Washer's Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church: Critiquing the Critics (Part 2)

Washer refers to infant baptism as the golden calf of the Reformation. To put it bluntly, he's wrong... but there's a sense in which he's right. He's wrong on the issue of paedobaptism there's a hint of truth to his statement.

Paedobaptism is Scriptural and despite Baptist assertions to the contrary it is even testified to in the book of Acts but the problem is when it's applied in a Sacralist milieu. Then it becomes distorted and destructive. Baptism, paedo- or otherwise should never be universally applied to a tribe, nation or culture. It is applied only to the separatist pilgrim Church that has come out of the world and continues in perseverance. Within that context paedobaptism has its import and can function correctly. Sacralism necessarily waters down discipline to the point of near irrelevance and it destroys the Church's distinct identity and (as a consequence) renders the Word and Sacrament almost meaningless.

Washer's Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church: Critiquing the Critics (Part 1)

Recently I decided to revisit Paul Washer's Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church. You can get it in pamphlet form but in this case I wanted to listen to it and so I went to SermonAudio. I'm not usually one for highly impassioned preaching with shouting and all the rest, but if I am going to listen to someone do it, it's going to be along the lines of Paul Washer.

It's been a good eight years since I listened to it last. I remember what I was doing at the time and can place the date in 2010. I remember being pleasantly surprised by his candor and largely accurate assessment of Evangelicalism in the 21^st century. Of course, I don't agree with him on every point but overall it's excellent.

The TSA, Bureaucracy and Permanent War

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/30/633980912/tsas-quiet-skies-program-tracks-observes-travelers-in-the-air

Undoubtedly some will have noticed this story which broke a few weeks ago regarding the TSA programme of passenger surveillance.

The TSA or Transportation Security Administration is largely a joke but there's nothing funny about it. Implemented in the wake of 9/11 the organisation has been repeatedly defeated by inter-agency tests. It harasses and humiliates the public and yet is unable to stop weapons from getting on to airplanes.

The Horn of Africa, Geopolitics and the Persecution of Christians

Recently some thirty-five Christians were released from prison in Eritrea. Is this a sign of future toleration or a case of symbolic amnesty, a diplomatic bone thrown to Ethiopia's allies in the West? The event is probably best understood by the recent peace declaration between Addis Ababa and Asmara, ending the border conflict which has been ongoing since Eritrean independence in the 1990's. Will these moves signal a change for the persecuted Christians in Eritrea? Let's hope so, but there's good reason to doubt.

Trinitarian Nomenclature, Progressive Orthodoxy and the Sufficiency of Scripture (Part 2)

There was resistance to the progressivist trajectory among the Medieval proponents of Sola Scriptura. While many of the groups were essentially orthodox (by Protestant standards) they nevertheless did not share the later Protestant views and narratives with regard to the (progressively orthodox) development of Roman Catholicism and its theology.

On what basis did they reject it? For them a commitment to Sola Scriptura was buttressed in many cases by a distinct ideological narrative that utterly rejected the Papacy and its claims and believed it not to be representative of the Bride of Christ in a somewhat defective but contextually understandable form, but the Antichrist, the Babylonian Harlot of Revelation. The fact that these groups had some of the developmental details wrong (regarding the Donation of Constantine for example) in no way detracts from the realities of Papal history, its claims, its deceptions and certainly the principles at stake.

Trinitarian Nomenclature, Progressive Orthodoxy and the Sufficiency of Scripture (Part 1)

I have been challenged, rebuked and questioned about my recent comments with regard to the doctrine of the Trinity. The context was a critical article I wrote responding to a Reformed Charismatic attempting to critique the Watchtower Society.

In no way do I identify with the actual theology or Semi-Arian views of the so-called Jehovah's Witnesses and yet I have at the same time expressed some doubt with regard to the Nicene and Post-Nicene Trinitarian formulations. To be clear, I am a Trinitarian and have no difficulty in affirming the Trinity as One God in Three Persons and that each of the Persons are eternal and fully Divine.

The problems arise with regard to how these formulations are understood, what the individual terms mean and what role philosophy can play in helping (or hindering) the development of Trinitarian doctrine.

Further I noted a tendency among many theologians to acknowledge that in the end the Trinity results in mystery, in tensions unable to be resolved. Nevertheless many theologians believe it is their task to develop or push the concepts to the utmost, to the breaking point as it were. Since the language of Scripture is limited and since we all agree that some terms like the Trinity (for example) are valid extra-Biblical expressions then it is permissible (it is argued) to employ new terminologies and concepts and using Scripture – to forge paradigms and models that range far beyond the actual textual data. If they pass a series of coherence tests, then they can subsequently be spoken of as 'Biblical'.

This is what I'm challenging.

Apocalypticism (Part 2)

One may be an Amillennialist with no expectation of chiliastic-millennial triumph in this age and yet embrace Dominionism with its insistence on a Kingdom definition that includes the culture. The Dominion-Amillennialist may not have the triumphal expectation of the Postmillennialist but they both share a common interest in transforming culture. They may disagree when it comes to style, nomenclature, emphasis and even what 'victory' looks like but they share a mutual interest and thus practically speaking are allies.

Apocalypticism (Part 1)

Amillennialism has always been a problematic term. It's a position defined by what it is not. It posits the millennium in apophatic terms, rather than stating a positive, it is instead a theological concept cast in the negative. The difficulties are further expanded by the fact that it also generates confusion for some as it seems to suggest a rejection of the millennium entirely, a concept clearly taught in Revelation 20. Based on this, some have mistakenly accused Amillennialists of being theological liberals, people who don't take the Bible seriously.