"I'm not a Calvinist or an Arminian"

I recently read that phrase on a blog. And it's not unique to where I read it; I've heard a dozen people say it.

And that was just yesterday.

And it's more if you add in the people that say that they're neither Calvinists nor Armenians. I didn't know being from Armenia tied you to a certain doctrinal framework...

Anyway, all that to say - yes, you are either a Calvinist or an Arminian. Well, unless you're a Pelagian, Roman Catholic, or Universalist.

If you are an Evangelical, you are necessarily either a Calvinist or an Arminian. You either believe election is unconditional or you don't.

I'll grant that there are lots of 4-point Arminians out there. You reject unconditional election but believe you can't lose your salvation. (You also reject the doctrine that the saints persevere and God grows them in grace, though.)

But being a 4-point Arminian doesn't make you a Calminian. Or certainly a moderate Calvinist. It for all practical purposes makes you an Arminian.

I understand the desire not to bear a label. Labels often bring baggage to a conversation; people with whom you're communicating may make certain assumptions about what you believe if you take on a label.

BUT - saying that you're neither also means something; and that is that you probably have no idea what you're talking about.

Hopefully, all it means is that you don't know which

doctrine is true, but that you're willing to search the

Scriptures and to submit to what God has said.