Predestination: the bible is full of it.

In our Sunday School class, we are reading a light but interesting book about the resurgence of Calvinism among Evangelicals. It's title is Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists, and it is written by Collin Hansen. This is a quick read, and interesting to discuss in the context of our own church, and how we address trends in our culture. It also provides a nice break from the heavy-duty fare we've covered the last several years: The Westminster Confession, then the Larger Catechism, the book of Job, and John Owen's Mortification of Sin. Phew!

One of the appealing things about Hansen's book is that I see myself in many of the anecdotes. As I was reading today, Hansen said that for many young Calvinists, though they had known Christ prior to understanding Reformed theology, that understanding energized and renewed their life. This reminded me of several instances in my own life when, my understanding of the gospel was broadened and my life changed by it. I thought it might be fun to briefly chronicle some of these times.

In 1979, my soon-to-be-husband and I attended Intervarsity's Urbana Missions Conference. A couple of things happened there that were life altering for me. Dave and I had been discipled by a couple from his church who were Reformed, and I had been exposed to the teaching of Scripture, but my Roman Catholic, individualistic, Arminian self was kicking against the goads. As a matter of fact, I had decided to stop reading any books of the bible that even mentioned predestination. I had cut myself down to Psalms and Proverbs, but even there it kept raising its ugly head. At Urbana, the first thing that got my attention was the morning bible studies taught by John Stott from the book of Romans. I remember distinctly realizing by the end of the week that my choice was either to embrace what Scripture clearly said, or to deny it.

We attended Urbana with our dear friends Barb and Randy Greenwald (and their infant daughter, Adria). At some point I was walking around the exhibit hall with Randy, and we were discussing predestination. He paused and said, "Come with me." He introduced me to a Dr. Barker (I'm now not sure which Dr. Barker this was, but at the time I had no knowledge of any Dr. Barkers...) and said, "Chris has a question for you." So, being ever naive and bold, I said to this Doctor of Theology, "Do you really buy this predestination stuff? I mean, it seems so counter-intuitive. Why would you want to believe such a thing?" His answer was so simple. He replied that the bible was full of predestination, so he had no choice. He had no choice, and neither did I. At the end of the week, I remember kneeling with Dave in the lobby of one of the dorms on the UI campus, and committing myself to following God through His Word, and asking God to help me to love the truth about Him, even Predestination, which I hated at that time.

So, I left that important week as a different person than I had entered it. I came to grips with the fact that to reject the doctrines of grace was to reject Scripture. I could no longer have it both ways, and pick-and-choose what I wanted to believe. I either had to accept Scripture and all it said as authoritative, or I had to reject it. I prayed fervently for God, who in His sovereignty had revealed the truth of His Word to me, to make me love those truths. And He has been gracious to answer that prayer. Predestination, which once was odious to me, is now a precious picture of the amazing love of a sovereign God for me, who has nothing to deserve it. It reminds me that I did nothing to earn my salvation, and therefor can do nothing to lose it, either. What comfort this brings.

To be continued...