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“I’m familiar with the Calvinist argument. It contrasts pretty strongly with Scripture. It takes a handful of scriptures out of context and then ignores the hundreds discussing faith and believing.”

I am very familiar with the dispensational argument. I used to make it myself. It contrasts pretty strongly with Scripture. It takes a handful of scriptures out of context and then ignores the hundreds of others.

I don’t know you, so I won’t assume to know what you do and don’t know. However, I will say this: I have never met a single non-Calvinist who truly understood the Calvinist arguments. Even though I argued against Calvinism for many years, I know I sure didn’t. I honestly thought I understood it, but my strongly held presuppositions blinded me. I had several proof texts in my back pocket and in my ignorance believed those texts defeated Calvinism. I’m embarrassed at myself now.

One day I was confronted about the Doctrines of Grace by an older Christian I respected. He had a Southern Baptist background and education quite like my own. Because I respected him I listened to what he had to say. I didn’t believe any of it, but I listened. We debated back and forth for a few weeks. One day I realized I had never actually studied the topic. I thought I had, but I hadn’t given it an honest in-depth look. Every argument I had against Calvinism had come from an anti-Calvinist. Somewhere along the line I read Proverbs 18:13 and that shut me up. I got honest with myself and stopped debating. I decided I had better give it a real hard honest look.
I had read books against Calvinism, but I had never read a single book against Dispensationalism. I had argued for the popular notion of free will without ever reading Edwards or Luther on the impact of the fall on the human will. I resolved to study the whole question afresh and believe what I found in the Scriptures. I decided to let Calvinists speak for themselves. I decided to critically examine my own belief system. When I started I honestly thought I would quickly and easily strengthen my long-held beliefs, but that isn’t what happened at all. It wasn’t easy at first. I resisted in part because of intellectual pride, but also because I knew I would be going against my parents, pastor, and professors.

Short of actual salvation, leaving free will theology behind was the best thing that ever happened to me. It radically changed my life for the better. I was saved as a boy but struggled with assurance of my salvation. It wasn’t until I understood God’s sovereignty and election that I had real assurance and that peace that passeth all understanding. Now I know that I know that I know I am one of His.

Over the years I have helped a number of mature older Christians come to understand Calvinism. To a man they will now tell you their understanding of Calvinism was a caricature, just as my understanding was. I had read mostly lightweight anti-Calvinists for years, not the writings and lives of Augustine, Irenaeus, Athanasius, Anselm, Justin Martyr, Wyclife, Jan Hus, Luther, Calvin, Tyndale, Knox, John Owen, John Bunyan, Edwards, Whitefield, Toplady, Gill, Issac Watts, Spurgeon, A.W. Pink, John Piper, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Steven J. Lawson, James R. White, J.I. Packer, Sinclair Ferguson, D.A. Carson, D. James Kennedy, Francis Schaeffer, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Alistair Begg, Al Mohler, etc. I list those men because they are famous Christians who knew/know God is sovereign in salvation and studying them over the years has helped me immensely. However, it was a relative unknown who helped me understand the Doctrines of Grace at the heart level, an old Baptist from the mountains of Kentucky named Henry Mahan. I listened to lots of sermons on the Doctrines of Grace and I read many books, but in the end it was the Scriptures themselves that convicted me, particularly the Gospel of John.

Over the last fifteen years I have discovered an entirely new rich world that opened the Scriptures in a new way. Only it wasn’t new at all. It was very old, but new to me. I don’t want to debate the points of Calvinism here because it’s an in-house debate and most FReepers don’t even know the Lord, so this isn’t the place. We are saved by Christ, not our doctrine, so this isn’t a salvation issue. However, my local church is full of former dispensational free will men who can attest that understanding God’s sovereignty mightily enhanced their relationship with the Lord. God bless, FRiend!