dermdoc said:
TheGreatEscape said:
We will see if anyone participates. It is ok either way.
I'd like to start a thread about sharing if we were raised by Scripture affirming parents (yes, Catholics and Orthodox count).
Are you a Christian who still affirms the authority of the Scripture and attends church?
Are you a Christian who still affirms the authority of Scripture but do not attend a church right now?
Or did your parents not go to church? Maybe they were atheists or agnostics or of some other religion? Did they believe in God and the Bible and still not take you to church?
Also, feel free to share about what Christian tradition you are apart of and if you've journeyed to another tradition.
Of course, some are non-denom. And that's fine. But it's still a tradition.
Curious about your journey.
Have you always been a Calvinist?
This is quite long…
I've appreciated every post and hope for more testimonies to be shared. It's good for the redeemed of the Lord to say so.
"… Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, From the north, and from the south." Psalm 107:2-3
Thank you, Doc. First of all, I believe that all traditions who affirm the Athanasian, Nicene, and Apostolic Creeds are objectively Christian. Even if they have never read them to find out…Yes, I realize there is one line in the Nicene Creed that differs with my Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters.
Anyhow, my parents moved from First Baptist when I was 8.
They joined a charismatic church, even though all of my relatives were either Baptist or conservative Bible believing Lutherans.
The charismatic church we left to was in the same county and was called Church on the Rock in Rockwall, Texas.
Pastor Larry Lea was the former youth pastor of Beverly Hills Baptist Church in Dallas.
He graduated from Dallas Baptist and Southwestern Theological Seminary.
He was heavily a sink or swim Arminian. I know there are other types because grandparents on both sides were very dedicated Baptists. Spent a lot of weekends with my grandparents and went to church with the Baptists.
Anyway, the word is the word. This was before the health and wealth stuff started to influence people in the wrong direction. The word was being preached. He was dynamic and I've never heard another preacher quite like him in person. He effectively made our church a praying church. We had constant sword drills (Bible book locating practice) in the Church on the Rock school.
Then they found out that Larry had two houses and land that was messy with the IRS and Larry started calling himself an apostle at the end. So he handed the church over to someone of the Pentecostal tradition. Then Larry went through a divorce and remarried. There were some other questionable acts that may or may not be true. I don't know.
Larry's church went from 12 people in 1980 to over 5,000 and he parted ways in 1990.
I continued with the new pastor until 2000.
Joined a church plant that was started by his son John Aaron Lea. He was preaching about the sovereignty of God in providence and salvation. He's also a great preacher.
I started reading Luther and Calvin on my own.
Then I went to DBU and finished in 2004 with a degree in Biblical Studies. Became a Presbyterian my Senior year.
Went to Westminster Seminary Dallas campus for a year. Now its called Redeemer Seminary.
It was strenuous for me and I was single. So I left to start teaching middle school history and coaching.
Got married two years into teaching to someone who grew up Church of Christ and then wealth and health charismatic. She went to church with me and then we had twin daughters and a step son that I still pray for and love.
She divorced me in 2012. I was humiliated and heartbroken that I wasn't able to keep her happy as is the duty of a Christian husband. Found her shopping around and she wasn't repentant. I was forced to leave the Presbyterian Church after the divorce. As Adam wrongly said to God…"It was the women that you gave me."
She stopped attending there and claims that she doesn't believe in God anymore. She remarried and then divorced him a couple of years later.
So my poor children have been through a lot of grief.
They are 14 now. Please, please…keep us in your prayers. God works through prayer.
So after my divorce, I lost my job. Then was hired late and had to move to South Texas. I hardly ever went to church.
I started using Cocaine and snorted some meth. This went on for three years, even though I was working out and chasing women in fornication.
Those drugs got bad and I stopped going to work. I came into work all dissociated after scoring very, very high in my teacher evaluation. That school district drug tests. So I was drug tested and failed. Lost my job. Lost my career of nearly ten years.
Moved back to Rockwall with my parents. Started snorting adderall and snorting capsules of gabapenten and trying to create music. Well…that was foolish. But I really felt hopeless and hard to accept the finding of another Godly women, especially with my economic status and confidence in Christ lacking.
I started hallucinating badly. I punched my brother (sucker punch). I've never been violent. Only fought twice because I was being punched back in my freshmen year at public school. I smashed most of the windows of businesses across the street and took an iPad, which I placed at my dad and mom's door. Went to jail for a year.
Went to a 90 day rehab. Went to sober living.
My parents were still going to their church as usual.
I worked down in Dallas on my knees gathering clothes and shoes into trash bags for a year. Then worked at a Surplus store. Now I work an humble job at a restaurant.
But my dad and I spent 7 years living together before he passed and my mom has been reformed since 2017. My brother has been reformed since 2019. And my dad was reformed by 2019. Passed in 2022.
We watched countless sermons together on YouTube by RC Sproul, Sinclair Ferguson, Tim Keller, John MacAurthur, Voddie Baucham and Steve Lawson.
I work on Sundays from 3-9. So I just recently started to attend a "Bible thumping" Anglican Church just five minutes down the road. I'm making new quality friends and I just love the expository preaching. Something about being present underneath the preaching of the word.
The other thing that attracted me to the Calvinist (Reformed) side of things is that the Holy Spirit is actually being emphasized and is all powerful in the work of redemption and bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Anyway, if you've made it this far…I appreciate your prayers as we pray for each other and participate in the growth of God's kingdom throughout the whole world!
Oh and praise be to God alone that I have been celibate for 7 years. I am very content and happy with the way things are.
