I don’t think that a Christian is necessarily required to come down one way or another on Calvinism vs. Arminianism (or Lutheranism or whatever the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox think about it), but the fact is, I’ve been wrestling with issues of predestination, free will and the nature of God pretty fiercely for months now, and I keep coming to the same conclusions.
It doesn’t help that I have been reading Augustine’s Confessions this year, either. Next up: the Institutes!
No offense to my Arminian friends, but I just don’t think that the Arminian position is tenable at all. It eats itself.
Sailing to Byzantium 
You might appreciate some of these posts:
http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/search?q=calvinism&submit=Search
(I hope pasting the search result works ok as a link …)
You have my permission to be a Calvinist (that should make it less fun for you). 🙂
Damn.
Calvinism is only less fun because you still need to watching your P’s and Q’s…or it might mean that you really aren’t one of the elect.
If it wasn’t for that, and the accompanying lack of real assurance (and fun)…I might become a Calvinist, as well.
I encourage you to broaden your perspective on this issue. It may make sense to take the Calvinist position if the only alternative is Arminian. In reality, Arminian versus not Arminian is a false dichotomy because Arminianism and Calvinism do not each consists of one simple proposition. Rather, they are complex systems. So while you may balk at the notion that individual election is based on God’s foreknowledge of our merits, that’s not all there is to the story.
Even if we take a position more aligned with Calvinism that God’s decree of who will have faith is based solely according to his pleasing and not according to foreknowledge of our merits, the Calvinistic system that the Reformed thinkers have constructed has obvious weak points that result from other issues. One obvious example would be the doctrine of “predestination of the saints.” We in Rome would gladly admit that those who are the elect will persevere to the end (termed “the gift of final perseverance”), but Calvinists take this further and say that all the (truly) justified will persevere to the end. This seems at odds with Scripture. Consider the following passage from Hebrews.
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:26-31
From these words (among other passages), it is clear that one who is justified (“sanctified by the blood of the covenant”) can suffer damnation on account of his own sins after justification (Paul seems to have the apostasy of the Judaizers particularly in mind here). The point is that the Calvinist equation of the justified with the elect is not an easy position to maintain given the words of Holy Writ.
Consider also that Calvinists are not the only ones who have a robust view of predestination. I would encourage you to read “Predestination” by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange and see if you don’t find it agreeable to your current persuasion.