Friday, July 03, 2009

Ponter and John Preston: Perpetually grasping at straws

Over on Ponter's blog post, which has now turned into a slander-fest of yours truly, David Ponter makes the following statement:

Did you catch his confession that he had only read the one single comment of Preston’s from your blog, and yet he was willing to blast us both. He has no credibility. A man who reads something like 5 or so lines from a given author, who then thinks he can speak for that author’s theology as a whole is just an embarrassment. I bet he still has not read the whole Preston file. If he did, he would see Preston’s universal and particular covenant language, and Preston’s references to Christ dying in vain.

This is an utterly vacuous point which goes to show that these "historical scholars" are only interested in their empiricism and not in the truth. My point was NOT to talk about Preston, but to show that acontextual historical quotes like the "5 or so lines" from Preston cannot prove much either for or against the Neo-Amyraldian position. I "blast" them for their empiricism and irrationalism, not whether they have quoted Preston correctly. They can quote to me Jacobius Arminius for all I care!

It is these "scholars" who have no credibility, having misrepresented their opponents like me, plus the writings of John Calvin and now John Bunyan. And now that they have revealed that hyper-Calvinism to them is just a mere academic label void of any spiritual consequences, I have lost all respect of them as Christians. What next? Arianism is a "merely academic label" also? How different is the attitude of the Apostle Paul who states:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Gal. 1:8-9)

and Jude the brother of Jesus

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:3-4)

Such people are the bane of the church, making the Truths of Scripture in theology into dead academic discipline without spiritual usage and significance. Let me say upfront here: I have no use for theology which serves to puff up my brain! All theology is eminently useful unto true spirituality. Any "theology" which has no spiritual use has no use for me either!

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