“MAHANIACS” – Read at your own risk… What follows may challenge what you’ve been taught.
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Deb’s Testimony
I began conducting internet research on Reformed Theology in the fall of 2008. I firmly believe I was driven by the Holy Spirit to discover everything I could about this movement which is rocking the very foundations of our churches and seminaries. It became a daily discipline for me, and I would often spend 7 to 8 hours a day conducting research on my computer when it would seem like only a few hours had passed. I’ll admit it – I was obsessed!
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Recently, I had the dubious opportunity to watch C.J. Mahaney give his testimony. We posted it last week but will post the video here for your convenience.
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As some of our loyal readers know, we changed formats at the beginning of 2010, and our archives have yet to be transferred over. Rest assured, we are working on it…
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When I was growing up, my mother often warned me that I would be judged by the company I keep. When companies invite speakers to their annual meeting, Wall Street watches very carefully because these speakers can often indicate the direction the company is going to pursue. Rest assured that a company would never feature a speaker with whom they disagreed.
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Surprise, surprise, surprise!!! Guess who’s speaking at the “2010 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference”?
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“IN ESSENTIALS UNITY, IN NON-ESSENTIALS LIBERTY, IN ALL THINGS CHARITY”
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First there was the Rainbow Coalition, founded by Jesse Jackson in 1984. Then we had the Christian Coalition organized in 1991 by Pat Robertson. Now we have the Gospel Coalition established by Don Carson and Tim Keller in 2007. When the average person hears the word “coalition”, this will likely be their thought pattern…
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As we have been following Tullian Tchividjian, we took note of the following blog posts which can be found at this link: http://www.crpc.org/blog/?m=200904
Here are excerpts from these posts:
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Sorry guys!!! During the rush of the Christmas season, your humble blog queens have fallen down on the job BIG TIME!!! Conducting exhaustive research is one of our hallmarks, and we have failed you in our investigation of Tullian Tchividjian. We were about to move on to another topic until Dee providentially discovered some extremely interesting information on the internet late last night.
We assumed that what happened at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church was just a misunderstanding between a new pastor and his congregation. After all, the Sun-Sentinel stated on January 19, 2009, that “Tchividjian was cautious about discussing any changes he might make at the helm of Coral Ridge”
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Just nine months ago, the members of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church joyfully chose their new pastor – Tullian Tchividjian, one of Billy Graham’s seven grandsons. No doubt the congregation was thrilled that a Graham legacy would propel the church into the 21st century. What could possibly go wrong?
Here was the breaking news in the August 11, 2009 edition of the Miami Herald.
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We’re heading to South Florida for three days as we focus on a church that has gained a national presence – Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. As most of you probably know, Coral Ridge was founded by D. James Kennedy. On May 22, 1960, Kennedy began the church with a congregation of 45 people in an elementary school auditorium. Kennedy is well-known for his development of the "Evangelism Explosion" ("EE") method of evangelism in the 1960s. This method emphasizes the training of church laypeople to share their faith by home visitation in the community.
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I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
C.S. Lewis
http://www.thegracetabernacle.org/quotes/Money-Giving-Commanded.htm
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On October 7,2009, The Wartburg Watch took a trip to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to listen to the debate entitled: God and the Problem of Suffering. This debate was sponsored by the Carolina Apologetics Club, which utilized the Fixed Point Foundation and its resources in order to put on a world-class debate. It was advertised on campus thusly.
“Dinesh D'Souza is a best-selling American author and speaker who has become a front line defender of Christianity. D'Souza is an accomplished debater and former policy analyst in the Reagan administration. His most recent publication, What's So Great about Christianity, is a defense of the Christian faith.
Bart Ehrman is a distinguished professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A best-selling author, Ehrman holds a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary and is perhaps most famous for his contribution to the study of the "historical Jesus." In many of his best-selling books, Ehrman challenges traditional Christian beliefs about the divinity of Christ, the resurrection, and other aspects of Christian faith. He recently wrote the book God's Problem, addressing the Bible's views on the problem of suffering.
The debate will be moderated by Larry Taunton, executive director of Fixed Point Foundation”.
It is crucial to realize the importance that Bart Ehrman holds in these circles. He relishes in demolishing the simplistic arguments that Christian students bring to the classroom. He claims an evangelical heritage, attending Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College before losing his faith at Princeton. He has written a number of books highlighting Biblical “errors” and theological missteps. Many arrogant Christians, including a few pastors, have attempted to “demolish” him and usually end up on the receiving end of a club. However, Ehrman has his weaknesses, which are becoming evident the more he publishes and debates.
Dinesh D’Souza cut his teeth on challenging the entrenched political bureaucracy at Dartmouth College while a student and became a powerhouse within the neo-conservative movement. However, as a committed Catholic, he has begun to move into the issue of the defense of Christianity in light of the prominence of the New Atheism.
What is the bottom line from our perspective? It was a great beginning and even accomplished something important. What frustrates us to no end is the instant criticism from local Calvinista, JD Greear as well as Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary which featured JD's remarks on it’s blog. Here is the criticism:
http://jdgreear.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/10/ehrman-dsouza-debate.html
“I have to admit that I was not all that pleased with the outcome of the Bart Ehrman-Dinesh D'Souza debate last night. I have enjoyed a number of D'Souza's writings, and am much more (obviously) in his camp, but don't feel that he well represented the biblical position on the problem of evil. Ehrman was at his best, raising all the right questions. I found D'Souza's answers mostly flat, unsatisfying, and not really representative of the biblical/Christian position.
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"Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst."
–Reflections on the Psalms, CS Lewis
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Hyper-authoritarianism in Christendom is on the rise and being touted as a "Biblical" response to feminism. It's entering the church via hyper-Calvinists (aka "Calvinistas"), not to be confused with genuine Calvinists. There is a difference! There is absolutely no question that Calvinism, or reformed theology, is within the pale of Christian orthodoxy. The "real" Calvinists are to be admired for their dedication to the careful study of Scripture. However, Calvinistas take their reformed view much further. Instead of believing as their predecessors did — that Calvinism is just one of the acceptable views of orthodoxy –they have become Christian extremists, claiming that only their interpretation of Scripture is correct.
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Recently, my husband and I had a major shock. We left our church where we had been members for over seven years because of a serious disagreement over the handling (or should I say mishandling) of a pedophile incident. The former pastor, who supposedly cared for our eternal souls, reportedly told the pastor of the church we planned to join that we were “troublemakers” (his words) and that we were not in good standing with the church we were leaving. How strange! We were not informed of this while we were attending and leading an adult Sunday school class, which we last taught on the day we submitted our written resignation. How could we be teaching in our church and not be in good standing? Is there such a thing as stealth church discipline?
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Recently, I was driving through Atlanta and happened upon a Christian talk show. The host asked people to call in and explain their views on the differences between justification and sanctification. All of the callers did a pretty good job defining their thoughts in their own words. Then, a man called in and began what sounded like a lecture. He went on and on and on. The host finally interrupted him and explained that this was a forum for discussion, not for delivering a sermon. At that point the caller stated that he was reading Calvin's words and if Calvin said it, it was absolutely correct.
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Before July 2009 fades away into the annals of history, we want to recognize an important Christian milestone. On July 10, 2009, Calvinists across the globe celebrated the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth.
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Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. CS Lewis
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Last summer Deb and I caught the first glimpse of what we believe to be a new trend within "certain" Christian circles — young marriages. We began to address this topic last week in the post Why We Blog. Little did we realize that September 2, 2008, would become an important date to us. On that day Deb and I met with a deacon and three pastors to clarify what a particular church’s policy was on young marriages. We had heard from reliable sources that the pastors working with the college and singles groups at the church were pushing short engagements, young marriages, and immediate baby production. Our goal then, as it is with everything we write on this blog, was to ascertain the facts. We were in hot pursuit of the truth.
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"Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men's belief that they "own" their bodies – those vast and perilous estates, pulsating with the energy that made the worlds, in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at the pleasure of Another!"
C S Lewis
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/c__s__lewis/quotes
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"When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel." Judges 2:10 NKJV
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"I believe these leaders are some sort of Baptist but I am not sure if they are Christians.” Moi
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” C. S. Lewis
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Yesterday I discussed my concern with the issue of Landmarkism. There are those who might claim that this view is not prevalent within the SBC. To some extent, that is true. Ask any rank and file Baptist whether they believe in Landmarkism and most would stare blankly at you. However, the debate over Landmarkism, as well as the whys and wherefores of baptism in general, is raging at the leadership level.
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~ I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more. ~C.S. Lewis
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If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair. C. S. Lewis
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David could bear persecution and murmuring, but when he came to prosperity he could not turn his eyes away from vanity.”
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Such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.
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We believe words, whether spoken or written, are of utmost importance in understanding one's heart, particularly when it comes to their spiritual beliefs. Jesus taught: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."(Luke 6:45 NIV)
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Several days ago we discussed how a lack of balance is one of the characteristics of a spiritually abusive church, as explained in The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse. Here is an e-mail one of us sent to her spiritual mentor some time ago that demonstrates an obvious misunderstanding of God's Word by some high school students.
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One evening not too long ago I had a conversation with some friends from a previous church. Hyper-authoritarian pastors might call it gossip; I call it “getting to the bottom” of things. We all shared one common experience. When we approached one of the pastors with a specific concern or a question, we received the following response: “You are the only one who has ever spoken to me about this.”
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