I have to tell you that these have been my exact thoughts lately and just last night was I composing in my head a very similar blog post. I also belong to a SB church (a "Bapticostal" one) so I can relate on that level too. It just makes me wonder where I fit in to the whole religious landscape and sometimes I wish we could just start homechurching (or start a new church) with like-minded believers. I believe in so much that the reformed churches teach about family and everything, but I am far from being a 5-point Calvinist. I am thankful that there are a couple of like-minded families at my church and we now have a *slightly* more family-oriented approach. But I think that's only because one of those families belongs to the worship pastor and he can introduce these ideas to the rest of the leadership. There is still a long way to go, though, IMO, but then again not everyone will share in those convictions and some would see them as being legalistic. So what do you do? IDK, I'm just thinking aloud here.

Blessings ~ Diane

I've been digging today, and I found some good links. I'll post them tomorrow. However, I'm really convicted of not following others interpretations of the Bible, but reading it on my own and asking the Holy Spirit to shine his light on my understanding.

why hello there...I posted a comment a few days ago on an older post(Dresses and Other Stuff)
and thought I would come on back for a visit...

I understand this post very well...It is so hard to understand the "reformed" view...but I think I have just come to the conclusion that I just pray and study the Word as the Lord is calling ME to do so...I will have mercy and pray for understanding for those who believe a little differently than I do...I hope you're day looks up soon :o)

blessings,
simply stork

I have found that most of the time when people get heavy into "Reformation Theology", they usually get heavy into legalism....I think it has some good points, but then again so does a porcupine. I think if one embraces it too forcefully, they're going to get all the points.

wow, I am sorry for how rude my previous comment appears as I reread it....just so you know I was not at all trying to come off as rude or sarcastic. But truthfully, I just see a lot of people who are minded this way and they just tend to be so polarized when it comes to the controversial, non-foundational issues. Ya know what I mean? Sorry for the seemingly sharp tone of my comment.

I'm having trouble viewing your blog and other comments, so I hope this isn't too repetitive, but I suspect there are many of us who have gone through a similar "time of questioning". I grew up Southern Baptist and have attended Southern Baptist churches my entire life until the past four months.
We are now in a church with reformed baptist theology and the difference is night and day. We stayed as long as we could, but the sb church we were attending had become increasingly hostile to us as homeschoolers and advocates of family integrated worship. They went so far as to call our well adjusted 15 year old son who preferred to attend adult sunday school classes with us "weird". That was hurtful to a young man already struggling to fit in with a very worldly group of young people. We thought we could be intruments of God's grace and mercy by teaching others what we have learned, but our message fell on deaf ears.
As we started praying for answers and reading God's word we realized that much of the problem has to do with their understanding of salvation. Too much emphasis on free will really undermines your understanding of and belief in God's sovereignty and grace. The Southern Baptist Convention started down this slippery slope in recent years and it has progressed to what you see and hear now. We began to educate ourselves on the doctrines of salvation and came to understand that reformed theology was a better explanation of what we believed.
I was further convinced after moving here and joining a reformed church. If we are to "know them by their fruits" then I believe God is confirming to us that we are on the right track now. The people are not perfect, but they love the Lord with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength and it is evident in the way they live their lives. I'm now not even sure our pastor was saved at our last church, and it breaks my heart!
I'm sorry this is so long. I just had to write because the past three years have been a long hard path and they started with us asking the same questions you are asking now. As hard as it was, we are so thankful for God's patience in bringing us through it and drawing us closer to Himself. He is so faithful!

So I am going to play devil’s advocate….

Why do some families place more emphasis on children than others? I don’t think that you can lump all Southern Baptist Churches together and say that their focus isn’t on families and children. Be careful not to get tunnel vision and be focused on the negatives of the church.

I know that you aren’t happy with things that are going on, but remember that there are godly people who love the Lord there.

Just from my own personal experience, I don’t know what I would do if some good Southern Baptists hadn’t taken me to church when I was a little girl.
This is my church history. It all started when the Methodists first took me to church when I was 4 or 5. I can still remember the verse and the necklace with a mustard seed in it that a Sunday School teacher gave me. . That’s when God planted the seed about faith.

We moved and then the Baptists stepped in until I was about 10. Again, I remember learning scripture and the day that I came home and told my parents that I had been saved. The scripture that I learned there was and is still so important. We moved again. This time our neighbors were some Pentecostals. Again, I went to church and through this the Holy Spirit showed me that that wasn’t the way he wanted to worship. Finally, around 14 after I left home and felt like there was nothing left to live for, the Nazarenes took over and loved me through all my pain and hurt. I remember the day I was redeemed and he washed me white as snow. The guilt was gone and I felt peace for the first time in my life. After that God led one person after another to pick up the slack and parent me spiritually and emotionally. So many people who have contributed to my spiritual raising that I can’t even count them all or won’t be able to thank some of them until I get to Heaven.

What I am trying to say is that God used people in all faiths to care for me, nurture me, love me, and pray for me when I didn’t have anyone else.

God can use other people other than family members to teach, train, and love. Our challenge is to be one of those people, wherever we worship.

Love,
Mom

I love the above comment.....(my awesome aunt)
I personally feel that denominations can be so devisive...I see this in so many churches, including my own...we forget that we are one body....the body of Christ. But so many times we get lost in doctrinal differences we fail to have unity and it is definitely a snare of the enemy. I have been just as guilty as the next guy, that's for sure. Thanks for putting things into back into the right perspective, Aunt D.
Love,
Heather

I ran into these questions back in 04/05 when I was just beginning to research homeschool curricula .... christian liberty press comes from the calvinistic view point and it seems others come from either arminiast or mennonite or "non denominational" or baptist "once saved always saved" .... my head was swimming.

Even you said you believe in eternal salvation but wonder how at 3/4 year old can just ask Jesus in their heart and be forever saved yet rebel as a teen....so I question once saved always saved.

the word backslide is in the Bible.

http://www.biblehelp.org/chosen.htm helped me understand the calvinistic viewpoint better

I think it's both afterall the verse and the song say we love HIM because HE first loved us....
HE chooses us (all of us....wanting none to perish) but unfortunately we don't all choose HIM in return ...can you imagine creating everyone and yet not everyone loves you in return? or can you know what it feels like to lay your life down so others can be saved and yet they mock you and ignore you? We think we know what rejection is but I'm sure we have no clue.

1 John 4:19
We love HIM, because HE first loved us.


Hebrews 10:26 - For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

{key word is if not when...}

I've even had people tell me (who believe once saved and calvinistically) that you can commit suicide and go to heaven ....what about thou shalt not commit murder commandment? if you kill yourself that is not self defense ...so sorry that doesn't wash with what the WORD says.

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the Holy commandment delivered unto them. 2 Peter 2:20-21

{I've had a presbytarian, aka calvinist tell me this was only referring to church membership not salvation}

But when the righteous turneth away from his rigtheousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he had done shall not be mentioned; in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. - Ezekiel 18:24

in fact Ezekiel chapter 18 refutes a lot of church doctrine so called, which really is just some dead guy's opinion on things.

Salvation is a journey... not a one-time event.

Matthew 7:21 - Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

come on we all sing Trust and Obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust AND obey

do we believe it?

remember God says HE is I AM and that means "I be doing what I be doing" ....HE is not sitting up there "chilling" HE is all about doing something!

What are we to do....?

Micah 6:8 - He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?


So after learning all this during that time as things to ponder when deciding on a curricula, after all I can't let texts teach DS one thing and not agree with it...that would cause problems.

I told my Home Church Pastor I want to attend a Church that when asked what their "statement of faith" is they just hold up the Bible and say all of this is. I can understand that.

Of course now I am embracing the whole Bible not just the "new testament" which is really just the renewal of the covenant from way back in Genesis. and it's great once you realize even Leviticus 23 is for us!

I agree with your mom about people of other viewpoints helping to shape my own or help me to see things from their viewpoint. And you've also discovered the best way to learn/know something check with THE SOURCE!

thanks for the meaty discussion and chance to learn something and share from the heart