My answer:
Gratia said: As a quick aside, I still find myself aghast at the attitudes and reactions of folks like Chappie, when I think of how understanding and embracing Reformed Theology changed my life. As a matter of fact, I’d call it a conversion.
Ditto to this a million times over.
I most definitely came to understand and embrace Calvinism as a result of this board. When I initially came to the Webboard, I had no idea what Calvinism really was, and I’d never heard the term Reformed before. I knew that I wasn’t Presbyterian or Hard-Shell Baptist, but I didn’t know why. I also had this idol of religious knowledge about why I did believe what I believed. I grew up Anabaptist, which isn’t ALL bad, but does have a lot of legalistic and self-reliant tendencies– even though no one involved would EVER admit such things.
After fighting tooth and nail with people like Kirk and Stephen and Richard and so many others, I sort of threw up my hands at it all. I just said to myself that they could believe what they wanted and that I would go on about my merry way. In August of 2003, I decided that God wanted me in Lubbock, Texas of all places, but I didn’t know how I was going to get there. I had so much stuff to move, and I drove a mustang at the time… and conincidentally (yeah right) Andy Hedges was going to be playing a show in the San Antonio area and offered to help me move in exchange for a million home cooked meals. 
We talked a lot about what I believed and why I didn’t embrace Calvinism, and staunchly disagreed on many points, but he didn’t push it.
My first week in Lubbock, I ran into yet another Webboarder– Joe Morrow, who was Reformed Baptist. We spent months hanging out pretty constantly, until one afternoon, we were hanging out at Sugar Brown’s Coffee, and he opened his Bible, looked me directly in the eye and asked, “Stephanie, why don’t you believe in Calvinism?” I cautiously walked him through all sorts of Scripture that supported my “views” on things, and meticulously, yet lovingly, he picked apart every single one of my arguments.
I didn’t admit it to him at the time, but I was absolutely furious at him for bringing up these issues… for cornering me. I was actually angry enough at him for about a week to not so much as speak to him. I avoided his phone calls like a cat! I distinctly remember thinking to myself at one point, “It would be so much easier if I could just go on in the path I was on, and act like I didn’t believe a word I read in that Bible, or that I didn’t believe a word that Joe said to me. I could pretend…” Obviously, for someone with such a passionate personality as myself, I couldn’t do that feasibly, but I definitely considered it for an hour or so.
I don’t always understand a lot of the doctrine, but the Bible has become so incredible ALIVE to me. Scripture and Christ and honestly– MY LIFE makes sense to me now! I guess that’s sort of why I say that it was a conversion for me…. Honestly, and I’ve said this here before– it felt sort of like a salvation experience. The pain of realizing my sin– the shame and guilt and stabbing in my heart that I’d had this idol before my God… and then the incredible feeling of forgiveness both now and in the future… Yes, it most definitely was a conversion!
I am always open to questions about my beliefs, although I must admit that I may not always know the answers right off hand, so anyone who is interested, feel free to ask!
