timfost
Puritan Board Senior
Admittedly, I used to be a staunch hyper-Calvinist, although as is typical for most hyper-Calvinists, I thought I was just Reformed. Since hyper-Calvinists tend to shy away from saying to the lost "repent and believe and you'll be saved," what they seem to look for is some kind of experience or revelation of election, hence the overlap with the Charismatics. Peter Toon writes that some hyper-Calvinists believed that the Spirit had to whisper in one's ear "you are elect." Of course, this is not a mark of all hyper-Calvinism, but it does highlight a significant problem, that instead of proclaiming the simple promise of the gospel (whoever believes will be saved), they often look for some evidence of election. This seems to manifest itself is some kind of experience, normally a conversion experience, at least in my case. Some in my church said that they knew that they were converted when they realized that there was nothing they could do to be saved. That is in part true, but faith and repentance were left out of the equation. The knowledge of our inability by itself doesn't save. Such doctrines led many in my church to promote a conversion experience that was not a simple trust in God, but an intellectual assent to the five points of Calvinism (plus a host of other doctrines that were later added to the list).
Thoughts, especially from former hyper-Calvinists?
Thoughts, especially from former hyper-Calvinists?