The X-Calvinist Corner is a page on this website that shares the stories of people who were once Calvinist but have left Calvinism for a more Arminian theology. This series (The X-Calvinist Corner Files) highlights one of the testimonies from the X-Calvinist Corner in each installment.
Today’s testimony, which is only part of the original testimony, is from someone using the screen name Skandalon:
I became a Calvinist after reading a John MacArthur book while on a mission trip in Russia. I was 19 years old and had never dealt with the difficult passages surrounding this topic so I clung to the only viable answers I could find, which were provided by Calvinistic authors. Ten years later, following college and seminary and several years of ministry experience, I was reminded of my experience in Cross Examination Debate from High School and College where I was trained to always be able to debate both sides of a topic. As a joke, I signed on a discussion forum with a bunch of my Calvinistic buddies and picked a name they were not aware of and began to debate them as if I was an Arminian. In the beginning I was just trying to be funny by quoting John 3:16 over and over as if that should end the debate. But after a while I felt like I should really try and figure out why so many smart people (like John Wesley and CS Lewis) would reject what seemed to me to be so clearly taught in scripture. Thus my journey began.
As I came across questions I didn’t know how to answer from the Calvinistic perspective I would post them as arguments to my Calvinistic friends and their responses seemed lacking to me. This got me to really thinking and studying. For the first time in 10 years I was actually questioning these doctrines I had grown to love. I was in a Reformed church on staff and most of my best friends were Calvinistic, so this was no easy transition for me. I wanted desperately to find the answers I was seeking so I could remain a Calvinist. I could not.
