Monday, December 18, 2006

Fun with Acrostics


Being a Calvinist, I am fond of the acrostic known as T.U.L.I.P. :

T = Total Depravity

U = Unconditional Election

L = Limited Atonement

I = Irresistible Grace

P= Perseverance of the Saints


Lately, with the onslaught of attacks on Calvinism by some members of the Southern Baptist Convention, I have seen some new acrostics being used. For example, Dr. Nelson Price (not a Calvinist) uses an acrostic called R.O.S.E.S. which is virtually the same as the the R.O.S.E.S. acrostic used by a Calvinist named Timothy George -but with a "non-Calvinist" spin on it.

R = Radical Depravity

O = Overcoming Grace

S = Sovereign Election

E = Eternal Life

S = Singular Redemption


While Price's spin on the ROSES acrostic is nice, it really won't work because it has also been used by Calvinists. I thought perhaps we should come up with something more original for our Arminian friends. So in order to give them their own acrostic that answers TULIP point by point, I have devised an acrostic for them:


T = Total Free Will

A = All Elect: if they Select

R = Redemption Universal

E = Effectual Resistance

S = Security Conditional