On "privilege" and the new gospel of woke activism

Here are two interesting articles on the topic:

No, I Won't Check My Privilege: The Left's Latest Pejorative is racist, sexist, and stifling of honest debate
Atonement as Activism: The Great Awokening

[RT: R Scott Clark on the Heidelblog]

"Evangelical" racial SJWs and their deception

In light of the so-called MLK50 Conference, heavily promoted by the New Calvinists, and which claimed to be all about "racial reconciliation" but seemingly ended up causing a whole lot of confusion and division within the church, Dr. James White had posted a response to one strongly worded article by TGC council member Thabiti Anyabwile. In response, Anyabwile posted an article stating that "there can be no reconciliation where there is no truth-telling first," to which Dr. White responded in his Dividing Line podcast here. Essentially, Dr. White's first response argued that in Scripture, all our creaturely distinctions are eclipsed by the Cross of Christ, and there is where we should go to find Christian unity. Anyabwile's response to that is to state that truth-telling is the prerequisite for reconciliation, while Dr. White's second response is to show how Anyabwile has not really dealt with the biblical text (namely the book of Colossians and especially Colossians 3-4). Anyabwile's final response thus far is to claim that his critics have been committing an "Evangelical Gnosticism," which focuses on the spiritual while neglecting the creational distinctions still present while we live as embodied human beings on earth.

Now, I happen to think that both sides are right in their criticisms, mainly because the two sides are not really talking to each other but at each other. This goes for Dr. R Scott Clark's articles on racism as well (here, here, and here), which, while true, does not really deal with what seem to me to be the main SJW argument. On the one hand, the SJW racialists, Anyabwile included, have not really done their exegesis neither have they thought about what biblical reconciliation before the Cross implies for all within the church. They have not, to my knowledge, actually answered any actual arguments their critics have put forward to them except to advance their own arguments in return. On the other hand, Anyabwile's main argument does not seem to be addressed. We are indeed ensouled bodies, truth-telling is indeed necessary before we can talk about reconciliation, and putting forward an argument from Colossians 3-4 on Christian unity, while not addressing his arguments, is in my opinion not a very helpful thing, from an apologetic viewpoint.

The foundation of Anyabwile's arguments, and that of the SJW left, is their flawed idea of justice and their refusal to accept any narrative that does not line up with what they know, a priori, to be "the truth." Facts are sadly not important for the SJW. Now, I have no idea what is the truth regarding the supposed police shootings of black people, although I have read both sides. But first, the facts are disputable and it seems a strong case could be made that they are not actually evidences of police brutality and discrimination against blacks, as is argued in for example here (written by someone who is leaving The Village Church over Matt Chandler's racialism). But secondly, the SJW left is totally incapable of knowing the difference between equality, equity and fairness. They are NOT the same. In my interactions with certain left-leaning people, before all this racialism became such a big thing, none of them could discern the difference between these three concepts, probably even if their lives depended on it! Equality of outcome (Equity) was seen to be evidence of systemic discrimination! That, is classic Marxism! On a macro scale, such confusion of equality and equity will lead one to claim injustice and systemic racism anywhere so-called "people of color" (which almost always excludes Asians) are not doing as well in society as whites in America.

Thus, Anyabwile is right that, if there is any real racism and injustice, calling for unity while ignoring such sins is to put the cart before the horse. That is why I think that we need to address Anyabwile's Marxism first. Yes, there is no reconciliation without truth-telling. But what, Thabiti, is the truth? You think you know the truth, but you don't. You have been fed lies, and you promote lies, the lies of Critical Race Theory (Racial Marxism). That IS the problem which must be dealt with, for without dealing with the sea of lies the "evangelical" SJWs are soaked in, both deceived and deceiving others, there can be no getting through to them. They have a different paradigm, an anti-biblical paradigm, which they are using to interpret the Scriptures and the world. They know a priori what "justice" is, absent from the Scriptures, for the world with its distorted ideas of justice have polluted their thoughts.

The key dividing issue is not what constitutes "reconciliation" or "Christian unity," but rather, what constitutes "justice." And the sooner we start to realize that justice is not about fairness, the quicker we can start to address what biblical justice actually means.

Say no to liberal ecumenism

In recent years, we have discovered that the activities of some churches and organisations are harmful to us because these groups violate the laws and regulations of the Chinese government which is neither beneficial to themselves nor to churches in China. These activities range from sending missionaries, conducting training programs in clandestine fashion, setting up denominational churches and tempting Chinese Christians financially to join these churches. These practices destroy the unity of churches in China and generate misunderstandings, as their reports on churches in China can be misleading. [Gao Feng, "Co-operation and Partnership in the Mission of the Church in China," in Michael Nai-Chiu Poon, Church Partnerships in Asia: A Singapore Conversation (CSCA Christianity in Southeast Series; Singapore, Trinity Theological College, 2011), 63]

The emergence of many new denominations, parachurch organizations and Christian sects is challenging because it has created confusion and misunderstanding among churches about a common witness. It wii be imperative for MCC [Myanmar Council of Churches -DHC] to co-operate with Evangelicals, Pentecostals and other small mission bodies to find ways and means to resolve the situation. [Stephen Than Myint Oo, "The Life and Witness of the Church in Myanmar: Past, Present and Future," in Poon, 89]

If there is one thing that irks liberal ecumenists, it is when missionaries that are not approved by them enter into their country and their territory to do church planting. In China, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) churches, the "official" Protestant church, claims to speak for all Protestants in China. That there are millions of Chinese Christians in underground churches who refuse to submit to the TSPM undercuts their claim to ecumeneity of course, but liberal ecumenists, like liberals everywhere, are unconcerned about that inconvenient truth. In their minds, they are the only acceptable church and they represent ALL Christians in their region and/or country, consent of those they "represent" is not important at all!

In the case of Myanmar, evidently such a centralization of sorts (given the huge diversity in Myanmar) had occurred with the formation of the MCC. Just like the TSPM, they claim to speak for all Christians in their country regardless of what the normal people think.

All of such "ecumeneity" exists in most countries around the world. In Singapore, it is the NCCS (National Council of Churches in Singapore), which claims to speak for all Christians in Singapore. But of course, all they speak for are the mainstream denominations where the liberals hare ascendant, or where Evangelicals have capitulated in the matter of church governance and relations. The NCCS for example do not speak for me; I detest their very existence. The liberal ecumenical organizations tolerate at best and promote at worst a false gospel and a false Christ. Their very existence is to function as demonic counterfeits of true Christianity, to snare the unsuspecting and undiscerning away from God into a false religiosity in the name of true religion.

Since the TSPM and evidently the MCC represent the Antichrist in this time, they are not to be regarded as Christian institutions at all. They are irked by missionaries coming in unannounced to create trouble as it were. Well, as long as the missionaries are missionaries who believe in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, I am all for them coming in and being "unhelpful" or "harmful" to these apostates! Let them "create misunderstanding," because the liberal ecumenical bodies have distorted the true biblical witness, so bringing in a true Christian witness is better than "uniting" around a false witness of heresy. For what has light to do with darkness, God to do with Satan?

Therefore, since the Southeast Asia region (and other regions too) has apostate liberal ecumenical bodies and churches around the region, Christian churches and missionaries should be interested in moving into these area and gain converts even through what those liberals would call "sheep stealing." Whoever attends those liberal churches may be a believer, but they need to be encouraged to attend a true church, while unbelievers within the liberal churches need to be called to repentance. The "churched" are to be targets for evangelism and discipleship as well. Since liberal theology does not save, those who follow it are just as lost as those from other religions. Believers in those churches are Christians despite them being in those churches, not because of it

So say no to liberal ecumenism, and liberalism in general. Have nothing to do with the false religion of liberalism. As John Gresham Machen shows in his book Christianity and Liberalism, Liberalism is another religion altogether, in contrast to biblical Christianity. While I cannot speak definitely of the status of Gao Feng and Stephen Than, both of them have to repent for their wickedness in promoting liberalism and liberal ecumeneity, or face the possibility of an eternity without Christ forever.

Liberalism in Trinity Theological College

How does one know whether there is still liberalism in Trinity Theological College (TTC)? Here are some questions to be answered:

1. Does TTC teach the Documentary Hypothesis (JEPD) as truth, and does not offer a sound and convincing case against said theory?

2. Does TTC teach that Isaiah did not write "Second Isaiah" and "Third Isaiah"? Is the prophet Isaiah taught not to be the author of "First Isaiah"? Does he not exist as he is described in Scripture?

3. Is the creation account in Genesis 1-3 taught to be a borrowing from pagan myths like the Enuma Elish? Are Genesis 1-11 to be considered as written in a mytho-poetic language and thus not history giving us literal facts of the past?

4. Is the notion of "Q" a valuable concept to find out the "true" teachings of Jesus, minus the accretions added by later church tradition?

5. Is the notion and practice of higher criticism valid in finding out the actual texts of Scripture?

6. Is one taught there is no one "Scripture," but multiple scriptures and the catholic party won and suppressed the other scriptures?

7. Is one taught that Roman Catholicism is a valid form of Christianity?

8. Is one taught that contemplative prayer, either as found in Eastern Orthodoxy or as mediated in Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline, is a great spiritual exercise that Christians should be engaged in?

9. Are Roman Catholic mystics like Theresa of Avila, Ignatius of Loyola, Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton held out as devout Christians? Is Roman Catholic mysticism held out as a great example of piety?

10. Is one encouraged to attend Taize-style "worship"?

11. Is the inerrancy of Scripture denied in class by any lecturers? Or is inerrancy defined to have many shades and colors (e.g. partial inerrancy), and so by obfuscation someone can pretend to believe in *some form* of inerrancy while rejecting its intended meaning?

If a "yes" answer is given to any of them, then we know liberalism is alive and well in TTC. I am here omitting other heresies like the New Perspective on Paul since these are not classical liberal heresies, but I think this list is enough to prove my point.

Warfield on Inerrancy and Preservation of Scripture

It is another curiosity of the controversial use of a phrase, to find the Church's careful definition of the complete truth and trustworthiness of the Scriptures as belonging, as a matter of course, only to the genuine text of Scripture, represented as an appeal from the actually existing texts of Scripture to a lost autograph—as if it were the autographic codex and not the autographic text that is in question. Thus, we have heard a vast deal, of late, of "the first manuscripts of the Bible which no living man has ever seen," of "Scriptures that have disappeared forever," of "original autographs which have vanished"; concerning the contents of which these controversialists are willing to declare, with the emphasis of italics, that they know nothing, that no man knows anything, and that they are perfectly contented with their ignorance. Now, again, if this were to be taken literally, it would amount to a strong asseveration that the Bible, as God gave it to men, is lost beyond controversy; and that men are shut up, therefore, to the use of Bibles so hopelessly corrupted that it is impossible now to say what was in the original autographs and what not! [B.B. Warfield, "Inerrancy of the Original Autographs," in Selected Shorter Writings, 2:583]

(1)There is nothing new under the sun. Warfield could have been describing Bart Ehrman if we didn't know the time period he was writing it.

(2) Preservation of Scripture pertains to the text of Scripture, not to the codex of Scripture. Therefore, the absence of the original autographs are not a problem at all. Since we have so many textual evidences, there are few issues with establishing the original text of Scripture among the many variants.

(3) The KJVO (King James Version-Only) position accepts the liberal axiom that an authoritative Scripture require an authoritative codex of Scripture. Whereas the liberals denies the existence of an authoritative codex, and thus they deny the authority of the text of Scripture, KJVOnlyism asserts that there MUST be an authoritative codex (i.e. the King James Version) because otherwise there would not be an authoritative text of Scripture.

Warfield on the Westminster Doctrine of Scripture, contra liberalism and Barth

The [Westminster] Confession teaches that by their inspiration the Scripture are made not only to contain but to be the Word of God. In i.2 the alternate name of Holy Scripture is "the Word of God written." In i.4 it is declared that Holy Scripture "is the Word of God"; in i. 5 it is pointed out how it evidences itself "to be the Word of God." This phraseology pervades the whole document (cf. iii. 13; x. 1, 4; xiii. 1; xiv. 1, 2; xvi. 1; xx. 2; xxi. 5, 6, 7; xxii. 7, xxiv. 4; xxx. 2; Shorter Catechism, Q. 2, 99; Larger Catechism, Q. 3, 4, 67, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160 etc.). The Holy Scripture which is thus declared to be the Word of God is defined to be itself "all the books of the Old and New Testament"; and cannot, therefore, be thought to be only selected passages in those books. It is called the "Word of God written" to distinguish it by its accidents from the spoken Word of God, as given to the prophets aforetime, in the sense of i. 1, and as explained in the citation from Calamy. Finally, when we read in the Shorter Catechism of "the Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments," we are not reading of a distinction within the limits of Scripture between a word of God and a word not of God, as if it were only asserted that the former is to be found indeed within the Scriptures; but we are reading an anti-Romish and anti-Mystic declaration that the only Word of God that is recognized is that contained in the Scriptures. This, everyone acquainted with the literature of the times will perceive at once; ... As simple historical students, we must admit that the Westminster Confession is committed to the position that the Bible not only contains but is the Word of God. [B.B. Warfield, "The Westminster Doctrine of Inspiration," in Selected Shorter Writings, 2:576-7]

Anyone who believes in any version of "limited inerrancy" or flat our deny inerrancy, and/ or who take the Barthian view of Scripture, cannot hold to the Westminster Confession concerning this issue and thus they cannot subscribe sincerely and truly to that Confession.

Christianity, Culture and the deconversion of missionaries in China

But the courses of their [missionaries'] missions changed as they were changed. They began to cast doubts on their Christian missions as they developed appreciative understanding of Chinese religions and of the culture they has set out to displace. Traditional missionary mentality had relied on a hemispheric division of the world into light and darkness, the Kingdom of God and the territory of Satan, civilization and barbarism. Yet for these individuals, the growing belief in the worth and self-sufficient of China's own cultural tradition threatened those distinctions that were required for their dedication. [Lian Xi, The Conversion of Missionaries: Liberalism in American Protestant Missions in China, 1907-1932 (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997), 11]

The early 20th century was a catastrophe for the Protestant cause, where Liberalism eviscerated the churches and great apostasy abounded. Liberalism had even infected the mission field, and this book by LIAN Xi is an interesting look at the collapse of the missionary enterprise in China from an American missionary perspective.

The missionary enterprise in China combined Western culture and Christianity. While missionaries do not necessarily equate the two early on (which they did later when the Social Gospel infected the missionary enterprise), there was an uncritical acceptance of the superiority of Western culture in the more learned missionaries, which probably stems from the Enlightenment. The notion of progress, linked with scientific advancement, infected much of Western society. While not necessarily coming with a domination complex, the overarching worldview in Western society was one of the supremacy of the Western world with its scientific advances which was linked to the superiority of the Christian faith.

This marriage of Christ and Culture became the curse of the missionary enterprise, because it confused special and common grace. It assumes that a renewed mind and a Christian worldview would necessarily result in a superior culture, which God has nowhere indicated in His Word. It is of course true that a renewed mind and society and a Christian worldview would have some benefits in this life, but nowhere are we promised that such benefits would grant an advantage over all other cultures. Thus confused, missionaries to China are disoriented by the advanced Chinese culture, as they ought to be if they thought they were superior. I am an ethnic Chinese, and I am proud to be part of a culture that has lasted for millennia. The cultural accomplishments of the Chinese people stand as magnificent monuments to the power of the human intellect under the common grace of God, and thus the Enlightenment mentality of the missionaries should be seen as misguided and an insult.

The message that the missionaries ought to have come with (which some do) is the Gospel, which is to say the saving work of Christ for sinners. It is not the "social gospel" or anything of that sort that is of any help. The problem for China, and the problem anywhere for that matter, is not that they are "uncivilized," but that the most magnificent artifices of human intellect and will is totally unable to expiate the sins of men. History is filled with the monuments of what humans can accomplish, and all of that apart from God's saving grace. No matter the greatness of Chinese culture, all of that is dung and worthless before the eyes of a holy God. It is God who gives greatness to cultures and nations, and it is His pleasure to remove and humiliate as He wishes to do so. Babylon in its heyday was the greatest empire in the world, yet God brought her down when He saw fit.

The deconversion of confused missionaries is understandable, for they have lost their way prior to their actual apostasy. The sad thing is that the rest of us have to deal with the consequences of their errors in the mission field, and with the hardened hearts and the syncretism in the many false churches there.

A Philosophy of History: Redemptive-history versus evolution

Modernists, [Shailer] Mathews explained, "ask and propose to exercise the same liberty in the choice of patterns in their day as Clement of Alexandria and the members of the council of Nicea exercised in theirs." Modernism could best be defined, therefore, as a determination to use "scientific, historical, social method in understanding and applying evangelical Christianity to the needs of living persons." The idea that such a process accords normative status to science or secular culture instead of to the teaching of Christ was a serious misunderstanding, Mathews insisted, since the real starting point is "the inherited orthodoxy ... Modernists as a class are evangelical Christians. That is, they accept Jesus Christ as the revelation of a Savior God." Loyalty to Jesus, he declared, is at the heart of the Christian movement; "the Modernist knows no other center for his faith.

Since Christianity has always adapted its forms and language to particular cultural situations, the modernists in any given age have simply been those who were most candid and most creative in doing this. The forward movement of Christianity throughout its history has been guided by those who have discerned and responded to the social mind of a given era. [William R. Hutchison, The Modernist Impulse in American Protestantism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976), 278]

"Liberals," in the eyes of many Fundamentalists and Evangelicals, functions as a bogey man. It refers to some guy in a liberal university sprouting blatant heresies like denying the deity of Christ and the real authorship of the Gospel accounts. It refers to the crazy Harvard educated "clergy" lady who sprouts nonsense about worshiping the goddess and approving homosexuality. While that might be true in some cases, the stereotyping stops us from actually learning from the phenomenon of Liberalism, as if Liberalism always refers to something OUT THERE, and never or seldom arising from within.

Liberalism, while it is indeed heretical and a different religion altogether, is not some dimwitted philosophy or worldview. It is not the result of some anti-Christian conspiracy by evil men trying to destroy the faith. If one were to actually read the Liberals, as opposed to allowing them to remain as stereotypes and caricatures, one would discover that these men and women were actually trying to be Christian. That they fail does not make their motives any less pure. As it has been said, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Liberal Christianity, of the Modernist kind, comes from within Evangelicalism; — that is the historical fact. Modernism for the most part does not come from within Socinianism or Unitarianism, or fringe sects like the Quakers. Unitarianism after Ralph Waldo Emerson does not even bother to be Christian, while Liberal Modernism claims to be Christian. Thus, however much Liberalism is heretical, it cannot be denied that the project was meant to be a Christian project from its beginning.

At the heart of the modernist project is its understanding of "progress" — its understanding of the movement of history. Call it the Whig theory of history if you wish, but it is perhaps better to see it as an evolutionary or Hegelian view of history. According to this theory, peoples and cultures are evolving towards perfection. The texts of Christianity, written as they are in the past, are necessarily outdated and thus the faith needs updating. What is important is not Scripture per se, but rather the "spirit" of the Scripture. Paying attention to formal doctrines of the faith is to be "legalistic," following the letter of the law not the spirit of the law.

Now of course one can decry the captivity of the liberal faith to the zeitgeist or the spirit of the age. One can denounce that it is importing philosophy into Scripture. But that doesn't go to the heart of the issue. Why would the liberals embrace such a view of history and "progress"? I would suggest that there are two main reasons: One is the rapid changes in real life and the seeming progress in scientific knowledge, and the second is a unitary view of knowledge. On the first reason, it is undeniable that scientific knowledge is increasing, and always will be increasing. Society does change, sometimes for the better. The feeling of "progress" is thus understandable and thus an evolutionary model towards better and better states seem obvious. On the second reason, knowledge has been held as being a holistic enterprise from ancient times. Thus, when the new sciences began to discover new facts about the universe, or alleged facts about the universe, using some sort of "ideologically neutral" method (as it seemed at that time), there is an impulse to explain how these and existing biblical truths cohere. Theology then must be seen as being "scientific," since the method of "science" is *evidently* unbiased and neutral (as they thought), and thus the door is open towards alteration of Christian truths.

As it can be seen, the modernist impulse depends on a particular view of history and a particular view of knowledge, both of which are taken to be self-evidently true, and the second reason feeds into the first. The presupposition of unitary knowledge implies that the progression in a certain field must imply progression in relations to other fields. But why must these two be held to be true? Knowledge could be multiform and multiple, while progression could be horizontal instead of vertical, quantitative betterment instead of ontological qualitative betterment of Man and society.

It cannot be denied that society changes. It also cannot be denied that our doctrinal formulations are culturally conditioned. But that does not imply that just because truth is culturally conditioned in our expression means that it is culturally and historically relative. That is because our ectypal truth, when true, is always a true reflection of the absolute objective archetypal truth of God. For those naive enough to think they can just go back to some form of "primitive Christianity," the varieties of "restorationist" and "primitivist" movements throughout church history, each claiming to go back to the primitive church yet strangely resembling the culture they come from, should give us pause. No one can escape their cultures. One can only minimize cultural naivete through recognition of one's cultural bias and historical situatedness. So yes, we are all cultural and historical creatures, and our apprehension of truth is cultural. But it is still nonetheless true and not relative just because we are in a different historical and cultural setting.

The framework of Scripture is that of redemptive history. There is always movement in redemptive history. One does not see a Platonic ideal in Scripture, and thus the restoratinist ideal is a mirage. The movement of redemptive history is a horizontal movement, not a vertical one, and this shows us how we should understand history.

If we look at redemptive history, we should be able to have a right view of history. History is indeed progressing, but it is never an upward progression, but a horizontal, eschatological progression. As opposed to Restorationism, there is real progress in history. As opposed to Modernism, the progress is not upward and neither is it a Gnostic idea of pitting spirit versus matter. Historical truths remain true despite their historical situatedness, and the only form of "contextualization" that should be involved is linguistic, not an alteration of it by appeal to some nefarious "spirit" behind the doctrines being spiritualized.

So yes, we believe in progress, or rather we should believe in progress. But we should not believe in evolution and evolutionary progress. Of course, this idea of progress has been shot full of holes after World War I and II, thus we have seen the ascendency of Neo-Orthodoxy and all the various "post-" movements (Postliberalism, postconservatism etc). Our understanding of redemptive history should show us the right view of history, and therefore we should reject both the nihilism of postmodernity as well as the Hegelianism of Modernism.

Paper: James 5:1-6— An NT Imprecation Against Injustice

A paper of mine on James 6:1-6 has just been returned. It is entitled James 5:1-6— An NT Imprecation Against Injustice, and can be accessed here. An excerpt:

The motif of wealth and poverty has occupied the attention of Liberation theologians, and is in fact their central dogma through which all of theology and life is seen and interpreted.1 God is seen as the advocate of the poor, and He personally opposes the capitalist rich. In this light, the passage of James 5: 1-6, among other texts in James, is seen to function as a prophetic denunciation of the evil and rich bourgeois who oppress the poor, and as a call for us to take up the cause of the poor. ... [more]

Paper: Evaluating Kazoh Kitamori's Doctrine of the Atonement

My last paper to be handed in for this semester happened to be the first one back. Without further ado, here is my paper for the Doctrine of Christ course, entitled Evaluating Kazoh Kitamori's Doctrine of the Atonement. [Just FYI, there is always Google translate for the non-English words.] An excerpt:

The visible growth of Christianity in the non-Western world has been phenomenal. Alongside this growth has been the call for indigenized theologies to arise to re-contextualize theology for non-Western, non-Greco-Roman cultures, with a view towards giving meaning to “ancient traditions” which were denigrated by Westerners.

In this light, Japanese theologian Kazoh Kitamori (北森.嘉蔵) has been hailed in the West for coming up with the first indigenous Japanese theology, although Japanese theologians are not as excited about Kitamori’s theology as the West seems to be. Kitamori claimed to be recontextualizing Luther’s theology, especially Luther’s dichotomy between the theologia crucis and theologia gloriae, and between the Deus revelatus and Deus absconditus, and Luther’s idea of the communicatio idiomatum, to come up with his own theology of pain (theologia doloris)

[more]

Contextual theologies and the bankruptcy of Liberalism

I have been reading up on third-world theologies recently. One thing that I soon perceived is that third-world theologies are the illegitimate offsprings of liberal theology. The cry for "contextual theologies" often comes from those who find that so-called "traditional" Western theologies are meaningless to the inhabitants of the Third World, and thus the desire to recontextualize the Christian message for their respective cultures.

It is not surprising that people in the Third World find so-called "traditional" Western theologies meaningless for them. Liberalism in all its forms (traditional liberalism, Neo-Orthodoxy etc) are basically Western philosophies that are not grounded in the truth of God's Word. It is not surprising that Third World cultures do not find Hegel, Kierkegaard, Schleiermacher, von Harneck, Ritschl, Barth, Bultmann and others like them relevant.

Sadly, these Third World theologians have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Having abandoned Liberalism, the "theologies" they advocate have the appearance of relevance while being just as spiritually helpful as the liberalisms they have rejected. A more "holistic" theology that uses concepts meaningful to native folk religions and worldviews can seem more relevant, yet it is just as helpful for the people as Western liberalism has been for Europeans, who have been leaving the faith in droves (as seen in the dying churches of Europe).

Only the Gospel (which has been rejected by mainstream Western theologies since the Enlightenment) is totally relevant for ALL cultures. Only the Gospel is universally relevant. In their rejection of the bankrupt liberalisms, the Third World theologians are only continuing version 2 of the Liberal project. Such theologies are as nourishing as stones to the people, and ultimately cannot save them from the wrath of the Holy God who has revealed His universal message of salvation in the Scriptures.

Paper: Mainline Presbyterianism and Reformed Piety

I have been tied up with many things recently. Anyway, here is another paper which I have submitted entitled Mainline Presbyterianism and Reformed Piety. It is also a book review of the book by Ted V Foote Jr. and P. Alex Thornburg entitled Being Presbyterian in the Bible Belt: A Theological Survival Guide for Youth, Parents, and Other Confused Presbyterians. An excerpt:

In the Reformed tradition, piety is very important, being a major focus of the Reformer John Calvin’s concern. A book by Ted V. Foote Jr. and P. Alex Thornburg attempts to portray Presbyterian piety for us.

The book by Foote and P. Alex Thornburg, Being Presbyterian in the Bible Belt, is subtitled “A theological survival guide for youth, parents, and other confused Presbyterians.” In their preface, they reveal that their goal is to write a book to “respond to ‘outsiders,’ to address the questions non-Presbyterians ask us.” The authors therefore are attempting to help Presbyterians respond to the questions asked by those who come from “fundamentalist churches” and thus defend what they think is Presbyterian and Reformed piety against Neoevangelical piety.

[more]

Joel E. Kim: Machen and the Bible

Audio—here

The first talk on Saturday morning, the second day of the conference, was by Prof. Joel E. Kim. I have gotten my free registration for the conference by volunteering as a student volunteer to help out in the event, so I was about 5 minutes late for this talk.

What was Machen's view of the Bible, and what relevance does it have today? In his talk, Prof Kim starts by outlining the academic conditions of that time. As knowledge increased in light of the Scientific and Industrial Revolution, there has been an increasing specialization of all fields of knowledge, even in theology. The idea of academic theology as being divorced from the church and from dogmatism (i.e. creedal and confessional formulas), and the idea of the academic circle came into being. The historical-critical method was being increasingly embraced by theologians and schools studying theology, a development that led to uneasiness among conservatives in the church.

The discipline of academic theology came to embrace certain core values, namely 1) the idea of probability, 2) the idea of analogy, and 3) methodological naturalism.

The first idea of probability is defined as that everyone must begin with methodological doubt. Nothing can be taken as certain and everything must be proven before it can be embraced as truth. This extends to everything, including the Bible, doctrines and creedal formulas.

The second idea of analogy is that all historical events must be analogous to present modern day events and therefore scientifically testable. This in other words is the philosophy of Uniformitarianism applied to the field of theology. Whatever happened in previous times must happen by the same processes that happen in present times, and therefore we can scientifically test the truth claims in the Bible.

The third idea is that of methodological naturalism. Everything that happens must happen through natural processes. The supernatural is therefore by default ruled out as being not possible.

Against the growth in such apostate "theology", Machen challenged Liberalism and the historical-critical method. This is done through the following: Machen defended the Bible as supernatural history and states that the Gospel as history is foundational. Against the Liberals, Machen questioned why is there doubt that the New Testament is a historical document. It seems strange that a supposed historical method fails to take into account the historical value of the New Testament as a strongly validated historical document. In this light, Machen charges that his critics are not the unbiased seekers of the truth that they claim to be. Rather, they are blinded by their presuppositions and are not using the historical method in their research, instead they are letting naturalism dictate their research. Machen claimed that using the historical method without preconceived philosophical bias would show that a supernatural account of events in Scripture is much more likely than naturalistic ones. As an example, Kim used the event of the conversion of Paul. The naturalistic explanations all fail to adequately explain how someone who is well-trained in Judaism and who breathed out murder threats against Christians could suddenly make a 180 degree in life and outlook. Another example was the boldness of the apostles. None of the naturalistic explanations could explain why the disciples of Jesus could suddenly become so bold in proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ to the point of dying for it. The mass hallucination explanation is insufficient to explain the event, as if hallucinations are strong enough to turn cowards into those willing to die for them.

In his opposition to modernism, Machen was rather unique in his time—an anomaly. Most Fundamentalists were anti-intellectual and show little understanding of the issues. Machen however understood Liberalism, had a sharp mind and yet oppose it.

In his controversy with the Liberals, we can see Machen's view of Scripture. Scripture is both divine and human, and both aspects of Scripture must be taken seriously. Fundamentalists tend to so emphasize the divine that there is little if any human element stated to be in Scripture. Yet Scripture is clearly written by humans with their own characteristic styles and at times no overt guidance of the Holy Spirit can be seen as they write it. The human writers of Scripture are thus not amanuenses of the Holy Spirit! It cannot be overstated that Luke when writing both Luke and Acts did not sit in his room waiting for the Holy Spirit to suddenly and mystically impart Scripture into his mind, but he got out, did his historical research and then put his research findings into what we come to know as the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

Scripture as supernatural history, both divine and human — Machen's relevance to us in his view of Scripture can be summed up in this. We must continue to have this view of the Scriptures, and therefore treat the text of Scripture as what it is—supernatural history.

A short analysis of CT's article on Keller's new book

Christianity Astray Today (CT) has posted an interview by Kirsten Sharold with Tim Keller over his new book Generous Justice. Tim Keller being part of New Evangelicalism version 2.0 is immensely popular, and this CT article seems to confirm one of my fears regarding the New Evangelical Calvinist movement.

Having not read the book, I will stick with the interview itself. Now, it may be the case that the interview does not do justice to the book, and that CT has distorted Keller's message. If so, then the fault lies with CT and Keller should come out and repudiate the report of the interview as he did not actually say what they reported him to say. This is always a possibility, but barring that, we must take the interview to be accurately reporting Keller's words and position.

In this interview, Keller specified what he means by justice and equates that with helping the poor. In Keller's words: "All I know is, if I don't care about the poor, if my church doesn't care about the poor, that's evil." Strong words indeed. However, is Keller right? We will analyze the interview to see if that is so.

Helping the poor

When we look at Scripture, we do indeed see that God is concerned for the poor, and he expects us to be too. This theme is found throughout Scripture,for example in Lev. 25:35, Deut. 15:7-10; 24:14-15, Jas. 2:1-6 and others like them. The issue with Keller is not that we are to be compassionate to the poor, but how.

Ever since the advent of the "social gospel," Liberalism has always trumpeted the cause of helping the poor and downtrodden in society. The so-called benevolent empire in the 19th century, as is the modern so-called ONE campaign, desired to solve society's problems. With the fusion of liberalism and socialism, modern-day liberalism has been about solving poverty by redistributing the wealth through taxing the rich to give to the poor. Even in its "softer" form, the idea of helping the poor is linked to the idea of giving handouts and feeding the poor through soup kitchens and other similar measures.

However, is that what God means by helping the poor? Is helping the poor done only through such measures? Keller speaks of the great stuff Tony Campolo and Ron Sider have written, which shows what he thinks helping the poor is — social works. This betrays his capitulation to the liberal zeitgeist. Of course, there is nothing wrong with social works per se, but if helping the poor is conceived to be done only through social works, then we are not really helping the poor. How much does Keller really understand about economics? For example, if we remove all the entrepreneurs in society, the economy would stagnate, more people would be without jobs, and the number of poor would increase. Under communism (and socialism to some extent), there is little incentive to work since everyone receives the same pay anyway so likewise poverty increases.

The fact of the matter is that the call for social works is totally naive and shows Keller's ignorance of the causes of poverty, which is complex (it is not always the case that the poor are always victims for example). Pastors should be doing their job instead of commenting on fields such as economics which they know little of, which brings me to my next point.

Confusion of 2 Kingdoms - The Church is NOT a social club!

Liberalism at its inception was never about denying the Gospel message. It was about "contextualizing" the Gospel message to modern times. For example, since people are now enlightened and do not think they are sinful, then we jettison the teaching of sin (this does not necessarily mean that the preacher personally denied the existence of sin). The slogan "Deeds, not creeds" is as old as Liberalism itself. The goal of the Church was to solve the ills of society. In time however, the method becomes the message and the true biblical Gospel was denied.

Evangelicalism reacted against Liberalism's trend of "contextualization" followed by denial of the Gospel message by rightly seeing that the Church is a spiritual institution and organism of which Christ is her head. The Church is called out of the world for Christ. Unfortunately, Dispensationalism with its escapist view of reality sees no need for Christian to be participants in this world. The hyper-spirituality of Dispensationalism make them ever "rapture-ready" and perceive their involvement with the world as exclusively tied to evangelism. The pendulum continues to swing with the younger evangelicals moving towards the other extreme: either by forming the "religious right" or the "religious left".

All of these pendulum swings show a confusion of the two kingdoms which God governs. The Church is the Church, yet her members are in the world. In Liberalism, Christians are stated to be in the world and of the world, whereas Dispensationalism (which dominated Evangelicalism) are neither in the world nor of the world. Yet Jesus said that we are in the world but not of the world (Jn. 17:11, 14).

In being not "of the world," the Church is a spiritual institution and speaks of spiritual things. The Church qua Church is the Church and is not part of the world! The Church has no obligations to the world except evangelism. This is what Liberalism denies and Evagelicalism affirms.

As opposed to Dispensationalism, Christians are in the world and we are to participate in the world. Christians as such are to help the poor and get involved with bringing God's light and truth to a fallen world.

The Church and Society (the World) are two different institutions, although both of them are ruled by God. This means that the Church qua Church must and only should be focused on the things of God. That means that the Church is NOT a social club! As stated, the Church has no obligations to feed the poor; that is the obligations of individual Christians not of the Church.

Keller in this interview confuses the two kingdoms. As a minister of the Gospel, his job and the Church's job is not to "care for the poor". It is not "evil" for the Church to ignore the poor, because that's not her job. Sure, if the diaconate desires to help the poor in the community, that's not wrong, but that should not be their primary focus. The Church's primary job is the proclamation of the Gospel and the truths of Scripture and the tending of her flock, not tending to the world's needs.

It is simply not sufficient to be, like Keller, placing "social justice" as an outworking of the"experience of grace". Of course, good works (not "social justice", which we will discuss below) like helping the poor are always an outworking of grace, but that is still about the individual Christian in the world and not the Church. The Church qua Church has no involvement with "good works", regardless of how they are framed.

This brings us to the last issue: the idea of "justice"

Biblical "Justice" and helping the poor?

Keller in this interview seems to equate the idea of justice with helping the poor. In his own words:

I used the term "generous justice" because many people make a distinction between justice and charity. They say that if we give to the poor voluntarily, it's just compassion and charity. But Job says that if I'm not generous with my money, I'm offending God, which means it's not an option and it is unjust by definition to not share with the poor. It's biblical that we owe the poor as much of our money as we can possibly give away.

It would be good to see what is the verse in Job Keller has in mind, because I truly doubt a proper exegesis of that verse supports his equation of justice to helping the poor. Nevertheless, this is a dangerous view to hold, which we shall see.

The idea of "Justice" has to do with the righting of wrongs. When justice is present, those who are wrong will be punished, and restitution will be made to those who are wronged. When justice is absent, the wicked flourish and the righteous suffer. This has always been the definition of justice.

If justice is equated to helping the poor, as Keller states, then there is a connotation that being poor is wrong. The existence of poverty is unjust. Yet this is most assuredly not the biblical view. Deut. 15:11 states that poverty is a normal scene in our fallen human society. It is God who makes a person rich or a person poor (1 Sam. 2:7). Just as riches come from God, so too does poverty. Yes, poverty is part of the Fall and thus not part of the original creation, but that is different from saying that poverty itself is unjust. Are the consequences of sin unjust? Is God unjust? To say that poverty is unjust is an attack on the justice of God who determines what the consequences of sin should be.

It is most assuredly the case that there is much oppression of the poor, but it is not true that all of the poor are always poor because of oppression. For example, if a person squanders all his money away in gambling and is reduced to poverty as a result, his poverty is the fruit of his wickedness. Some people are just lazy and refuse to work and that is why they become poor. The whole idea that poverty is unjust tends to paint halos on the heads of the poor, as if the poor are sinless victims who are poor merely because they are being oppressed, instead of the biblical teaching that all man both rich and poor are alike sinners before God. There are virtuous poor, and they are wicked poor too, just as there are virtuous and wicked rich people on society as well.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Keller's view on this issue commits the most egregious errors of the Liberal Left in their view of poverty and society. Keller further confuses the two kingdoms and makes those who listen to him susceptible to falling into the Social Gospel. As the maxim states, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." It is not sufficient to have good intentions, but the truth. May we reject Keller's views on this matter and obey what Scripture teaches on this matter. Amen.

More on Jonathan Koh the heretic

I was recently asked for some information on my former friend Jonathan Koh over an urgent issue at hand. Besides his heinious embrace of the Hegelian Dialectics, there are two more issues which show just how far this former "Reformed Charismatic" has apostasized from the faith, which I shall reproduce from my prepared letter below.

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2) His sympathy towards universalism

In his own words, according to his “theological pilgrimage”,

However, around the middle of 2003, I read Keith DeRose’s article entitled Universalism and the Bible. This was the first time I read an article laying out biblical arguments for Universalism. I had vague ideas about what Universalism was before reading this site. My first reading of this article did clarify some misconceptions as to what Universalism is and how it could be defended. Yet even that didn’t move me much as the idea of Universalism was too offensive to my mind – even as a Christian who was becoming more open to alternative beliefs. A few more readings of the article gradually convinced me that there was a strong case for Universalism in the Bible. …

I’ve still not come to my conclusion concerning Universalism – and probably never will – but I remain a hopeful Universalist.

In Keith DeRose’ article on the Internet which Jonathan referenced, “Christian” universalism is defined as

As I'll use it, "universalism" refers to the position that eventually all human beings will be saved and will enjoy everlasting life with Christ. This is compatible with the view that God will punish many people after death, and many universalists accept that there will be divine retribution, although some may not. What universalism does commit one to is that such punishment won't last forever. Universalism is also incompatible with various views according to which some will be annihilated (after or without first receiving punishment). These views can agree with universalism in that, according to them, punishment isn't everlasting, but they diverge from universalism in that they believe some will be denied everlasting life. Some universalists intend their position to apply animals, and some to fallen angels or even to Satan himself, but in my hands, it will be intended to apply only to human beings. In short, then, it's the position that every human being will, eventually at least, make it to the party.

3) His abominable take on the sin of homosexuality

Jonathan Koh is pro-homosexual. In his own words,

I [Jonathan] do think they [homosexual acts] are sins and less than God’s ideal for us. However, I am not about to condemn such acts like conservative Christians do. I think homosexual relationships are not what God intended for us. But they exist because the world is fallen or “out of wack” as a result of sin entering the world. Because of this, I’m inclined to think that God is tolerant of such acts. The world is complex, the issue is complex and I’m not about to accept easy answers that both conservative and progressive Christians put forward. Most homosexuals are born with such inclinations and try as they may, they probably won’t change. God can change them, but God hasn’t changed many of them. So I will say homosexual acts are wrong but that because the situation is more complex, I think God loves homosexuals and accepts their relationships - if monogamous and faithful. I think it’s cruel and utterly uncompassionate to condemn all forms of homosexual acts the way conservative Christians do. God is a compassionate God and He knows the struggles of homosexuals. I’m sure He understands how difficult or impossible it is for homosexuals to either change their sexual orientation or be chaste their whole life! For every Christian who says that homosexuals ought to change or ought to be chaste - as if it’s so easy to change or remain sexually inactive one’s whole life - my wish for them is that they could spend some time being a homosexual and being on the receiving end of such cruel admonitions.

It is indeed sad to see someone so blind and deluded by the lies spun by the liberal Academy, and refusing to yield his life and doctrine to the Lordship of Christ. What's left now is to hope that the Singaporean churches will realize the threat within their midst and not allow him to join them, for whether he is sincerely deluded or purposely out to deceive, his embrace of postmodernism on the one hand and liberalism on the other, together with his substantial reading and learning, makes him out to be a very dangerous wolf able to deceive many into the soul-damning heresy called "progressive Christianity", which is certainly neither progressive nor Christianity. May God protect His church from those who seek to destroy her. Amen.

Rick Warren Apostate...

I'm personally sick and tired of Rick Warren. This video however is VERY disturbing. See it for yourself (if you are willing to listen to 1 hr+ of talks and dialogue). If not, just read what I am going to say.

After watching this video, I was more than a little disturbed. One cannot exactly fault the unregenerate for talking rubbish about religious pluralism, though it MUST be objected that for an orgaization that supposedly presupposed the separation of Church (Mosque, Temple etc.) and State, they sure are a bunch of hypocrites. To Tony Blair and all those on this panel, and to the WEF (World Economic Forum) in general, stay out of religious issues you have no legitimate business discussing. (What is an interfaith religious forum doing in an ECONOMIC forum anyway?) Otherwise if you continue to violate the separation of Church and State, I don't see any reason why we cannot return the favor and start imposing Theocracy!

Anyway, back to Warren. After listening to all the garbage of "we all must be tolerant except we can be intolerant towards those who refuse to follow us" rhetoric, especially from the Jewish representative, my spirit was very disturbed, and to see that Rick Warren, who calls Himself a "conservative Evangelical Baptist Christian leader", has no problem with it and in fact adds fuel to the fire in his speech, is the final straw. No matter how accomodating and compromising a person may be, how can you sit there and have no problem with all these people blaspheming the name and honor of our God without the Holy Spirit within you protesting against this sacriledge!!? Unless of course, you have so hardened yourself against God that He has left you to your own devices, in your apostasy! Notice how also that instead of the initial 'P' being 'Planting Churches', now it is 'Promoting reconciliation'. Between what, Rick? Between God and Satan? Between true Christianity and the apostate mainline liberals? NEVER!! I rather die than spit on the blood of my Savior. Repent Rick [Warren], or face the fiery wrath of God for your apostasy from the Gospel!

[HT: Christian Research Net]

Purpose Driven Social Gospel at Davos

Perhaps someone could explain what business a pastor have to do at the Davos World Economic Forum, which is not evangelism by the way. Let's listen to Rick Warren's words from Davos and ask yourself this question, Is that what pastors are supposed to do? (Nevermind the other issue of Drucker's 3-legged stool)

Where is the Gospel, Rick? Why are we supposed to cooperate with other "faiths" to solve the global giants instead of saving the lost souls of their adherents?

[HT: Christian Research Net, Watcher's Lamp]

Biblical Dialetics? An expose of the abomination that calls itself 'Progressive Christianity' **Update**

**Update**: It seems that Pastor Rayburn is actually pastor of Faith Tacoma Church (PCA), and that he was giving a series of sermons in Harvest OPC then. Thanks to John for the feedback regarding the error, which is corrected now.

*Update*: I probably have erred on the identity of "Rabbi" Duncan, so I'lll withdraw that part. Thanks to those who feedbacked to me the information.

I have on the Net recently came across a former friend, Jonathan Koh, a former Reformed Charismatic turned visibly apostate, and who mentioned that he is now attending the Word-faith New Creation "Church", though presumably not a member. As he is adamant in promoting his heresies and false ecumenism online, I think it would be instructive to look at one aspect of his heresy for now; that of the embrace of the philosophy of dialectics. Unlike his Emergent friends, Jonathan is not so slippery and thus it is easier to hold him on the statements that he has made.

Just some background so it would be seen where I am coming from. Jonathan was a person seemingly passionate for the cause of Christ and the Reformed truth when he joined my former church, Covenant Presbyterian Church, when I was still rather young (~ 16-18 years old I think) and didn't know much about anything, though newly converted then. He taught my younger brother in their cell group and was a friend of ours. One thing I remembered was when he tried to taught my brother's cell about the topic of predestination, of which I didn't have a view (If pressed, I would answer like an Arminian) then. Needless to say, from the responses, I garner that almost nothing went through to them, due to the topic being 'very profound'. He also organized all night prayer meetings and for some time, it seemed that the youth ministry would be progressing towards greater growth in biblical spirituality.

However, his idealism created a dissonance within him as he was naive enough to think that doing such would create revival, and the resistance of the higher leadership to change was not helping matters, leading to disillusionment. And the flaws within himself began to show, as his foundation on the truths of the Reformation began to show itself as being shallow (Mt. 7: 26-27). He was then also interested in sociology and political science, of which he read some of their works then also. His epistemological shallowness began to show as the lies spun by the Liberals and their allies in the media on topics such as Israel and the so-called "Palestinian occupation" began to be imbibed by him without discernment. And of course, those causes are very safe, costing little in terms of personal sacrifice and pain compared to the cross and discouragement of ministry, and the people ARE indeed passionate about what they do. Not to mention that Satan will not be actively working against you if you take up such causes. Anyway, he left the church when he went to study overseas and we lost contact with him soon after.

This is just a brief summary of Jonathan's life as I came to know him then. Since then, he has changed a lot especially in his embrace of postmodern epistemology, or rather called 'Modernism part II'.

Let it be said that I do this not out of anything but love, although Jonathan in our recent exchange was very judgmental in libeling my motives, as if he is God and knows them. I hope this warning and expose would have a three-fold effect. First of all, it is sincerely hoped that the Holy Spirit would convict Jonathan of his heresy and that he would repent of this. Or if he doesn't, then the truth would harden his heart in preparation for future wrath (Rom. 2:5). Secondly, for those who look on, by his example, it is hoped that we be warned of the particular heresy that Jonathan has fallen into, and that we can learn to exercise discernment and learn from his mistakes. Being enthusiastic about the Christian faith, and of the Reformed truths even, means nothing, for in Jonathan's case it could be the case of the seed which sprung up on rocky ground, and were destroyed when the sun of trials come (Mt. 13:5-6). Thus, it pains me to do this, but where the truth of God is concerned, God is above all others, and I will not allow such heresy to remain unchallenged.

With such a long introduction, let us look at the piece written by Jonathan Koh his website/blog here.

In this article, Jonathan promotes the philosophy of dialectics. From his piece, it can be seen that the strain of dialectics he is promoting is a form of the Hegelian dialectic of thesis/antithesis-synthesis in keeping contradictions together as part of the truth. The dialectical method he is promoting is that seen here, in an attempt to "overcome formal dualism" in positing transcendence of the truths of so-called contradictions found within the Bible. This is made very explicit in the various quotes Jonathan placed there in which the very idea of holding contradictions in tension and resolving none of them but instead celebrating both is put forth. As examples, Jonathan quotes:

I would run after nothing and shun nothing… the truth is not in the middle, and not in one extreme, but in both extremes. (Charles Simeon)

Preach the antinomies of truth, and carry each out a far as it is possible to carry it. But don’t attempt to reconcile them. These two lines [/ \] will meet if produced far enough. But if I try to make them meet, I give one or other of them a twist, and so reduce it from being a straight line. ... (Rabbi Duncan)

Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious. (Chesterton)

There is revelation only as the contradictions are held together. (Jacques Ellul, The subversion of Christianity)

We would look at some of his supposed contradictions later, but suffice it is to say that one such contradiction that he puts forward is the 'contradiction' between faith and works. Does Federal Vision ring a bell here?

First of all, I couldn't care less about the 'reputations' of these people, as Scripture alone is my authority. That does not mean that their reputation does not mean anything, but God's Word reigns supreme. The person that Jonathan mentions upon hearing his sermon is one Pastor Robert Rayburn, a PCA pastor preaching then in an OPC church. I do not know Pastor Rayburn, but I would be charitable to Pastor Rayburn, and until evidence is found, assume that Jonathan misunderstood him. With regards to the other authors, I have no idea since when a Roman Catholic could be termed as an authority in epistemology, especially with regards to the truths of Scripture. That again shows Jonathan's embrace of anybody who seems intellectual, even if the person is teaching heresy; the worship of the Academy.

And with that, let us look into the issue proper. Does Scripture promote the Hegelian dialectic? Of course, examples could be given and will be analyzed later as to whether they truly are contradictory, but for now, let us analyze the issue epistemologically.

It can be easily seen that the Bible does not promote such irrationalism. First of all, the entire thought pattern of the Bible is dualistic, from Genesis to Revelation, without any mixing of the thesis/antithesis pair. God is set in opposition to Satan, good vs evil, obedience vs disobedience, election vs reprobation, love vs hate, saved vs lost, light vs darkness and we could go on and on. Those who truly read the Bible for all its worth will develop a sharply antithecal mindset and see things in thesis/antithesis pairings. An example of such antithecal wording can be found in phrases like 'for the one who is not against you is for you' (Lk. 9:50ff) and 'And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire' (Rev. 20:15). To make it very apparent, to be a Christian is the opposite of being a non-Christian. One cannot be a Christian and a non-Christian at the same time.

This brings us to the fundamental issue — the law of non-contradiction. Jonathan probably did not study logic, but to deny this law is just plainly absurd, for the denial of the law of non-contradiction is definitely not the affirmation of such a law (Reductio ad absurdum). Yet, this is what dialectics seeks to have. We must remember that dialetics does not just deal with seeming contradictions or paradox, since these are solvable. Rather, they deal with flat-out contradictions which are irreconcilable or antinomies. Therefore, to embrace the Hegelian dialectics epistemologically is to commit epistmological suicide, which Jonathan has done. In Jonathan's view therefore, one can deny Christ and yet be a Christian and go to heaven (ie Brian McLaren), since there is no need to be logically coherent. In other words, the only authority for Jonathan's words are himself or the Academy (when his views happen to be the same as theirs), all being totally irrational, unbiblical and unlivable. Debating therefore with Jonathan, like probably with any of the Emergents, is useless, for they are not committed to being rational. They can say anything they want, and affirm and deny the faith in the same breath. And of course those who criticize them would be deemed to be 'Modernistic', which show their either ignorance or denial of what Modernism actually is.

After dispensing of the heresy of the dialectic, let us look at the various examples which are so-called antinomies or logical contradictions. Jonathan listed the doctrine of people being at the same time sinners and yet saints (justified), how the Kingdom of God is here and not yet, how Jesus is wholly Man and wholly God, the doctrine of the Trinity, and how the Bible teaches justification by faith yet judgment about works. It is the biblical position that none of these are antinomies, since if they contradict each other, then the Christian faith is in error, since God is not God and not-not God at the same time, and God states that He is truth (Jn. 14:6) and is logical (Jn. 1:1), not both truth and error, and both logical and illogical at the same time in the same sense

Take the first example given. Christians are sinner yet saints. However, this is not a contradiction because we are not sinners and saints in the same manner. We are sinners by nature, and saints by legal declaration and through adoption, and not both sinners and saints in the same manner. In the same way, an adopted child is not the child biologically but is the child by adoption, thus he/she can be said to be both the child and not the child of a couple. Ditto for the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has come in the spiritual sense secretly. It is in this sense that the Kingdom of God has come. Yet the Kingdom of God has not come in the sense of Christ coming visibly to all and bringing the entire creation into judgment, and fulfilling all history, and thus it is not yet come. Failure to differentiate between the senses creates a false contradiction where none actually existed.

With regards to the others, that Jonathan mentioned them shows how far from orthodoxy he has strayed. The hypostatic union of Christ (100% human and 100% God) is not illogical. It is a mystery in that we cannot comprehend totally what this means, but it is not a contradiction, unless you add the premise that the class of humans and God is mutually exclusive. But upon what can we maintain that? Just because no human is God does not mean that there can never be one person who is both God and Man. The contradictions will only exist if a faulty premise is maintained about the mutual exclusivity of the natures of God and Man. Such a position is counter-intuitive to be sure, but it is not illogical. With regards to the Trinity, the orthodox position has always been that God is three persons in one essence/nature. A contradiction would only arise if God is three persons in one person, or three nature in one nature., because 3 ≠ 1. But just as there is no contradiction in saying 3x = 1y, but contradiction in saying that 3x = 1x, from whence the contradiction? Jonathan by using such examples only show he does not even understand, or is purposefully ignoring, the formulation of these historic Christian doctrines.

The mention of faith and works is at the core of the Reformation, and if the undermining of the hypostatic union and the Trinity ring hollow in the ears of modern Evanjellifishes, then perhaps they might want to consider the more practical mess you will get when you add works in order to gain salvation. The Bible is explicit that faith and works are mutually incompatible (Rom. 3:28, Rom. 4:4-5, Gal. 2:16). What then about Jonathan's statement? If what is in mind here is the fact that believers will be rewarded for their labors, then there is no contradictions, for such works count after salvation by faith. In other words, works still play no part in salvation. However, Jonathan actually have in mind something deeper. What he has in mind is the Scriptural commands of obedience, which would thus cut directly into the whole Lordship controversy issue. However, that is only a contradiction if one refuses to follow the plain teachings of Scripture. The commands of obedience can only be obeyed by Christians, since they received a new regenerate heart (2 Cor. 5:17) and thus have a new nature that can obey God. To place obedience as a prerequisite for salvation implies that unregenerate unbelievers can somehow strive towards obedience, which the Bible explicitly denies, as no one seeks for God. (Rom. 3:11). I am surprised that Jonathan does not seem to realize this as he claimed to be a Calvinist earlier in his life, and thus should know about the doctrine of Total Depravity.

It is a sad day when a person apostatize from the faith, and especially someone who held a lot of truth and had great passion before. Yet, such people have been prophesied before in Scripture and we are to avoid them like the plaque they really are.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (1 Jn. 2:19)

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. (Heb. 6:4-8)

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:26-31)

And with regards to the comment that Scripture is obscure, this is what Scripture says:

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor. 2:14-16. Bold added)

Open Season on Open Theism

Christian Research Net has declared war on Open Theism ever since it came to Pastor Ken Silva's attention that Emerging Church leader Erwin McManus promotes the heretical theory of Open Theism. Here is Dr. Gary Gilley's series on Open Theism [part 1, 2, 3, 4] and here is Pastor Bob DeWaay's article on the same subject. Coincidentally, I have been doing a series on Open Theism and Process Theology. Here is my review of The Openness of God by Clark H. Pinnock et. al. and my comments relating to my review of the book Deeper than Darwin which is very pertinent to the entire ECM movement also.

Review of book Deeper than Darwin

I have just finished a review of the bok Deeper than Darwin by John F. Haught, a philosophy of religion book which espouses Liberal theology in its particular mode of Process theology. Here it is.

Now, although ths system of Liberal theology is waaaaay out and very much different from anything remotely resembling biblical Christianity, the reason why I think this review is important is because Process theology is very similar to Open Theism, but possess certain qualities that would make it superior to Open Theism. For example, unlike Open Theism, Process theology is much more compatible with Evolution, Mysticism and the Eastern orthodox theory of Theosis with its close companion in Contemplative Spirituality. It is therefore my contention that the Emerging Church Movement (ECM), especially the Emergent wing, would take off in that direction. Although the ECM seems to be currently enamored by Open Theism, it is my prediction that Open Theism is not sufficiently post-modern and ambiguous enough for the ECM and definitely not for its Emergent wing, and therefore I predict that the ECM would move into a form of Process Theology, with its conception of 'surrendering to the depth of mystery'.

Since such is the case, and the ECM is permeating the visible churches, I think it would be a matter of time before we would have to face this in so-called 'evangelical' and post-evangelical churches. I therefore offer this review as a (hopefully) pre-emptive strike against the growing apostasy. May God help us all.