Knowing God's perfect plan for His glory and His children
To me this is more than a book, is it part of my story...
Two years ago, a sweet friend of mine called me and posed the simple question, "What is Calvinism?" To prideful to tell her that I had no clue, I recommended that we both look-up resources on Calvinism (whatever that means...) and meet at Starbucks in a few days to discuss. The hour before our Starbucks date I frantically googled 'Calvinism', printed off a bunch of charts and information and stared at them in bewilderment. As a last resort, I called my friend Vince (who I believed knew everything, so he must know something about this 'Calvinism' term), and demanded that he explain Calvinism to me in under 5 minutes. He laughed.
At Starbucks we read down the two-column google print-off I had brought with me. On the left was 'Calvinism' and on the right was 'Armenian' with subpoints explaining their corresponding theological beliefs. We read each subpoint, decided which side we agreed with more, and circled our preference. By the time we were done, it looked like a little kid with a crayon had attacked our chart!
Through much of Vince's laughter (and personal enjoyment, I'm sure), I fought through seemingly unanswerable questions for weeks. The Bible study that I attended was discussing God's view of evangelism through-out Scripture, and one night I erupted with questions about the purpose of evangelism, predestination, assurance of salvation... my head was spinning and nothing was helping! On the way out the door that night, one of the girls in my study handed me a copy of Chosen By God, and told me to read it.
Life and Scripture began to make sense...
Sproul taught me one step at a time; predestination and free will, Adam's fall and mine, spiritual death and spiritual life, foreknowledge and predestination, and can we know that we are saved? Sproul even addressed the questions and objects he foreknew that I would have. I tried to fight with Sproul, yet his words held get wisdom drawn from Scripture. Through comical, yet profound, examples from Alice and Wonderland, real life, and historical theologians, this book taught me great truths - and left me with more, yet better, questions than before.
When I moved into my apartment I was amazed at all the extra expenses and details. Extension cords, garbage bags, kitchen appliances, etc. And my apartment had nearly no over-head lighting, making light bulbs a new major expense in my life, how ridiculous! I was so sick of spending money at Walmart that I dug up whatever light bulbs I could find in my moving boxes and screwed them in. Months later, they needed replacements, and I begrudgingly drove off to Walmart to scour the home improvements section. With upgraded light bulbs in place, I flipped on the lights and was amazed at the brightness! How had I not realized that I had been living in a cave before?! The story was the same with my understanding of God. Sproul provided light before my eyes as I dug into Scripture with a new clarity and sight. Oh, how thankful I am for a continually deeper relationship with God.
R.C. Sproul writes:
My hope is that we will all continue to struggle. We must never assume that we have arrived. Yet there is not virtue in sheer skepticism. We look with a jaundiced eye at those who are always learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. God is delighted with men and women of conviction. Of course he is concerned that our convictions be according to truth. Struggle with me than as we embark upon the difficult but, I hope, profitable journey examining the doctrine of predestination.
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