Calvinism

Peter Berger, "Southern Baptists Go Swimming in Lake Geneva."

The original, full-bodied version of Calvinism has been symbolized by the acronym TULIP (it is probably not accidental that this is also the national flower of the Netherlands). The first letters of the acronym stand for:

• Total depravity: human nature has no good features whatever;
• Unmerited election: we are saved by God’s grace, which we don’t deserve;
• Limited atonement: not all men are saved, only the elect;
• Irresistible grace: we cannot resist God’s action in saving us;
• Perseverance of the saints: once God has placed us among the elect, we can never lose that status.

Put together, these propositions add up to the so-called doctrine of double predestination—the assertion that God, from all eternity, has decided who will be saved and who will be damned. Arguably, this is the most repulsive doctrine in the history of the Christian religion. Understandably, most adherents of the Reformed tradition found it unbearable, and sought ways of softening it.