No Turning Back Now…I Told My Pastor That I Am Now Reformed

I have been plannning to talk to my Pastor concerning my new theological understanding for a little while.  Tonight I had the opportunity to tell him so I did. I was unsure how he would react.  He told me once that he had studied Calvinism in seminary and rejected it and that he had not thought about it since. I told him that in most cases I would not have bothered to tell him anything because I would have simply considered it to be differences in interpretation.  But, considering the growing conflict in the SBC over the growth of Calvinism I felt it was important the he know.

He basically had two primary concerns.  First, evangelism and second, double predestination.  If I believed either of these then he would have some major concerns and might have to consider whether he could allow me to continue in my teaching responsibilities.  As for evangelism, he said that Calvinism tends to diminish evangelism.  I explained that was only true for someone how was a Hyper-Calvinist and that I did not see it as diminishing my, or our churches, evangelistic efforts.  I explained that I was not a Hyper-Calvinist.  Next, he mentioned double predestination.  He felt that if I believe that God creates some people who can’t respond to the Gospel then that would be a problem.  I explained that I once believed in predestination and free will but did not know how to reconcile them and that I no longer believed in free will.  I told him that I did believe in predestination and that any belief in predestination almost requires a belief in reprobation.  I feel they are two sides of the same coin.

I also explained to him that whenever these issues come up I have tried (and will continue) to teach both sides.  It is not always possible but I try.  In the end he said that unless someone in the church made an issue of things he did not see any reason for taking any actions.  He said he was open to the discussions and said as long as we agreed on the essentials (the Gospel) then everything else (non-essential doctrines)  could be debated and discussed.  This was good news to me….he could have decided to remove me from my teaching responsibilities.