81. Geoffrey Britain:

I thought you did a good job of expressing the methodist arminian position that we are saved by (our own)faith (in God) through grace (of God.)

I did a poorer job of expressing the calvinist position that we are saved by grace (of God)through faith (in God.)

The point of the calvinist position is that even our faith comes from God. But both positions are within the pale of orthodoxy.

Generally speaking I think that there is tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will–that can’t be resolved on one side or the other. I would further argue that that tension is what sets off western civilization from others.