It seems as though Christians often have a difficult time
balancing grace and truth. We seem to
either deliver the truth with no love at all or compromise on the truth in the
name of love. Lovingly delivering the
truth can be difficult. While this
extends to battles that we have with those outside the church (e.g.
homosexuality, abortion), I believe that it is also true of battles that we
have inside the church (e.g. age of the universe, Calvinism versus Arminianism). I for one love spirited debate. While I can be passionate about the points in
a discussion, I don’t tend to get upset or emotional. I merely seek the truth of the matter—I have
to strive to remember to love.
In thinking along these lines, I considered a prayer that I
had offered for my children’s salvation. I had asked that God would move in
their hearts to bring them to a saving faith in His Son. This prayer was offered in the presence of
those whom I knew to be more of an Arminian persuasion. While the prayer was genuinely from my
heart, afterwards I reflected on this and wondered if my Calvinist leaning
prayer would have caused any offense. Upon
reflection, it occurred to me that even when Arminians pray, they ask God to
change circumstance and people, and this was all that I was asking. This caused me to wonder what other areas of
agreement that Calvinists and Arminians share.
The results are these Five Points of Agreement.
