I’ve been a Christian for 18 years. For nearly 15 of those years, I was a Calvinist. You can find my story on how I came to Calvinism here.
Studying theology is a passion of mine. I own hundreds of theological books and watch a lot of content online when I can’t read. Even as a Calvinist, I would continually study Calvinism. I would listen to my audiobook version of Easy Chairs, Hard Words by Doug Wilson often to help refine my understanding as well as sharpen my rhetoric. It’s not that I believe the book to be the best defense of Calvinism or the best explanation of it, but it is very good and easy to read. It’s just a book that I would revisit from time to time. Being in story form is just a bonus.
However, over the last few years I’ve undergone quite a change in my theology overall and have now abandoned my Calvinist theology and replaced it with Molinism.
I’ve got some who have told me that I must have done so because I’m willing to give up “foundational truths” in the study of new ideas. The implication was that I’m easily persuaded to embrace whatever I study as though I am looking for a reason to believe it. I want to believe this new idea, therefore I look for a reason and fit scripture into those assumptions to make it work, like a cylinder fitting into a square hole. That’s not the case.
One thing about me is that I don’t want to be wrong about what I believe. I don’t care about what’s trendy, what’s historical, what’s highly regarded. I care about what is true no matter what the cost may be, even if it alienates me from the Reformed community.
Most Reformed believers are committed to their theological system for better or worse. Many are completely unwilling to even entertain the exploration of other ideas to test themselves and verify that the views that they hold are those that most cohesively make sense of the entirety of scripture. They are convinced that their way is the right way and that there is no use in exploring other ideas. But if they’re right, then what’s the harm? The truth is the truth. I think too often people want to continue believing that their beliefs are true and if they challenge them, they may not know what to think or how to respond. So, it’s best to just keep the boat tied to the dock so as to not get rocked in choppy waters.
That’s not me. I’ll admit that I’ve had my moments where I would promote a view because I knew it was taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith, not blindly, as I did have an understanding of whatever it was, but it’s not as though I had enough information at times to defend it properly.
Let me say that it would have been a lot easier for me to just remain a Calvinist. Calvinism is certainly more respected in the Church in America than Molinism is. Maybe it’s more accurate to say that it’s trendier than Molinism is. It sure would have made sense for me to not toss 15 years of theological study into the garbage can. There are several reasons why holding onto Calvinism would have made sense, except that I found flaws in the system that mentally prevented me from holding onto the system any longer. What will follow this post is an explanation as to why I changed my views and why I believe Molinism better makes sense of what we read in scripture.
So, what I’d like to do in my next post is begin to explain why I have rejected Calvinism and accepted Molinism. I hope that it’ll be informative and challenging.
I know I’ll get some backlash for it, but so be it. If there are genuine questions, I welcome them and will try to address them. But ignorant ranting… I’ll pass.
Life and Doctrine 