadLikeYeah will sub in in case there's an injury or if I need to fix my hair).
2. The Non-Calvinist Position (which includes Arminians and the "Neither Or" Group - which I like to call "Arminians-In-Disguise"):
Lil_Christian, TinTin, and Jullianna (Maxwel will sub in in case there's an injury or if Jullianna is too busy punching us Calvinists in the face!!!).
Good luck to all of you at the Theology Triathlon, and remember kids - LET'S HAVE FUN!!!
P.S. I wrote this in the spirit of humor, so please do not send me any hate mail, unless they all end with Tiny Tim's universal benediction "God bless us, every one"