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 named John:
Dear friends at The Society of Evangelical Arminians,
Today I read John D. Wagner’s 17 page letter to R C Sproul, which was posted on the SEA website in 2017.
I thank you very much for making this letter avaiable, and I would also like to thank John Wagner if I knew how to contact him.
On August 27, 1974, I trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. For years after that, I was a happy, involved Christian.
Then in the mid 1980’s R C Sproul’s book Chosen by God was released, and unfortunately I bought a copy and read it. From then until now, there has been a gloomy cloud over me and my faith. I studied and read about predestination, but did not seem to find convincing, Scriptural refutations to Calvinism. Occasionally I’ve even tried to make peace with it because that’s what the Bible allegedly taught, but Reformed theology’s implications are just too harmful to my mental and spiritual health, and I just could not accept it.
The element of Calvinism which has truly tormented me is that, in their philosophical system, God leaves non-elect persons in their sins, does not genuinely draw them to Jesus, and makes it impossible for those individuals to trust in Him. The majority of the human race is therefore fated to be born into this world and then spend eternity writhing in hell for not believing in Jesus, even though God made it impossible for them to do so! Either He “passed over them,” or “left them in their sins,” or actively predestined them to be lost (“double predestination”).
What a slander of God’s character this is! What a denial of His love and care for all people! But I could not decisively prove to myself from Scripture that Calvinism is false.
Until now.
John Wagner’s letter to R C Sproul is a Bible-specific refutation of assertions the late Mr. Sproul made in Chosen by God. I so much appreciate what John Wagner has done in writing his letter. I will re-read it many more times, with an open Bible in hand. And now my concept of God and my relationship with Him can really begin to heal.
Blessings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
