I have just finished a book review of Mark Driscoll's book Confession of a Reformission Rev., which has been uploaded to my website here. Here is the conclusion
Driscoll's book is a good window into the worldview of the conservative "calvinist" emerging church. What it shows is indeed rather alarming, and serves to perpetuate and accentuate the problems in the churches. What is the point of having solid doctrine when such doctrines have no bearing whatsoever on life and ministry? What is the point of becoming a Calvinist when the most fundamental point of Calvinism — the Sovereignty of God — is denied over and over again through the incessant need to be relevant, "missional" and adopting the methodologies of the world? It is not enough to profess sound doctrine, but that such profession must be a true confession from the heart which will manifest itself in proper Christian living and fidelity to Scripture alone for all of life. May God show Driscoll his errors so that he may repent and obey God 's Word fully and not partially. Amen.
Some people have asked me on my current focus on Mark Driscoll especially since he seems to be an American problem (for now). First of all, the main thing is the issues involved, not the person. Secondly, whatever that is in the US would come over to Singapore sooner or later. Thirdly, I know of a leader in my former church who is currently enamored by Mark Driscoll. It is simply naive to think that Singapore does not have to deal with this issue now; with the growth of the Internet, ideas can spread very very rapidly.
45 comments:
Yo Daniel.
Your enemies have been leaving all kinds of messages about you.
Just curious: What have you done to inspire such pure unadulterated hatred?
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
well, just proclaiming the Word of God. I think I have told you not to lump me in with Joseph Prince and those loonies? There is too much in Christendom that is not true Christianity at all. Such people hate me because they hate God and His Word, and they prove it by their deplorable conduct.
Lol. I am just amused, that's all.
I was going through your other blog and you seem to garner a lot of hate comments. And I thought I was the one with bad karma!!!
Well, well, as an atheist, I don't think I am interested in meddling with your inter-sect fraternity warfare. It is just that it reminds me of those wuxia stories, where pugilistic sects like Shaolin will challenge some fighters from Hua Shan and so on.
And, just for curiosity's sake, I know you work for some govt agency as a "lab biologist". How do you reconcile that with your religious belief, since you do not believe in evolution at all???
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
why is that a problem at all? Belief in evolution is simply not necessary for working in science. I can talk about things like homology etc without invoking evolution as a metanarrative.
Well, avoiding evolution in biology is kind of like evading gravity in physics. Evolution is a major component of biology as is gravity to physics. I am sure your professors will agree with this assessment.
Beast FCD
And Evolution is a fact, not a mere belief.
Beast FCD
I suspect that many of your enemies who posted comments on my blog are atheists....you seem to attract opposition from all sides of the spectrum.
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
What my enemies claim to be are of no significance to me. Do you think God cares whether anyone call himself an atheist and do wrong, or if he calls himself a Christian and do wrong?
And I am not going to discuss evolution with you. I work in a lab so I know the role evolution plays in biology firsthand, and I sincerely doubt anything I say will convince you anyway.
So you do believe in evolution. Fair enough.
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
I never said I did. I just said I know my science.
"And I am not going to discuss evolution with you. I work in a lab so I know the role evolution plays in biology firsthand...."
That sentence tells me you do believe in evolution. End of story.
Beast FCD
Yea. evolution's role in biology has served to retard the advancement of science. E.g. assuming vestigial organs and thus discouraging the investigation of possible functions. All the 180 vestigial organs names by Darwin have been shown to have functions, but this research was discouraged for many years due to evolutionary belief that it was a waste of money because they have no function. Or in more recent examples, the theory of evolution has assumed that so-called junk DNA or "pseudogenes" have no function but just left overs from the evolutionary process... Evolutionary biology discouraged research into that area. Of course we now know that these Junk DNA have significant roles in many cancers... thanks to people who did not stick with these evolutionary presuppositions. I have not ever got into how evolutionary biology has retarded the medical sciences as far as surgery goes. (spine surgery)
Lol. How about blaming gravity for retarding space age? After all, without gravity, space shuttles need not device so many booster rockets to lift space shuttles into space.
Beast FCD
Beast. your analogy does not follow. Space age was based upon the correct use of gravity, but with evolutionary biology, it is well documented how evolutionary thinking has caused many wrong medical practices to be carries out. E.g. the removal of so called vestigial organs on the basis that they have no function. E.g. removal of muscles around the coccyx, removal of the appendix, wrong corrective spinal surgery on the basis that our spines are badly designed and should revert back to one similar to apes, etc.
Or as mentioned earlier with Junk DNA and pseudogenes, the only reason why it was not even studied by most scientists for a long time was because they evolutionary thinking assumes it to be just leftovers - even though creationists have long pointed out that the evidence does show that it does have function. Other cosmological problems were easily solved by creationists like Russ Humphreys (e.g. correctly predicting magnetic fields of mercury through a biblical young-universe understand of the cosmos. It completely baffles the evolutionary astrophysicists.)
Or even in the past, where evolutionary thinking was the basis of scientific experiments by Russians during WW2, where human-ape hybrids experiments were carried out based on the belief that man evolved from apes and thus a super-warrior could be created out by hybridizing the two.
All these are well documented in the scientific literature and are direct consequences of how evolutionary biology has retard the advancement of science.
On the other hand, one would be hard pressed to find any scientific discovery that stemmed directly from using evolutionary biology as a scientific predictive model.
Lolz. I can only laugh at such abject ignorance.
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
do you have a degree in biology and its related fields? If you are so enlightened, why don't you prove your position correct? Or are you going to argue the same way you did for homosexuality - ad hominem dismissal? You know: "I don't need to prove anything, because I know I am correct and my liberal buddies agree with me. I can quote other liberals to prove my point blah blah blah..."
Correction: You lost the debate on homosexuality.
As for biology, I think that there is really nothing for me to say: Evolution is fact, just as gravity is.
If you think evolution is false, try explaining genetic mutations, hybrid animals, mutated viruses, etc, etc etc. I don't need a biology degree to know that evolution is fact. On the contrary, if you have a biology degree and still claim evolution is fact, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. The evidence is aplenty.
Oh, oh, yes. I know what you will say.God caused it. Duh.
Beast FCD:
you lost the homosexuality issue, since your epistemology and metaethics is bankrupt. But I am not going to fight with you on that; it is evident to all but the most biased liberal.
Your arrogance is legendary. You don't have a biology degre, yet you claim to know more about biology than those who do who dispute that fact?! In case you don't know, Joel and me both have BSc degrees in the biological sciences, and we find your bravado revealing of the ignoramus you are.
At least atheists like Richard Dawkins attempt to refute Creationism and Intelligent Design; you didn't even try, because you apparently can't. There is wisdom in keeping one's mouth shut when one is not proficient in the topic you know.
BSc Degrees you said? Lol. Dawkins is a professor of biology. And he happens to agree with me!!!!
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
As usual, you cannot defend ANY of your claims, just attack anyone who disagrees with you. Typical liberal cowardice. Once you throw out the word "moron", you can be sure your comments would be deleted as per rule 1.
>Lol. Dawkins is a professor of biology. And he happens to agree with me!!!!
You sure you want to play the game of degrees? I can just as easily find YECs with degrees from recognized accredited schools, so that does not mean anything. By mentioning degrees, I am putting you back in your place, because you refuse to engage arguments but instead play the ad-hominem and petitio principii card, and pretend to know more about evolution while you do not have a degree while ignoring the arguments altogether.
You really need to learn some logic; the number of logical fallacies you have committed so far are astronomical and undermine anything you have said so far.
Yo Daniel, Daniel:
Ever the cry baby, eh? You delete my messages for calling you a moron, but you have the gall to equate Christians with criminals and think you can get away with it?
I wasn't the first one to start the "degrees wars"......you started it.
Of course you can name a Christian who supports intelligent design.....hey, how about Michael Behe? Oh, oh, you know, the irreducibility complex argument? Oops, I forgot, his arguments got thoroughly torn to shreds in the courts.......try another one.
The Victorious Beast FCD
LOL...
More psycho-assertionism from BEAST FCD on evolution after he lost the homosexual debate using the same tactics.
That's what happens when a person cannot substantiate his claims.
:P
Wrong Joel. I rebutted Mr Daniel's comments, all of them, and he has refused to reply.
His basis for homophobia, if you take away all his chicanery and flim flam is just two words: Holy Bible. I even proceeded to show him that if you want to use the bible as a moral code, you'd be required to murder fortune tellers, witches, disobedient children, fornicators, etc etc.
Since he refuses to reply, he loses by default. I win.
The Victorious Beast
And what exactly is psycho assertism anyway? A psychotic moron making a point? Sounds like somewith with H.C with his initials.......
Beast FCD
I did and have always been able to validate and explain my position and views as lucidly as possible.
Daniel's arguments have all been refuted by me, and when he askes for my refutation against Intelligent Design I posted to him my links to my various posts which he deleted without even commenting.
Let me guess what he will say: Oh yes, I have a BSc degree in engineering, which allows me to say whatever I want. Good for him. He loses his case by default.
While I am no biology professor, I was the top biology student back in school, but decided engineering was more challenging. And over the years, I have kept up with quite a been a biology literature because I have always been fascinated with mother nature and the grandiose fabric of life. The sight of a great white shark leaping out of the water with a seal in its massive jaws fascinates me, holds me in awe and good, old fashioned fear.
Sure, its nothing to crow about, I know that, but I seriously believe that you don't have to be a professor in biology to know that evolution is fact, just as you do not need to be a physicist to know that gravity exists.
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
you have never proven your epistemological and metaethical positions, which is what I have always been attacking. Nice try, but attacking my epistemological position using your epistemic standard is logically invalid. The way to argue is by internal consistency, and yours does not have any internal consistency, whereas mine has.
Unfortunately, I have lots of stuff to write about. If I have the time, I will gladly write a post attacking humanism as the most irrational and moronic belief system there is on this planet, probably on par with atheism.
>biology literature
So which scientific journals have you subscribed to or read so far? Nature, Science, PNAS, EMBOJ or others like that?
Loser:
Reply or shut up. Stop whining. Its getting jarring to one's years, albeit metaphorically. Using words like "ethical" and "epistemological" doesn't hide the fact that your philosophy is backed up by the bible, which I have proven, is crap.
As for biology, I have read the Ancestor's Tale (its still with me), and regular stuff from national geographic and probably a couple of ad hoc stuff, including Behe's argument for irreducibility complex (which in my view, is crap).
Beast FCD
You can write about secular humanism, and I will tear down your ad nauseum arguments as usual.
Btw there's a guy who claims to be your friend on my blog. He says your arguments suck. Looks like even your friends don't like the bigot in you.
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
using the F-word is one sure way of getting your comments deleted, plus showing to all the bankruptcy of your position.
>Btw there's a guy who claims to be your friend on my blog.
Yea. I can claim to be Obama's friend. You believe me? Next!
>Reply or shut up.
If you have not realized that, this is my blog. I have not disturbed you on your blog, but you seem to want to impose your bigotry on mine. Go figure...
You claim to be persecuted. Ask and ye shalt receiveth. So stop complaining.
Beast FCD
What's the matter Daniel? I was right, eh?
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
Wow, you liberals sure think you know more of people than you actually do. If there is want of proof you liberals are irrational, this is it. Character assassination is obviously ok with you, but then why not since you deny the existance of God anyway?
Sorry dude. I didn't say those things. Your friends did. I am just reiterating what they say about you, so hopefully you can reflect on your own conduct and possibly become a better person.
But.....I doubt it. You will still bash folks with your biblical crap, and think you are superior. But just remember, there will be folks like me who will be there to rebut you every step of the way.
My last comment on this post. Don't bother to reply.
Beast FCD
Beast FCD:
This is rule number 1 of my blog
1)No vulgarities, sexual or other forms of innuendo, character assasination or threats allowed. Civilized discourse please.
If you refuse to abide by the rules, please go back to your blog and sulk. Or you join markbark on the banned roll.
Beast FCD:
Yea, right, my "friends". Next time, I can claim that I am Beast FCD's friend, and then say that he is such a jerk. Will you like or agree with that statement? If not, why give credance to the sayings of my enemies who troll around the Internet to attack me, while calling themselves my "friends"? I dare all these so-called "friends" to reveal themselves.
I was hoping there was some discussion about Driscoll's book.
Can I talk about that here?
Hello Walter:
sure, please do talk about the book. After all, that was the original intent of the post.
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