I have been swamped the last few weeks, traveling to Nepal to preach and recovering from dear Church friends’ passing, so this post will be relatively brief.
I am currently reading two books while investigating the issue at hand, “From The Finger Of God: The Biblical and Theological Basis for the Threefold Division of the Law” by Philip S. Ross and “Identifying The Seed: An Examination and Evaluation of the Differences Between Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology” by Robert McKenzie.
I have been a Baptist pastor long enough (46 years) to know that some in the Dispensationalist community will be suspicious of me for investigating the CT position. In contrast, some in the CT community will be suspicious of me for investigating the claims of Dispensationalism.
Some even advocate never reading anything written except by those who embrace your already embraced position. Seriously? What an indefensibly absurd notion.
How does one learn about the First Great Awakening or the Second Great Awakening in that way, since God did not use Baptists as leaders in either of those great revivals? The same is true of the 1905 revivals in Wales and Korea.
Take Independent fundamental Baptists. Holding that position would mean reading nothing written before 1920 and only IFB authors. What is the notable IFB leader who has ever advocated such absurdity? Not John R. Rice. Not Lee Roberson. There’s not anyone else I can think of.
Oh well.
Over the years, as you pastors know, Church members go away. Sometimes, they just stop attending and fade away, ignoring the impact of their actions on those who look up to them. Others demonstrate their testosterone deficiency by letting their wives speak for them (“My husband is not being fed”). Still others seek to cover their wives’ bossiness by claiming their reason for departing is “doctrinal differences.”
People who leave Churches rarely leave for appropriate reasons and, even more, seldom provide the real reasons for their departure. It is a risk I am willing to take.
My interest in these two positions arises from two considerations. First, I would love for our Church to be a comfortable place for someone with John Gill’s understanding of Scripture, Adoniram Judson’s understanding of Scripture, Isaac Backus’ understanding of Scripture, Charles Spurgeon’s understanding of Scripture, W. A. Criswell’s understanding of Scripture, and Peter Masters’ understanding of Scripture, etc.
Is that so wrong? Are not each of the men I have mentioned orthodox, Bible-believing men?
Second, I think my attitude should not be to defend a position held by friends and old classmates but to discover and apply the truth. Hence, a willingness to investigate positions held by good and godly men.
I covet your prayers as I read, study God’s Word, and seek to understand
that I might do the truth.
