ARMINIASME
The text talks about how God may not answer to all of our questions but that need not imply in any way that he is unjust. God cannot beheld responsible for Mans wrongs for that would mean that Man could transfer on God his sins and make Him the patron of their wickedness (pg 6)
According to the Psalms, God is the repository of justice and hence, He cannot do evil or cause any kind of injustice (pg 7). Whatever sin that may be caused is mans alone and not His. However, the scripture does tell us various instances where God himself permits sins in order to make mankind understand the difference between good and evil. Without sin, one wouldnt comprehend the full meaning of His infinite love and injustice(pg 8,9).
According to the Church there are two principle faculties of the soul the Understanding and the Will by which man understands and desires, respectively. God sustains everyone and every action that takes place does with His knowledge and His doing (pg 13). Here one may say that God can be called the perpetrator of evil since He knows everything but the Church refutes it by stating that God works in concurrence with Man. If Man acts voluntarily, he defies the concurrent act between him and God and hence causes evil (15). One can cite the example of the Sun here that whilst it is not the cause of darkness, darkness does necessarily follow it (17).
It is said that God uses Men to commit sins to exercise his own justice just like Judas was made the traitor so that Christ could die for our sins. Thus it is said that all Men are born with a curse of the Original Sin and cannot be free of it without His Grace (pg 81). Through Christs death, we have become one with God again. This is the central argument of the Arminians who believe that eternal life is promised to everyone who believes in Christs Death. They say that Christ died for all and, everyone who believes in Him shall be redeemed. Arminius further says that since all Men do not have faith, only they who believe in Him are chosen for salvation.
Disputes and discussion
The main dispute between the Arminians and the Church is the understanding of the doctrine of Predestination. According to the Church, it is the decree by which God determines what He will do with every Man. It has two parts Election in which some are chosen for salvation and Reprobation where the others are necessarily punished (pg 83). But Arminius chooses to believe the Doctrine of Predestination as one where Christ died for all of us and those who believe in Him shall lead an eternal life. But the decree states that God has already appointed what He will do with us and not what He would have us do. Arminius also propagates the idea of Conditional Election where if one believes in God, he will be elected by God. This is another area of dispute and Arminius is refuted because an election cant be called one if it is extended to all. The biggest critique that Arminians get is their belief that reprobates may be saved and elects may be damned because we are endowed with the power to believe in Him but then, that would mean predestination is not a decree of God but only a thing in title as it depends on Mans free will.
His last dispute and critique of Arminius doctrine comes in the form of Christs Death. According to the Arminians, Christ died not just for the faithful but for everyone. Since God elects everyone who believes in Christs Death, then, we can also say that even Judas could be elected for salvation under the said condition (pg 90). But this cannot be so as God cannot elect the same person for Salvation, provided they believe in Christs death, whom he himself had appointed in the first place to deliver Christs death.
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