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 is from a man with the screen name Bro. D.:
I only flirted with Calvinism slightly, by way of research, due to accusations from a local pastor who charged me with being a “dreaded Arminian,” and therefore in jeopardy of being a heretic. Thus began my look under the hood.
I feel very blessed from my upbringing in the body of Christ. I had, for many years belonged to a fellowship that put a very high emphasis on identifying the works of the flesh. Not only “Lascivious” flesh, which is a common subject of the average pulpit, but the most deadly flesh of all….”Religious” flesh.
For me, it was not “Lascivious” flesh that murdered Jesus. But “Religious” flesh did so. As Paul says: “The son’s of the flesh do ALWAYS persecute the son’s of the Spirit.
With this as my background, the first thing I examined within Calvinism was its fruits (the behaviors of its adherents). Immediately warning alarms went off.
I saw a strong spirit of arrogance, aggressiveness, and in some cases cut-throat behavior. I quickly concluded: this is a people who do NOT love their enemies. And the most subtle beast in the field. Genesis 3:1.
I then started researching the life of John Calvin. And it didn’t take long for me to observe, the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.
By that point, I was completely convinced, Calvinism is much more Pharisaical than it is Christ-like. I then got turned on to Gordon Fee, N.T. Wright, William Lane Craig, Jerry Walls, Roger Olson and others. It was through those studies, that I started to understand that the cornerstone of Calvinism is not Christ, it is Universal Divine Determinism. UDD is for the devout Calvinist, the most sacred of all things. UDD is the canon of canon, and all scripture must conform to it. More and more, I started to recognize that Calvinism’s logical contradictions are for them, a Mount Everest that no Calvinist has ever conquered, though each generation seems to produce self-confident Calvinists who try their hand at it. But alas, each one retreats to the safe-haven of inscrutability. (argumentum ad ignorantiam – argument from ignorance).
How God works all things for the good:
When a biological enemy attacks the human body, it forces the body to produce antibodies, which search out and destroy the attacking virus.
I Thank God, he allowed those “enemies within” which prompted the Apostle Paul to write his letters to the Galatians and Corinthians. And similarly, I thank that Calvinist pastor who accused me of being a “dreaded Arminian”. God meant it for my good!
I want to thank you SEA for being a group of thoughtful, kind and Christ-like believers within the fellowship of the beloved. May your lives touch the heart of Jesus more each day.
