“For Machen, however, the Bible contains truth, and as such is ineradicably doctrinal. Indeed, one overarching concern in Christianity and Liberalism is simply the vital importance of Christian doctrine to the church: doctrine, he makes clear, is the very heart of Christian testimony. Claiming to honor the Bible without synthesizing the Bible’s teaching into doctrine, into systematic theology, is not really honoring the Bible at all, for the Bible teaches truth, truth which is coherent and can be articulated; and regarding with indifference those things which the Bible clearly sees as important is, in some sense, the worst sin of all.”
reformed
Unconditional Election is one of the reformed doctrines which I am amazed to hear so little about – even at a reformed Bible college! (Perhaps it’s something to do with Karl Barth’s bizarre take on election?)
But here is a good, clear, reformed and biblical explanation of what Election is. Michael Horton of the White Horse Inn website interviews J.I. Packer on this reformed belief: link here
Here’s an excerpt:
“MR: Dr. Packer, why do we need an election?
Packer: Because we will never be saved unless God chooses to save us. Election leads to the saving action of God in his lordship, and if we were left to ourselves we would never respond to God on our own at all. This is what people don’t seem to appreciate, that all of us by nature are anti-God in our deepest instincts (see Romans chapter 3). We don’t always realize this because many of us think we are seeking God, and frankly, people want a God they can manage and manipulate and have as a safety net. Those are facts about human life, and very familiar facts. But when it is a matter of responding to the real God and responding in a way that he calls for –that is by humbling ourselves before him, learning to trust his word absolutely, turning from sin, taking our hands off of the reins of our own life and letting him be in control –we wake up to the fact that we don’t like this at all and we shy back from it. That is our nature. So you see, God has to take action otherwise we shall never come to him at all because that is the state in which fallen humans find themselves.”
“Where have all the Bible-believing Christians been in the last 40 years?” asks Schaeffer.
This snippet of video is from his “A Christian Manifesto” sermon preached only a few years before his death.
You can really appreciate his passion and zeal for God, and His creation!
What an encouragement and exhortation to live for Christ in all vocations of life!
Read the notes from Mark Driscoll’s talks at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney here: link to Gordon Cheng’s notes.
A great interview with John Frame on the Problem of Evil:
http://theologica.blogspot.com/2008/08/interview-with-john-frame-on-problem-of.html
John Frame has been a significant influence on me, and I really have appreciated his brilliant mind and am grateful to God for his writing ministry. If you’re looking for a serious contemporary systematic theologian to read who engages brilliantly with current and ancient theology and philosophy, he’s your man! Here’s a bit of background on him, from Between Two Worlds:
John Frame (b. 1939) is professor and chair of systematic theology and philosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, where he has taught since 2005. He previously taught for thirty-one years at Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and was a founding faculty member of Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, California. He has earned degrees at Princeton University (A.B.), Westminster Theological Seminary (B.D.), Yale University (M.A., M.Phil.), and Belhaven College (D.D.). His website lists (and hosts many of) his voluminous publications and includes a blog.
He has written on the problem of evil in at least the following publications:
- 1994: “Apologetics as Defense: The Problem of Evil.” Pages 149–90 in Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction. Phillipsburg: Presbyterian & Reformed.
- 1995: Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of His Thought. Phillipsburg: Presbyterian & Reformed. [See pp. 83–86.]
- 2002: “The Problem of Evil.” Pages 160–82 in The Doctrine of God. A Theology of Lordship 2. Phillipsburg: Presbyterian & Reformed.
- 2008: “The Problem of Evil.” Pages 141–64 in Suffering and the Goodness of God. Edited by Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson. Theology in Community 1. Wheaton: Crossway.
This article by Carl Trueman is excellent. If you’re interested in the current resurgence of Calvinism (a la, the Young, Restless and Reformed), then you’ll this careful and typically tongue-in-cheek review of current trends by Carl Trueman.
H/T JT
