Joel Hunter wrote this absolutely outstanding piece about the Bible and propositional, positivist versions of truth. I believe IM readers will resonate with much of what he is saying, and it’s said well.
The post was prompted by this post from Dr. Lawson Stone on “Hindenberg Theology,” (continued here), and is indebted to Calvin Seerveld’s Rainbows For The Fallen World. Joel welcomes your comments here at IM in the comments threads.
Continue reading “Can I Have My Bible Back?”
The 50th anniversary of one of the most productive relationships in Christianity was celebrated this week at Zondervan’s “Youth Ministry Hall of Fame” in Nashville as pizza finally received a long overdue recognition for its contribution to youth evangelism.
Continue reading “The IM Newsroom: Pizza, Youth Evangelism Relationship Celebrated”
Several weeks ago, the Internet Monk research department received one of those requests that, well…in all honesty, they decided was probably best to just lose somewhere on the desk. Not everything I request from my dedicated researchers is worth their time our your readership, and I appreciate their interest in my well being. This request, however, was important to me, and after allowing time for something to surface in response, I had to make one of those phone calls where I threw a hissy fit, slapped a few employees around, and finally got my way.
Today, the document has appeared, and is now here, to enlighten all of you who have been asking yourself that question that won’t go away: How did you tick them off so bad?
I’m glad you asked. Now, live, direct and without commercial interruption, the IM Research department brings you: Who? Me? How I Became A Pariah In The Reformed Blogosphere (Complete with additional material.)
#1 I wrote “I’m Not Like You.”
It’s right there for all of you to read, and frankly, I still can’t figure out what’s such a big deal about this essay. It was written after some of my stuff on inerrancy (more on that later) and seemed, by some, to be an “attack” on Calvinists. As any average fifth grade reader can see, the essay attacks no one, and simply states….why I am different from other people. It is provocative, to get readers to think, which isn’t a new thing on my site.
It was this essay that James White autopsied at his site, More about that later, as well, but on to #2.
#2 I announced that I treated Roman Catholics as my fellow Christians.
There are a couple of essays involved in this, but the main one was, “The River Is Deep.”
I grew up in strongly anti-catholic circles, but I was hardly prepared for what this essay got me from the Truly Reformed (more about them later.) As I’ve been told by many letter writers since, accepting Catholics as Christians is an unpardonable sin in a lot of fundamentalist circles, so this was a biggee.
I know this puts me in the minority, but then my life puts me in the minority, doesn’t it? It’s why I am living mine and you are living yours, and God will judge us both. If I should have treated my Catholic friends as non-Christians, then God will let me know.
#3 I don’t like James White.
Let me be really clear on this one, because it comes up a lot and chances are the mention of his name will get me back on the autopsy table.
I had never read a book by James White or visited his web site for more than a momentary glance when he picked up “I’m not like you” and carved it up like a thin sliced ham in several very long posts over three days in April of this year. The things White wrote about me, my ministry, my school, my church, my personality and my life were so out of the blue that I almost quit blogging on the spot. It was a “drive by experience” like none I’d ever been through. I’ve never read anyone, before or since, who tore another blogger apart line by line with such obvious relish.
What prompted this? Did I do a comic book? Nope. Pope John Paul II died, and Tim Challies posted a comment from White that said people who were talking about the dead pope as a great Christian were wrong, because he wasn’t a Christian. I reposted this, with a comment, pointing out White as a typical reformed teacher who did not believe JPII was a Christian. I said that I thought his assessment was pretty cold on such short notice.
That was it. I assume that was all true, I didn’t call any nasty names or make any degrading comments.
Well, Katie….bar the door.
For the next week, White carved me up like a turkey. White is an excellent writer and a smart guy, and he tore me apart. He denounced me as liberal, postmodern, unfit for ministry, an embarrassment, mentally ill, etc. Did I react to this? Uh….yeah. I did, as best I could. I shut down IM. I said “Ouch” a lot. I whined a bit.
The real problem erupted when fans of White (not White and not at his request) began dominating the BHT comments, leading those comments to be permanently shut down. Later, some of those same fans went to extremes that I will not repeat, but that were scary and harassing. At least one of these people continues to send profane and abusive material to me and others. (I want to be very clear that White had nothing to do with any of those people, as far as I know, though apparently, I am far from the only one to get the same treatment. I don’t think my fans are quite as devoted.)
Do I like James White? No. He likes people who I like, and who like me and know him, but the biggest struggle I have in my life as a Christian right now is what is in my heart towards James White. I deal with it daily and it grieves me. I wish we could sit down and work it out, but I don’t know what I would say and I don’t really want to have to deal with the emotions of the whole episode. I support White in much of what he does, and I know he is a good and decent man. But I’m still reeling.
4. I criticized Phil Johnson. Twice. At least.
Phil Johnson is an elder at Grace Community Church and John Macarthur’s right hand man at Grace To You, arguably the classiest radio ministry in the world. He’s a fine teacher and preacher, a webmaster for the Hall of Fame, a creative, humorous blogger, a fellow who shoots straight in a personal correspondence, and a guy who I posted critical posts about. Twice.
While I have my issues with Macarthur’s unique brand of Reformed Baptist New Puritan Dispensationalism, I’ve got shelves of his tapes and I’ve told him that I owe him a lot for helping me keep my head on straight after seminary. I also know that the Grace Community Church/Master’s Seminary Community has a reputation for “bulldogish” fighting in any theological matter.
The BHT is a theological bar, and we critique and comment on lots of various theological banter. We will post and comment on dozens of books, sermons and blog posts every day. That’s our fun. It isn’t a solo blog. We all don’t agree, and we like to see where a discussion goes. We don’t talk about our gardens much. We talk a lot of seminary coffee shop stuff. So one day, I posted concerning Phil’s chapter in Fool’s Gold critiquing N.T. Wright. I thought Phil was doing something that I had critiqued a lot on the BHT, i.e. analyzing Wright via one book and several passages, rather than reading the main Wright corpus. I defended Wright and had nothing good to say about Phil’s critique. (This was not the first or the last time I made similar posts in regard to Wright.)
Phil took offense and wrote me a letter, listing what he’d read. I still disagreed with his critique, but it was straight forward, we parted amiably and I apologized for misrepresenting his research.
Later, not having gotten enough the first time around, I also posted fairly sarcastically on the matter of academic credentials. I’ve walked this plank before, so I know how people feel. Phil didn’t like that, and I understand completely.
From there, it’s just been one repeated playground fight after another. The BHT prods at Phil irregularly, and Phil has used me and the BHT as fodder at his blog as often as possible. Usually, he is citing something said at the BHT, and he has posted positive posts about some things I’ve written. More typical, however, is today’s post which features 1) humor that is over my head, dealing with abused kids every day, as I do and 2) two outright falsehoods: No one at the BHT threw a fit about Johnson’s previous post; no one at the BHT questioned God’s sovereign control of the weather. Of course, if I say anything about not liking this game, I’ve proved every point…so shhhhhhhh.
The tragedy here is that I know, from personal correspondence, that Phil and I would and could get along. But, instead, our relationship deteriorates daily, and at this point, is a spiritual challenge to me on almost the same level as White. I should want to see these men and pray with them, and that I can’t sincerely want that is a tragedy. I say, with shame, that these men who ought to be my brothers are people that, today, I don’t believe I could converse with.
5. I frequently use the name “Truly Reformed” for a particular kind of Calvinist.
I didn’t invent that term, but I get some mileage out of it, I’ll admit. Who are the “TRs?”
They are Calvinists who believe they have the ownership papers on the Reformation, even though they don’t agree on the confessions, baptism, the regulative principle, the designated hitter, etc.
They ride the Reformed range as sheriffs on the rest of the Reformed community, especially on the blogosphere.
They regularly announce what Reformed people must believe about non-essentials (usually by making the matter an essential.)
They go well beyond the language of the confessions into their own interpretations.
The Baptists among them think the Covenant theology types are bad Calvinists. (No….that’s not a joke.)
A lot of them are mean. They may be a lot of good things, too, but they are mean and they tell you they came to fight and win. Some of them- not all- have no problem going to really extreme lengths to verbally punish those who aren’t “reformed” as they see it.
Thanks to them, I now no longer call myself a Calvinist of any kind. It really seems to annoy some of the Truly Reformed that I am a Christian at all, but I can’t help that. Predestination and all. Complain to God.
6. I don’t use the term inerrancy.
In several essays, I’ve explained why I don’t use a word no reformed confession requires me to use. You can read about it in the IM archives, in essays like this one.
I’m a Bible believer of the highest order, but I’m not a literalist on this modernistic view of scripture. Sorry.
7. Some of the Truly Reformed think I’m postmodern.
I have no idea what postmodern means. I’ve written a little bit of my confusion on IM, and you can read it for yourself. If I am, then fine. What does THAT mean? And what’s my alternative? Modernism?
8. I’ve taken the side of the NPP, N.T. Wright, Brian Mclaren and the “Emerging Church” in some discussions.
These are all a bit different, but I toss them out together because the common point was that I generally side with a broad theological discussion. I have my limits, but none of these folks get past them. I consider them all good Christians, and I support their contribution to the conversation. (Emerging word.)
Defending either Wright or Mclaren for any reason sets off bells and whistles all over the place these days, and I can’t resist the fireworks. I don’t agree with Mclaren about much of anything, but this idea that he’s some kind of devil is silly.
9. I wrote an essay that praised- and modestly criticized- John Piper.
I finally had to take it down, as the Truly Reformed were getting bizarrely up in arms over my mild suggestions that Piper might feed some kinds of fanaticism with his intense, unique kind of Calvinism. I love Piper and no one has done me more good. But it’s all or nothing in the Reformed Blogosphere.
10. I support Public Schools….and Christian schools….and homeschools.
Supporting public schools is…ahem…not a popular position with many evangelicals. Enough said. You can explore that at IM, too.
The following correspondence fell into the hands of the Internet Monk Research Department through a fortuitous series of events that cannot be detailed here, due to the need to keep certain parties anonymous while undercover. Let it be sufficient to say that when one has engaged the right people in a poker game, poured the right drinks and employed the correct hospitality staff, one can learn enormously interesting things. While the Internet Monk has long suspected that the following scenario was true, recent intercepts and published materials have confirmed his theory.
This article from a religious newspaper was found in the same folder. Reading it will be helpful in understanding what has been uncovered.
We are stunned. Read at your own risk.
Continue reading “Plan 9 From Lower Space”
I recently solicited pieces on Pat Robertson’s “Chavez Assassination Plot.” Here’s a humorous take by BHT fellow Joel Hunter
NSA Chief Phelps: the following transmission was intercepted and translated by our field operative in Virginia Beach
Continue reading “A Letter to Agent #6”
I recently solicited pieces on Pat Robertson’s “Chavez Assassination Plot” from my audience. I’ll be reprinting a couple of them here.
This is by BHT lurker Isaac Bradshaw
Dear Pat,
It’s been an interesting couple of years for you. You, and your organization, are largely credited for the Republican victory in the Presidential election in 2004. It’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? It’s Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone in Godfather II. It’s what we’ve always dreamed of; a completely sympathetic government! Heady days, Pat. Heady days.
I’m a young’n, but I remember you running for President back in ’88, even going so far as winning the Iowa caucus. You didn’t go much further than that, because, on national TV, you declared that you talked to God.
Continue reading “A Letter to Pat Robertson”
It is difficult to overestimate the extent to which American evangelicals at the beginning of the twenty-first century are fearfully obsessed with homosexuality . No single social or cultural topic other than abortion has engendered such a concentration of evangelical pronouncements, explanations, entrenchments, offensives, conspiracies, ministries and nonsense.
Continue reading “Is Your Boy A Real Man?: Focus On The Family's Gender Confusion Watch”
Any resemblance between this essay, and events occurring in my life as a parent of a young adult child is entirely intentional. I have a wonderful wife who helps me to keep thinking and talking when we come to new chapters in our journey as a couple and as a family. As we’re facing good changes where our role as parents has changed from “managers” to spectators, we’ve talked about what kind of parents we want to be, and not be, both now and in the future. Perhaps this will help other middle-aged parents who want the present and the future to be good chapters in life’s story to see a new and good place to enjoy the game.
When I was a young man, my father, who had never taken me to little league or encouraged me in any kind of sport, starting taking me to baseball games. The games were a local “American Legion” league made up of current high schoolers and boys who had just graduated. It was there, as a fan, that I learned to love baseball, but it was there that I also learned to watch the people who surrounded the game, and to learn from them.
Of course, the players on the diamond should always be the focus of attention for any baseball fan, but one of the glories of baseball is that the game is slow, and there is plenty of time to watch people. Various kinds of fans, players, coaches, vendors, passers-by, etc, all become part of the game, and parts of my memories…and my way of thinking about life.
What does any of this have to do with being a parent? Plenty. Be patient; there will be a payoff. First, let’s go to the ballpark; then to the parenting class.
Once upon a time, I decided I wanted to be Dr. Michael Spencer. Michael Spencer, Doctor of Ministry (D. Min), actually.
In Southern Baptist culture, the “D.Min” is the everyparson’s doctorate. Two to three years of off campus work under the supervision of a previous D. Min graduate and a seminary faculty member. Occasional stays on campus for short “seminars.” Eventually, you do a research project, write a hundred page paper, and you’re a doctor.
No residential requirements. No languages. No moving away from your church and taking up a full-time student’s life. No oral exams. No required study at another school. No 5-7 years. No, just a lot of muckity-muck, paperwork, reading, hoop-jumping, check-writing, some decent short classes and you get to be “Dr. Spencer.”
Continue reading “Big Money For A Little Piece of Paper: My Stupid Regrets and Inexplicable Ambition to Be "Dr. Spencer"”
[The following letter is an opportunity to talk to the many Christian young people who feel disapproval from family and church in their pursuit of an artistic vocation. In my experience, many of these young people abandon their Christian faith as they go through rejection and misunderstanding. This letter is an encouragement and some advice regarding staying on the path of following Christ into an artistic vocation.]
Dear Andrew,
So very good to hear from you. I can’t believe that your third year of college is approaching. Time passes so quickly. It only seems a few weeks ago that you were in senior English, writing essays about the elements of literature. Now you are on your way to Chicago for a year studying photography with professionals. All of us are very proud of you, and I am personally honored that you’ve kept in touch.
Continue reading “A Letter To Andrew and Other Young Artists Injured By The Church”
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