{"id":28272,"date":"2018-05-20T21:45:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T03:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=28272"},"modified":"2026-09-22T20:51:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T03:51:04","slug":"letter-editor-painful-journey-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/letter-editor-painful-journey-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the Editor: A Painful Journey Out of Bondage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Dear Lighthouse Trails:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I got the book <em>Calvinism: None Dare Call It Heresy<\/em> in Kindle (until hard copy arrives) form and a hard copy. I just had to start reading it ASAP and looking forward to the hard copy to write, highlight, and make notes on it (which has happened). Having been in a staunch Reformed, 5-point Calvinist church for over 10 years and never being able to embrace it (though I kept that to myself) and feeling guilty that something was wrong with me was very damaging. The joy of His salvation left me little by little with the paralyzing fear of not being a chosen one. My husband was Reformed until a few years ago. We left 20 yrs ago not for it being Reformed but other unconscionable things that the pastors thought were biblical actions. Because we did not submit to their authority, they excommunicated us. They put us through<em> hell<\/em>. None of our friends were allowed to have anything to do with us. My paralyzing fear of God throwing me away led me to develop severe anxiety and panic attacks that interrupted my daily function. Our three kids were very little at the time, and it was so difficult for me. By God\u2019s grace, I did not walk away from my faith but just clung with every fiber of my being to the sliver of hope that God\u2019s grace and gift of eternal life with Him was available to ALL who chose to trust and believe in Him. At times, it was almost impossible to believe it was that simple!<\/p>\n<p>I often told my husband that I believed it was another gospel which put strain on our marriage as at the time he still fully embraced it. I\u2019m sharing only a very small snippet of our experience, but I can tell you that many of our close friends walked away from the faith wounded, broken, and betrayed by that church and their legalism. That church fell apart a few years back, but the damage Calvinism\/Reformed Theology had on many is tragic. Speaking for myself I think of it as \u201cCalvinist Theology PTSD!\u201d Just Sunday on our way to church a pastor on the radio said something that triggered that fear again, and it makes me mad and sad. For some of us, it changed us deep in our spirit in a damaging way, and what once was a beautiful and sweet joy of Christ\u2019s Salvation turned into a lifelong limp.<\/p>\n<p>All this to say, I\u2019ve longed for a book like this to help me truly understand, embrace God\u2019s immeasurable love for me, and validate my thoughts on this grace killer! This book is a must read for untangling your theology and get back on the correct one!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nina<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Lighthouse Trails: I got&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":32286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4636,8,165,2312,475],"tags":[437,3669,3696,3936,3937],"class_list":["post-28272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legalism","category-bookfilm-reviews","category-spiritual-deception-defending-the-faith","category-calvinist-reformed","category-letters-to-the-editor","tag-letter-to-the-editor","tag-calvinism","tag-reformed-theology","tag-bondage","tag-calvinism-none-dare-call-it-heresy","wpcat-4636-id","wpcat-8-id","wpcat-165-id","wpcat-2312-id","wpcat-475-id"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - 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