My Journey to the Darkside

I was saved at the age of sixteen. Soon after I began to wonder why I had come to Christ while others go to their graves hostile to the Gospel. At this point I asked Betty, the mother of the twins, Kevin and Karen, who had led me to Christ. Her respnse was that somebody must have been praying for me. Hmmm. Why did somebody pray for me and not those who die outside of Christ? Her answer only brought up more questions that needed to be delt with. Very frustrating.

About two years later some friends and I were discussing Romans 9-11. There was Carol, her brother Salvatore, Tim, Doug, and myself. We went back and forth on these verses. This conversation left a very deep impression on me. Salvatore stated boldly, " Well, I chose Him!" Carol ended the whole thing by stating that she was getting sick to her stomach. I was too,but the wonderment continued.

Enter Jim Domn. The year was 1977, and I was now twenty. He was a youth pastor that I had known since 1975. In the mean time he had stumbled across the Doctrines of Grace (DoG). One night in the summer of said '77 he sat me down to introduce me to the DoG. There was that sick feeling again. I offered up all the garden variety arguments against the DoG. Deep down though I knew he was right, and that I was wrong. After that initial encounter, though, he and I lost contact with eachother. I was glad. The challenge was now gone. What a relief.

Then came the car accident in May of 1978. There I was laid up in bed for what would be a six week stay. I was fairly popular and had many visitors, especially in the first two weeks. Well... One of those visitors was good old Jim. I dreaded the sight of him walking through the door. There was that sick feeling again. I was so hoping he would not bring up that subject again. Then, there it happened. He said, "Mark, we have some unfinished business to discuss." He was right. I determined that if my life was to be controlled by the Word of God then I must face this thing head-on.

Fast forward several weeks. I was now in my parent's living room with a full length cast on my leg. I had Jim come over to discuss Romans 8-11. There was no honest way around it. God elects people to salvation. I ran to my pastor about this. Perhaps he could help me out of the problem I had with receiving this truth. He recommended I read Robert Shank's "Life In The Son". This I did. But Shank believes people can lose their salvation. I was NEVER persuaded by that line of thinking even though those who led me to Christ believed that way as well as the church I attended. So, Shank's book was no help.

My journey to the Darkside was now complete. From 1978 on to the present the DoG makes the most sense of any system that I have encountered.