What your brother went through is EXACTLY what I went through while in Calvinism. As much as I appreciate our Calvinist brothers, their erroneous doctrine of double predestination ends up leading to the same place that Arminianism and Roman Catholicism lead: I'm ultimately looking at myself and my works as the assurance for my salvation, either directly or indirectly, and it comes DANGEROUSLY close to making my obedience the basis for my salvation. I know that not all Calvinists intend for this, but that is ultimately where it leads. Calvinism likes to emphasize the sovereignty of God in all things, particularly concerning conversion, and as a result sometimes the cross of Christ becomes almost an afterthought to conversion--again, this is most likely not intentional, but I've seen that happen. While we confessional Lutherans would agree that God is sovereign, it is far more scriptural and far safer to emphasize the cross of Christ.
I was searching Steve Kozar's channel for some information on the Lutheran church and came across this channel so ive subbed and looking forward to watching your content. 🙏🙏🙏
I remember some conversations that you both had on the F4F Crew. Very interesting discussions which lead to my own search for the truth. Thanks for putting this together and the work you do. 👍
Your entire road to Lutheranism (except for reading Walther) is what got me to Reformed confession. I'm sorry you were in a works salvation church, but let me tell you that Reformed theology isn't what caused that, it was a lost pastor. Reformed theology recognizes law and gospel as well.
I explicitly stated in the video that not all Calvinist churches were that. However, for the most part, almost all of the Calvinist churches focused heavily on inner sanctification: i.e., your fruit determines your level of spirituality. Stripping verses such as Matthew 7:21, passages from 1John, as well as others is what caused me to continually doubt my salvation and assurance. Certainly, I don't believe that everyone who is a Calvinist is in the predicament that I was in. But when the focus in on doing rather than Extra Nos, it always leads to devastating consequences.
