edhall@randvax.ARPA (Ed Hall) (02/25/84)
-------------------------- I was brought up Presbyterian, and am well acquainted with the doctrine of Predestination which Tom Albrecht brings up. I've never believed it, and never met a Presbyterian who didn't have a problem with believing it. I know my father had trouble--and he was a Presbyterian minister. He regarded the Westminister Confession as a guide, and not a mandate. I remember back when I was about 13 how one of my peers was convinced that he was destined for Hell, and thus felt that it didn't matter what he did--he might as well do what he wanted. And he did just that, and at the time I knew him was a petty criminal. Of all the people I have known he came the closest to believing in Predestination; he wasn't a churchgoer, of course, though his parents were. The idea of Predestination didn't seem any stranger to me than the idea of Hell; both of them seemed in direct contradiction with the God of Love I believed in then. After about four years, during which I was almost constantly seeking religious discussions with various people, I emerged convinced that there was no True Religion. When I look back, my abandoning the Christian faith had its roots in the above-mentioned contradiction. It is a testament to Calvin's great faith that he followed his reasoning to what he felt was its logical conclusion, and did not shrink from it no matter what the implication. Would that some of people on net.religion be so courageous. -Ed Hall decvax!randvax!edhall