"Resistible Grace - God's grace is free and offered without merit; however, human beings have been granted freedom by God and can refuse His grace."
Nowhere in Scripture is grace described as "resistible." Grace is God's intent and purpose put into time and space which were determined from before the foundation of the world.
If God draws a man, that man will follow.
"Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee" -- Psalm 65:4
Arminianism is a road built by Rome to circumvent the sovereignty of God as preached during the Reformation. Arminius went to Rome as a Calvinist and returned months later as a wolf in sheep's clothing who worked to undo the correct teaching of Luther and Calvin.
He's succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Why? Because the Romanists and the humanists and the heathens of this world love to give men more credit than they deserve, thereby giving God less.
Same as it ever was.
Work is work, whether we say we work for our salvation by doing good deeds as the Romanists believe, or we work for our salvation by making some sort of prudent decision to "accept" Christ. All human effort is work of one kind or another where men strive by their "free will" to please God by showing Him their own goodness.
But "salvation is of the Lord." It is all according to God's will and not man's. And that's because the only righteousness and obedience that saves anyone is the righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ.
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." -- Ephesians 1:4-6"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" -- Romans 9:20
From the article...
"Calvinism is on the rise among the most recent seminary graduates," he said. "If present trends continue, Calvinism will continue to grow as an influence in our convention."
AMEN! As God wills.
As has been noted often, many of us Calvinists had never even heard the word "reformed" until we started reading books and the Internet and almost in an instant when we returned to Scripture the words became so much clearer; the meaning more profoundly reassuring -- we have faith in Jesus Christ NOT because we made a wise decision or weighed the pros and cons or because we're more pious and righteous than our unbelieving neighbor.
Reading the Bible we now understand that faith is a free, unmerited gift from God to whom He wills, and God be praised, we have been so blessed by His grace through faith in His Son who has acquitted us of all our sins so that we now stand blameless before God's judgment. Before time began, when God breathed Christ's victory on the cross, He breathed our names. Imagine that! We were His before we even knew it, and now that the Holy Spirit has made our salvation known to us, we rejoice. It is ALL of Him, and none of us.
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." -- Philippians 2:13
There are probably many fine Arminians who are saved by Jesus Christ, but sadly, they aren't experiencing the depth of assurance that comes by acknowledging God's perfect, predestining grace. Having believed both sides, I can confidently state "It's better on this side of the TULIP field."
Ah, but were you a “once saved always saved” Arminian, or a “once saved, but keep watching your step” Arminian? I would suppose there is a great difference, assurance-wise.