There are two issues that really seem to boil the blood of some believers today. They are both the proverbial third-rails of theological discussions. One is King James Version Onlyism. I am certainly no stranger to that debate. The other one has to be Calvinism. While I abandoned King James Onlyism relatively recently in my Christian life, I did embrace the Doctrines of Grace back around 1996 or 1997, very early in my Christian life and ministry. Before I knew what it was called, I came to believe that God was sovereign in salvation by rejecting the seemingly emotionally-driven decisional regeneration that I was witnessing in my particular theological camp. My pastor ended up being a huge help to me. Learning first of the general doctrines from study, my pastor helped me understand that I needn’t reinvent the wheel because there was a soteriological system already in existence. When he introduced me to it, and I learned of this guy named John Calvin, I felt like I had entered a whole new world as far as the Bible was related. I had only been saved a year or so and was a teenager nearing or freshly graduating from high school. But I soon learned it was a no no to use the term Calvinism in our circles. My pastor advised me that, since many people do not have a proper understanding of it, they would be turned off by the term. It was from there that I adopted his practice of saying what I have said many times and what may be found on my personal statement of faith. If you define Calvinism, I may not want anything to do with it. But if you let me define it properly, then yes. I am a Calvinist. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter how you try to avoid conflict, haters are gonna hate regardless of your particular view on this issue. So I no longer caveat it. I am a Calvinist and I will try my best to define the system properly. In this video, I want to walk through what Calvinism is and how it developed. In doing so, we are also going to talk about Arminianism and even some Calvinistic positions where there are various positions.
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One response
At 22 years old, met and married my college sweet heart at Tennessee Temple University Chattanooga TN. She attended a regular baptist church in Hazelton PA. Well, little did I know , my wife would listen to MacArthur, Sproul, and Washer and then she would say of herself ; I am a Calvinist ! I would joke with my wife and call her my little fire breathing Calvinist. I have had the idea for a book entitled; Lord Help, I married a Calvinist ! Now at 45 years old, I am thankful for God’s electing and irresistible grace in my life and I look back and see how God was dealing with me to call me to salvation by grace through faith… with that said , I have had numerous conversations with fellow Christians and they have said; Bryan , go ahead, say you’re a Calvinist! I will decline with a smirk on my face. With that said, I had a silly debate I should have never started with an IFB evangelist on Facebook Messenger because of the quote ; It’s Not Reformation but transformation . I tried explaining what the reformation was about and how in colonial America many Baptist were particular Baptist and the KJV translators were influenced by John Calvin. So after the debate , I was called a Calvinist . I am still learning but I don’t agree with everything Calvin said or did…. But I do believe Salvation in Jesus Christ is all of grace and we are absolutely powerless to come to Jesus on our own merit or will. I don’t know how the miracle of Salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit invades our will because our will is flawed but by grace are we saved through faith and whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be Saved . I just know in my life , I have experienced saving faith and I am dumbfounded that God still deals with me after being His for 34 years . That must be grace and His effectual call, His irresistible grace at work in my flawed but yet redeemed heart .