Why I Am A Calvinist (Part One)

When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour when first I received those truths in my own soul – when they were as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron; and I can recollect how I felt that I had grown all of a sudden from a babe into a man – that I had made progress in scriptural knowledge, through having found, once for all, the clue to the truth of God … I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, I ascribe my change wholly to God.

Charles Spurgeon, Autobiography: 1, The Early Years,
Banner of Truth, pp. 164-165

When I first read what Charles Spurgeon had to say about him having found the truth of God in the passage quoted above, I thought, “Wow! How interesting that it was almost the same experience I had when I first began to study the tenets of Calvinism!

Since this blog was started to proclaim and defend Reformed Theology and the tenets of Calvinism, I thought it apt that I should begin with as essential a post as to why I am a Calvinist.

I was not brought up in a Christian home, nor (looking back) had any sound theological grounding when I was a young Christian freshly minted from the “Charles Finney School of Sinner’s Prayer Conversions”. To be honest, I cannot remember well what I learned in the youth group I joined in my formative years as a Christian.  To be sure, the basics were there, but nothing deeper.

All I knew was that I made a decision for Christ; I had a Jesus-shaped hole in my heart; I took a leap of faith and believed in Jesus Christ; I invited Him into my heart when He stood knocking at the door to my heart (the oft-misquoted verse Revelation 3:20); I said a “Sinner’s Prayer” with enough enthusiasm and sincerity to warrant salvation, etc.

Yes, it was all me. I did this; I did that. God had no part except that He gave inspiration to men to write down His wisdom to us in the Bible which I believe.

I did come into contact with a few men and women who were Calvinists though, but I thought them pompous. They seemed too sure of the doctrines that they espoused, and that to me made them proud peacocks displaying all their spiritual intellect for all to see. Besides, they weren’t much fun. I’d rather spend time going on barbecues, picnics, or cycling than sit down and listen to someone drone on about this or that theological perspective. Hey, I know that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die for me (cf. John 3:16) and that, to me, is sufficient theology.

Though I didn’t leave the faith per se (I still considered myself Christian in all those years, just that I was more, to use a apt term, “relevant”), I definitely wasn’t “of us” (cf. 1 John 2:19).

My experience with Pentecostalism didn’t give me any new insights into theology nor any thirst for sound, Biblical theology either. Sadly, I can say the same for my stay in the Bible-Presbyterian church where I spent some time in after leaving the Pentecostal church. No, that was no fault of the pastor or the church itself, but my total lack of interest in all things “deep”, i.e. I was content to just know what the Bible says about this or that and that was enough. In fact, on one of the first few visits to the church, I was given a book on John Calvin — an abridged Institutes of the Christian Religion, which duly went right to the bookshelf and was quickly forgotten.

Yet, God is gracious, faithful, and His mercies are new everyday (Lamentations 3:22-24).

Years later, when God led me back, He also put in me a new heart for His truth and His Word. Moreover, He also led me to get to know many brethren and sisters of the Reformed faith. I don’t think nor believe these were coincidences. All that has come to pass in my spiritual growth has a purpose — to show forth God’s glory.

Yes, His glory. It is all for God’s glory.

Whereas once upon I thought I did it all, and boasted in my flesh that I was the one who had the “brains” to see how Christianity is true and that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation (John 14:6), now I know I had no real part in it. There’s nothing I can really boast about, because spiritually I was like Lazarus — dead in the tomb and unable to help myself (John 11:1-44). It was all God’s doing, and if I were to boast, I can only boast of my weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:5) and in the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:17).

The journey wasn’t easy, though. When I embarked on the journey to find the truths in the Bible which the five points of Calvinism summarize so succinctly, I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t reading the points into Scripture, but what Scripture indeed does say about each of the five points. Such a study will require discipline and perseverance, but it was essential because I was truly convinced that only right doctrine can lead to the right understanding of God (theology) and from there, a right understanding of man, sin, grace, salvation, etc.

End of Part One. Do subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified when Part Two, which details what I learned from the Bible and why I believe what I believe with regards to Calvinism, is published.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Tagged as: Charles Spurgeon, Doctrine, Faith, Glory, Grace, Jesus Christ, Reformed, Theology