There is such a wealth of information on this site! Thank you Pilgrim for putting this together and thank you all for the insightful and biblical posts that you have taken the time to create.

I have been a professing Christian for my entire life (I'm 29 now); however, for a large portion of my adult life I was what I would call an intellectual Christian. I knew what I believed and I could discuss it with people but there was no evidence of it in my life. Then the Lord in his mercy sent to me the doctrines of grace. Oh the terrible and wonderful the convictions these truths placed upon my heart! How is it that people can look upon Calvinism as "cold, legalistic, arrogant?" What is cold about the sovereignty of God? What is leaglistic about letting the Bible interpert the Bible? Where is the arrogance of giving ALL of the glory to God? Thank you Lord for these truths! How lost I was! How lost we all were before the Holy Spirit first acted upon us! Thank you Lord for your sovereignty that you would not leave something as precious as my eternal soul in my wicked hands! It brings tears to my eyes!

How could anyone desire to say that man controls his own salvation? How many of us have tried to go on a diet or give up smoking how often do we fail? And yet some would say that a man can be faced with a "decision for Christ" and comprehend fully in his soul what this means and still say no?!?! I cannot deny a Twinkie and yet it is within me to deny the Lord?

If I am in a dark room and someone turns on a light, my exclamation "I can see!" is not one of free will it is a response to stimuli. The Holy Spirit illumes our souls and we cry out, "Yes Lord!" Our cry is not a decision it is a RESPONSE.

O.K. that's enough out of me for now. Once again thank you all.