I just wanted to share why I became a Calvinist (Feel free to share!)

[ksen]

I was saved in 1992 in a small, rural Baptist church. The pastor there always had bad things to say about Calvinism, so not knowing any better I accepted what he had to say.

In 1998 we moved to a different state and we started attending another Baptist church. The pastor was pretty much the same in his views on Calvinism. Then I started getting involved in the religious discussions on a different forum and I was confronted with the truth of what Calvinism taught and not my own spoon-fed caricature of Calvinism.

I still rejected Calvinism, but now it was willful and not out of ignorance. As time went on and I was confronted with more and more evidence from Scripture as to the Predestination and Election of the Saints and God's Sovereignty over His creation. I didn't have an answer for them.

As the debates raged on I got more and more turned off by the twists and turns that the non-Calvinists had to take in order to explain away what Scripture clearly said.

Finally, I took the plunge and accepted with my heart what my head had already understood: that salvation is indeed of the Lord.

 

[ksen]

Consider this a fellowship thread if you are do not have the "Calvinist" icon and still want to share your testimony.

However, there will still be no debating in here unless you are graced with the TULIP icon.

 

[hooverbranch]

I was saved in 1992 in a small, rural Baptist church. The pastor there always had bad things to say about Calvinism, so not knowing any better I accepted what he had to say.

In 1998 we moved to a different state and we started attending another Baptist church. The pastor was pretty much the same in his views on Calvinism. Then I started getting involved in the religious discussions on a different forum and I was confronted with the truth of what Calvinism taught and not my own spoon-fed caricature of Calvinism.

I still rejected Calvinism, but now it was willful and not out of ignorance. As time went on and I was confronted with more and more evidence from Scripture as to the Predestination and Election of the Saints and God's Sovereignty over His creation. I didn't have an answer for them.

As the debates raged on I got more and more turned off by the twists and turns that the non-Calvinists had to take in order to explain away what Scripture clearly said.

Finally, I took the plunge and accepted with my heart what my head had already understand: that salvation is indeed of the Lord.

That is a great story. Sadly I grew up with my Older Brother so I felt I never had a choice. He was a Calvanist and boy did he let anyone and EVERYONE know about it. But soon when I came to that age in Christ where I truly wanted to seak out my own answers. I found that which my brother spoke of was in scripture and many times. So I then decided to TRULY make the Calvanist believes of my own.

 

[drstevej]

Me-ology is the default mode. We are born thinking life revolves around us and God certainly must exist to make us happy.

I grew up in a liberal denominational church. I attended regularly as a kid, much to the dismay of my Sunday School teachers. I became a Christian at a lay witness weekend (a rarity in our church) and had no spiritual follow-up until I ran into Campus Crusade folk in college. I greatly appreciate the ministry of CCC in my life.

When I went to seminary (Dallas Seminary) I did not have a very detailed grasp on Scripture but was eager to learn. As a first year single student there were several guys in the dorm that were Calvinists and I began to join their late night discussions. These were similar to many Arminian-Calvinist threads here.

My initial reaction was offense and defense. Offense, because Calvinistic doctrines went against my grain. In defense, I launched a thousand questions and objections. But over the months I kept running into biblical passages that presented a God-centered world life view and which countered my me-ology.

The beginning point for me was embracing total depravity, irresistible grace and unconditional election (I have never questioned the "P" of the Tulip). My primary concern was that these doctrines would stifle evangelism. Shortly afterwards I became very familiar with the life of George Whitefield and other Calvinist evangelists. I saw a passion for evangelism in these men motivated by the glory of God.

Having studied the extent of the atonement in great detail I concluded that while logical and consistent with Calvinism, there were passages which prevented me from moving from 4 to 5 point Calvinism.

I later read the writings of Amyraut. And while I use the term Amyrauldian at times to describe my views, I don't find his arguments compelling although he arrives at a similar conclusion. So probably the term 4 point Calvinist (or 4.5 as some have judged by my comments) is best.

I do however firmly hold to Limited Attainment and the conviction that saving faith is a gift of God given in regeneration. My contribution was sin and rebellion. He saved me without my assistance.

Billy Sunday (who once said a jackrabbit knew more theology than he did) made one astute observation: if you rub a cat the wrong way he will bristle, but if you turn the cat around those same strokes will make that car purr.

I once bristled at Calvinism, but having been turned around by Scripture... I now purr at the same truths.

 

[ksen]

Thanks for your testimony DrSteve. I enjoyed reading it.

 

[Imblessed]

Well, let's see....I started to study more when I realized my in-laws who are JW's, had way more "knowledge" about the bible than I did. I decided to see if anything they had to say was true. It all sounded good on the surface, but something wasn't right. I was very uncomfortable with the emphasis they put on "our" part in our salvation, and the fact that none of them will ever really know if they've been good enough. I had always believed that you could lose your salvation, but not by just messing up, or not doing good enough...I had always thought it had to be a deliberate "turning away". Then I realized that that didn't even make sense, and I didn't even truly KNOW what I believed anyway.

I joined CF to talk to the JW's, and debate a little, but they were running circles around me. I knew they were wrong, but I couldn't prove WHY.

I prayed one day for God to show me the truth, to help me to understand what I was reading better, to put in me a desire to learn the Word. It wasn't even a couple of days later that I started exploring the different denominational subsites here, and ran across this room. To be honest, I think the only reason I actually came in here is because my three year old's name is Calvin and it amused me.....LOL

As soon as I started reading what "Calvinists" believe, I knew emmediately that I had stumbled across the truth. I started going to all the sites that Cygnus sent me too, and looking up stuff on my own. I was amazed that all those difficult passages in the bible just opened up. I can't believe how obvious Reformed belief is, and why I never saw it before. Actually, I think maybe I had always known it in my heart, but just didn't know it in my head. I was always very uncomfortable with the image of a God dependent upon our actions, or a God that wasn't completely omniscent or omnipotent. Looking back, I realize that I was never truly taught the deeper things of God. I never wanted to learn. I was a surface christian. I knew I believed, and I trusted that God would look after me, and for a long time, that was enough.

God led me to my present church a little over 2 years ago. I was raised Quaker, but the Quaker church I was going to offered nothing in the way of personal growth. I just wasn't learning anything. So I checked out this church(it's a community church) I love the church and it's focus and reason for being(it's a very outreaching church). But when I accepted the Doctrines of Grace, I was worried. I didn't want to leave but I didn't know what they taught about this, and I was scared to ask. Ignorantly, I assumed that because the focus is so heavy on outreach and evangelism, that they taught the arminian view(I still wasn't sure how Calvinism effected evangelism). I spent some time in prayer, asking God to help me out, to give me strength to confront the leaders and see just what they believed--because if they didn't teach the reformed view, I was going to have to find a church that did, and frankly, I didn't want to leave this church. Again, God answered my prayers. About a month ago, Tim, the pastor, started a series called "Grace" He is now in the middle of the series and he's explaining the Doctrines of Grace very clearly and without apologies. I can only sit back and praise God! Because of course He KNEW I would come to accept the reformed view, and had my church all picked out for me!

I don't even know how to explain the peace and joy I feel now since accepting the Doctrines of Grace. I'm just so happy that God has led me to this place, and I look forward to seeing where He leads me next!!!!!!!!

All praise to God!

 

[ksen]

I loved reading your testimony imblessed!

Our God is truly an awesome God. Why it seems from your testimony that God actually ordered your steps for you! Did you notice your free-will getting stepped on?

Anyways, that's great news about your church.

My pastor will encourage us to try and get along better with other Christians, and then will take swipes at the Reformed whenever he gets the chance. And the sad thing about that is that his doctrine is 95% of the way there.

 

[frumanchu]

I actually spent a bit of time meditating on this not all that long ago. While I was sorting through some old boxes in my office I came across a printout of an email exchange I had a little over three years ago with a non-Christian friend of mine. I had been a believer for awhile, but had just begun to really read the Bible in earnest and start actually participating in Bible studies. My friend was a very liberal philosophical thinker, and raised many objections to the Judeo-Christian God. He asked why an omnipotent, omniscient God would make the fruit available to Adam and Eve in the first place if He knew they would "out of curiosity" take them. My response was that "there needed to be a choice, a free will, in order to make love worth anything."

The following excerpt should explain better exactly what my frame of mind was at this point in my young Christian life:

Friend: "[In the Fall,] taken metaphorically, humanity acquired the knowledge of self (shown by their covering up) and therefore good and evil and therefore suffering. No self, no suffering. Sounds like Buddhism. But what about freewill. There was a choice here…or was there. The concept of freewill has been debated; the Christian reformer Martin Luther believed in predestination which precludes choice."

Me: "First let's differentiate between predestination and predetermination. Predestination is fore-knowledge of an outcome. Predetermination involves the outcome being actively decided upon in advance. God, being omniscient, knows already who will make that choice. He knows who will come to Him and who won't. He is willing that none should perish, but He knows that He cannot prevent it without removing the notion of free will and thus invalidating our love for Him. That being said, if Martin Luther supports predetermination, then, great as his influence was on the Reformation, I wholly disagree with him on that point. I've seen people try to prove that viewpoint by citing certain scriptural verses, but when applied to the "big picture" it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. God is love. Love without free will ("forced" love) is meaningless."

And elsewhere from me:

"…Absolute free will is absolutely necessary for love to exist…
...If salvation were not offered, then God would be unjust…
...God did not tempt us, but rather allowed us to be tempted because He knew that without free will and the opportunity to choose there could be no true love between God and man…

...We chose [our destiny] of our own accord. He asked us not to take this path, but He knew the opportunity to do so must exist for love to exist."

These words were written in July of 2001, well before I knew anything about Luther (obviously), Calvin, Arminius, Pelagius, or Augustine. And, more importantly, they were written before I knew much at all of Scripture. The "people who try to prove that viewpoint" I was referring to were posters in the Religion forum of FreeRepublic.com, which I had originally joined a year prior strictly for discussing politics leading into the 2000 election.

I wish I could say that the reason I still have this exchange printed out was because I had the foresight to realize it would be very instructive to me later on. In truth, I printed it out because I had first forwarded the response to my mother for her comments, and her response was that it wasn't correct. I printed it out and kept it with me for awhile trying to figure out what was wrong with it. My mother told me to read Romans 8, and said that it was one of many passages speaking of God's active predestination. I fought against it, sure that my mother was being too simplistic about it. I argued that, since God foreknew perfectly who would and would not choose Him, His very act of then choosing to create them (and thus set in motion that eventual reality) was predestination, and, as with my friend before, argued that it would not be just or loving for God to do it any other way. She responded by telling me to read Romans 9 and a few other passages, and encouraging me to read Romans as a whole. Romans 9 hit me like a bombshell, because it spoke directly to my objections. It was at that moment I remember quite vividly thinking to myself, "Well…that's that I guess. If the Word says it is this way, that pretty much settles it." I reluctantly accepted the fact that God was sovereign over the salvation of men.

I decided to shut up and listen for awhile on FreeRepublic, and became much more active in the religion forums. My mother introduced me to the theologian who has by far had the greatest impact on me: R.C. Sproul. Over the ensuing months, I became more and more firmly convinced of what I soon learned was called Calvinism or Reformed Theology. I learned more about the Protestant Reformation and its vital importance in the history of the church. As I began to interact with others there I found many people who ardently defended Arminianism using the exact same arguments, almost verbatim, as I had. And I was always reminded that my early Arminian position was essentially forumulated by my own philosophy without any real grasp of Scripture beyond a spotty, cursory reading of the New Testament.

In the three and a half years (it seems like so much longer) since, I have come to understand more fully the Doctrines of Grace. My participation in the FreeRepublic forums has had its peaks and valleys according to my personal life, and I have also spent equally sporadic time here at Christian Forums. One thing I found out very quickly after making it known that I believed in the Reformed soteriological view was that the same ferocity with which I attacked and ridiculed the Calvinists whom I used to oppose has been returned to me several times over. I understand where they are coming from. The thoughts and perspectives are still somewhat fresh in my head, and I remember how incensed I was when one of the Calvinists would post arguments from Scripture that would leave me sputtering and grasping at straws to try and defend my view against theirs. I take a stronger approach with the Arminians now, only because I know that such an approach was often instrumental in bringing me to an understanding of the Reformed position.

There are days when I envy those Calvinists who grew up in a covenant home and knew of no other view of Scripture than that of Calvin, Luther, Augustine and Paul. But I am thankful that I have come from where I have as such knowledge reminds me of the preciousness of the truth and the liberation a proper understanding of God's Word can bring. All of my vain speculations and human philosophy were crushed under the weight of Scripture, and now I echo with my Reformed bretheren that "by the grace of God I am what I am."

 

[Knight]

Why did I embrace Calvinism????

It's Biblical. Furthermore, it makes sense.

 

[CoffeeSwirls]

One thing I found out very quickly after making it known that I believed in the Reformed soteriological view was that the same ferocity with which I attacked and ridiculed the Calvinists whom I used to oppose has been returned to me several times over. I understand where they are coming from. The thoughts and perspectives are still somewhat fresh in my head, and I remember how incensed I was when one of the Calvinists would post arguments from Scripture that would leave me sputtering and grasping at straws to try and defend my view against theirs. I take a stronger approach with the Arminians now, only because I know that such an approach was often instrumental in bringing me to an understanding of the Reformed position.

This sounds so much like my experience! The Reformed position was introduced to me about a year and a half ago and I contested it, not with scripture, but with tradition. When I asked my father what he felt, he told me he leaned toward Calvinism, but it had never been brought up at home. That leads up to another aspect of my personal reformation.

There are days when I envy those Calvinists who grew up in a covenant home and knew of no other view of Scripture than that of Calvin, Luther, Augustine and Paul. But I am thankful that I have come from where I have as such knowledge reminds me of the preciousness of the truth and the liberation a proper understanding of God's Word can bring. All of my vain speculations and human philosophy were crushed under the weight of Scripture, and now I echo with my Reformed bretheren that "by the grace of God I am what I am."

I have lamented the lack of theological instruction I had growing up. My father went to seminary, but never discussed God in the home. Everything I learned in Sunday School was to be accepted because some old lady was saying it and no scriptural proofs were ever offered. Even now, since I have become excited about the Lord, my father will not discuss any of it with me. When I told him a bit about where my leanings are, he still would not debate any of it with me.

I have accepted all of this since then, with an understanding that if I had been taught more forcefully in Arminianism, I may never have looked in the Bible to see if any of it was true. As it was, I had enough Arminian understanding to be angry when my ME-ology (hat tip to drstevej) was brought into question. It was my attempt to use scripture to disprove Calvinism that caused me to accept it.

I put the rest of the story in the forums here if you care to read it.

 

[CoffeeSwirls]

Oops, I didn't mean to double-dip here. Those darn QUOTE tags have me all messed up!

 

[Beoga]

Lets see, pretty much grew up in a baptist church who did believe in eternal security but also denied calvinism and preached the opposite (though i never heard any mention of Calvinism). About 5 years ago, my family switched over to a Church of God (out of Anderson, Indiana) church. They really believed in arminianism and so i remeained ignorant. I was introduced to the idea that a believer could lose their salvation by my youth pastor my freshman year (four years ago). I was shocked that someone could believe that they could lose their salvation, but ignorant of the scriptures, i became convinced of his arguements. I then started to study the idea of eternal security and became convinced of it again. All throughout that study i never came across this whole idea of calvinism. While later the same youth pastor introduced me to the idea of predestination (though completely off) and I was repuled my it. I thought it was a horrible idea, he (my youth pastor) also showed me this site (www.bible.ca) where it had/has a section on calvinism. When I checked that out, and looked over the doctrines of calvinism, i thought it was horrible, it made know sense (of course they misrepresented calvinism). Anyway, so that went on until about early last year (feb, march) when i read romans 9 and started to question how God could predestine someone if we choose us first and then he chose us. I got a book by Erwin Lutzer called Doctrines that Devide (still havn't read it all to this day) and started to read the sections on predestination. I looked at the back of the book in the bibliography and saw chosen by God by R.C. Sproul. So i went out and bought this book and another book on calvinism. I read sproul's book (and romans 9) again and became convinced of 4 out of the 5 points of calvinism. I just could not accept limited atonement (thanks to my traditions). I struggled with that for about a month or two until I became convinced of that too. During that time and ever since then, Scripture has been more alive, flows better, and makes more sense. God has also gotten bigger and bigger in my eyes to this day.

 

[Imblessed]

.......... During that time and ever since then, Scripture has been more alive, flows better, and makes more sense. God has also gotten bigger and bigger in my eyes to this day.

That is SOOO true!

 

[Imblessed]

I loved reading your testimony imblessed!

Our God is truly an awesome God. Why it seems from your testimony that God actually ordered your steps for you! Did you notice your free-will getting stepped on?

ROFL---am I ever grateful he "stepped on my free-will"!! he he he

 

[CoffeeSwirls]

It is precisely for these reasons why it is perfectly loving for us to challange the ME-ology of others. We don't just want them to see the doctrines of grace to be correct, but so they can share the same blessings we have in scripture interpretation, worship and so much more. Monergistic theology is liberating even as it binds us to the truth. Just lowering the self to realize this is sanctifying. To say nothing to others is to withold blessings of kindness. It is harsh at first, but God is good. When it sinks in, the Bible is truly sweeter than honey.

 

[theseed]

I studied the issue for years, and look for better ways to interpret Scripture and counter arguments. I found one. Finally, I had to accept what I found hard to accept as true.

 

[Reformationist]

Hey everyone. I don't have that nifty little faith icon but hopefully you all know I'm a reformed Christian, a true blue (Or should I say red and white) Calvinist.

Well, I've shared this before but it's been awhile so I'll tell it again. As anyone who ever goes into the picture forums will surely know, I have 3 kids. Well, my daughter is by the woman I was with before I married my wife and though custody issues are often very troubling and frustrating, my daughter is a blessing that can, and does, seize my heart with but a look. So, after my wife and I got married we were interested in enrolling our children in a private Christian school (she has a son from a previous marriage). Christian, my stepson, was 5 at the time and Melinda was 4. So, we agonized about this for awhile, knowing that Melinda's mom would never go for it. It's not that she's against Christianity. It's just that, at the time, she was against anything I wanted to do. So, one day she said she had enrolled Melinda into a new daycare. At first, well, I was aggravated. She hadn't even consulted me and we share 50/50 legal and physical custody. Obviously I can be quite a self-centered person. Anyway, she told me where it was and suggested I go check it out. So, I drove up and down the road for 45 minutes looking for a daycare. Couldn't find it. So, I called her mom. She told me it was in back of a great big Spanish style house. So, I drove up to the only large (and I mean large) Spanish style house on the road and rung the doorbell. Well, this friendly lady came to the door and said hello and I, dumbly, asked her, "Uh...do you guys run a daycare here?" She smiled and said, "Yes. We also run a church and a men's and women's live in discipleship program. If you're interested in enrolling your child I'll take you on a tour." I told her that my daughter was already enrolled but, if I liked the place, I might be enrolling my son. Anyway, at this point I was a bit shocked. I was just starting to realize that my daughter's mother had enrolled her in a private Christian school. So, the lady asked me if I currently went to church and I told her that I didn't but that I was looking for a church. She suggested I speak with her husband, who was the Pastor, and see if their church was a good fit. So, she went and got her husband. He walked in and I got my first look, though I didn't know it at the time, at a reformed Preacher. Well, to be honest, he looked pretty normal. Good looking, middle aged guy in shorts and a Hawaiin shirt, which turned out to be his standard church attire. Anyway, I went into his office and we had a bit of small talk but not too much. Neither of us were big on that sort of thing. Anyway, he asked me what I knew of the Bible and I told him that I knew very little but that I believed there was a God and that the Bible was His infallible revelation and that I wanted to be His servant. I told him I had been to probably 50 or 60 different churches of varying denominations, including attending services at a Catholic church as well as attending, for a period of time, an LDS church, over the course of my life and they all seemed just this side of ridiculous, with no real, rational explanation for anything that contradicted their views. They'd always say "Well, God's ways are not our ways." You know the drill. You've all heard and seen them wiggle before. Anyway, he asked me a very simple question to segue into his own beliefs. He simply said, "Don, what do you believe happened to man in the Fall?" Well, I think I gave him the token "mankind was separated from God and condemned to hell" line. So he asked me, "And who do you think will be saved?" So, once again, I fed him the party line, "All who make a free will decision for Christ." Anyway, after a bit more discussion, we got around to briefly addressing the extent of the atonement as it relates to election and, do you know what my response was when he said, "Well, God has elected, before the foundations of the world, whom He will save and His choice isn't based on any merit in them or any choice they would ever make?" I said, "Hey, that's not fair!!!" That's right people. I said it. Well, instead of arguing with me, he simply said, "You're right. It's not fair. Tell me Don, what do you think would be fair?" So, as I clipped off the retort that had tried to force its way out of my mouth, I thought about it. And, to make a long story, well, not as long, I realized, and replied, "What would be fair would be for us all to burn in hell for our sins so apparently the salvation of any soul is the product of God's unmerited mercy, not fairness." Since I was being honest with myself, I realized fairness wasn't going to put me in a very good light, truth be told. So, he just looked at me and smiled and said, "That's right."

So, he suggested I check out the next service (which was two days away) and so I did. Well, I won't go into detail but I will tell you that it was the first church service I had ever been to that left me sitting there speechless at the end and with a profound knowledge that I was home. I knew that God had finally brought me to the truth of His Word. There was none of the doubt. There were none of the same old feelings of disappointment. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't one of those churches that told you how great you are. It was a reformed church. The Pastor told me the truth, even if it offended me. To be honest, it didn't. I sat under the tutelage of that man for 3½ years and never once heard a lesson that wasn't better than the last. Not only that, I saw the Gospel put in to practice on a daily basis in the discipleship programs in a way that nothing else could have shown me. I learned about selflessness. I learned how to love others. I learned how to see the deep seated sin in my life and seek to mortify it. I learned what a church "family" truly was. Up until that point I had always regarded "church family" as some silly thing people called themselves but never really applied. Ultimately, I learned to trust God at that church.

Well, sometimes, when I'm reflecting on my spiritual growth I need only to look back at the miraculous and completely out of the ordinary events that brought me under the teaching of a Calvinist preacher and that is enough to remind me that, on that day, God's gracious mercy was for little ol' me.

God bless

 

[Imblessed]

Great story reformationist!! You know it's strange how God works. For you, he sent you directly to a reformed church-and you heard emmediately the truth of Grace.

For me, God sent me to the church I'm at, and it was two years before I realized what was being taught. It took me that long to even come to the point where I was wanting to know. I actually came to the belief in Reformed theology before I realized that that's the view my pastor has. He was actually approached by a friend who reminded him that he was getting very lax on this, that he had stopped teaching Grace, and told him he needed get up there and teach it again!!! Talk about a kick in the rear! LOL---just in time too, because I was getting increasingly confused about the church, and whether I was going to have to go find another church, one who does teach reformed theology.

 

[HarleyD]

I was a Christian for over thirty years attending a variety of churches since I moved quite frequently. While I try to read through the Bible once a year, I’m particularly fond of the Old Testament as it reveals how God works with man. I never thought seriously on doctrine but there were many issues I couldn’t resolved between what the scriptures were stating and what I’ve heard from the many churches I attended. Especially the reconciling of what we often hear of God in the New Testament with what is actually revealed in the Old.



Several years ago as I was painting a bedroom ceiling, I heard a tape by John MacArthur on the sovereignty of God. Never have I heard about God’s sovereignty in the 30 years I’ve attended services, especially as it was portrayed by John MacArthur. I wondered how I could have been misinformed for all those years and thought that he must be wrong. That started an intensive study on my part to determine the truth.



I spent over a year researching church history, reading the Bible from cover to cover from a Reform perspective, and reviewing the creeds and the writings of the early church fathers. Was what Mr. MacArthur was saying correct? Indeed, the early western church fathers held a decisively Reformed view and the church has routinely slipped from a God-sovereign perspective to a man-center perspective. I could only conclude that I had been in error all these years and decided that I must embrace what the early western church fathers taught.



But it wasn’t just an intellectual leap. I read through the TULIP and found nothing that I had disagreements on from things I had read in the scripture. Many of the scriptural holes that I had been unable to understand are now complete. While I’m a young Calvinist and subject to errors, I feel like the questions that I have wondered about have finally been answered. I have just begun to read the works of John Calvin but for once I feel I truly understand the glory of God, the greatness of His sacrifice, and His divine grace and mercy to save a wretch like me.

Harley

 

[Knight]

Wow. Great testimonies....

I feel that I should expand a little on mine.

I've been a Christian for many years. I grew up on the Church of the Bretheren and placed faith in Christ around the age of 10 or 12. I honestly don't remember exactly when.

Anyway, I left that church when I started college. (3 hours is quite a long way to drive on Sunday morning ) I should also note that I had become a little jaded with church since the one I grew up in was not all that pleasant so I basically ignored this part of my life for a number of years. This resulted in stagnant spiritual growth.

When I moved out here to Indiana I was still pretty much the same. I had considered shopping around for churches but never really got going at it. (When you're single and don't know anybody who goes to a given church it's kind of hard to start up... At least that was my excuse at the time.) This went on until I was introduced to the lovely young lady who would eventually become my wife. She was an active member of a local church not far from me so I thought I'd give it a try. It was amazing. The church is a Bible believing and Bible teaching non-denominational church (formerly Baptist but they left the denomination many years ago. Much of the teaching is very similar). I was impressed. Everything I had been taught as a youth came flooding back to me. I had been reminded by God who I was. His child.

Anyway, our pastor did an expositionary sermon series on Romans. When I first saw the title of the sermon for Romans 9 I groaned. The concept of election, at that time, really bothered me. The Church of the Bretheren which I had been raised in is basically Arminian though they never really touched the subject. I was not looking forward to this but I thought I'd give it an honest listen. What followed changed the way I viewed God. He was no longer just someone I turned to for salvation. He was and is the author and perfector of my faith.

I actually don't recall much of the actual words to the sermon but it got me digging into the Scriptures and into this whole idea of Calvinism. Needless to say, I have never been the same in my walk with Christ.

All in all I would say that I was convinced rather than converted to Calvinism.