Calvin got his doctrines from Augustine whom he quoted over 400 times in his Institutes alone. He called Augustine by such titles as “holy man” and “holy father.” This is quite an interesting connection since Augustine, more than anyone, was the progenitor of the Catholic Church. Feel free to read the history if you are not afraid to think and be challenged (
https://www.thebereancall.org/content/july-2012-classic). That is the least you can do seeing how often you tell people to search out your views by wading through your tedious threadbare threads.
It will become quickly clear to the thoughtful reader that Calvin took so much from Augustine as to be virtual plagiarism. All Calvin's TULIP doctrines came directly out of Augustine's system except for one (which over time was modified slightly). Calvin's work was not original at all but might as well be called neo-Augustinianism.
The problem with Augustine's doctrine is that it did not come from Christianity but was imported whole cloth from Manichaeaism, a Gnostic cult of which he had been a member before his conversion. At first he rejected Manichaeaism and even wrote a book favoring freewill. Later, however, in his debates with Pelagius he took an ever more radical position until he once again adopted the hard line position of the cult although he Christianized the terminology to make it fit into a Biblical contruct.
Manichaeaism held to the doctrine that man was so ruined that he had lost the ability to make any choice (total depravity). Therefore, his actions had to be pre-determined by one of two cosmic forces. These forces decided the destiny of all men. Sound familiar?
In the 400 years before this, going back to the first century, teachers and theologians had taught the doctrine of freewill. They coined that word not to establish a doctrine of salvation by works which they renounced, but to express the idea that, while God drew men, they still could say yes or no. The idea that people lacked volition and had to be predestined to make one decision or another was considered a pagan concept for the first four hundred years of Christianity. The Church Fathers stated this in no uncertain terms. Augustine did not know this because he spoke Latin and did not bother to learn Greek. Some of his major doctrinal errors (like those which led to the belief in infant damnation) were based upon translational errors in the Old Latin translations.
Like his theological decedent Calvin, Augustine became a persecutor. In accordance with their concept of God Augustine and Calvin did not mind using force to compel people to accept their views on penalty of death.
So you see historically TULIP comes from outside Christianity and is alien and opposed to it. These facts are available to anyone who cares enough to look.
