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talking, and being in the direct presence of Adam. This means that at this time period (before the fall) total depravity did not apply to Adam. God reveals to us, in his word, that His very nature does not allow for sin to be in his presence. Adam made the choice of sinning completely on his own free will without the corollary of a soul deprived and tainted by sin. When Adam's children walked the earth, total depravity existed because of the fact that sin (by definition) is carried across through heredity. The moment Adam made the choice to sin; he lost whatever free will was imbued when God created him in his own image. Within these two different eras, exists a condition of mankind (before the fall) that is characterized by a free will (not conditional) and an existence of mankind that is void of free will because of deprevation, one that is persistent with Calvinism and the other with Arminianism. Because humankind's freewill and humankind's state of necessity of election both at one point existed they are both referenced to in the Bible. When the two are heard together, a contradiction appears.

Before moving into further details that may conclude differences between Arminianism and Calvinism, a look at the similarities is in order. Jesus Christ, in both views, is the God-man and mankind's mediator of God's covenant (McKim 120). The author, McKim, describes it as "Christ for Calvin is both the author and artisan of our election into his kingdom, choosing us in communion with the father and the spirit and then working out our salvation in his office as Mediator" (120). The same can certainly be said for the Armenians. Both views support God being the eternal authority over all beings in the universe, and cannot accept sin to go unpunished. In both views God must either have a perfect and righteous life fully adhered to the law or the proxy of Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Calvinism and Arminianism both defend the scriptural teachings of the trinity (Oliphint 156). The two arguments contain scriptural backings for all of their tenets. Examined closely, the two arguments cover the bulk of the grey areas contained in the Bible related to mankind's salvation. Neither argument can be classified as a cult because of the abundance of scriptural evidence.

A further look into the differences of Calvinism and Arminianism is the prospect of atonement. In classic Arminianism, atonement (forgiveness of sins through Christ) is conditional upon faith and can be lost. Calvinism

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