I will always remember this day and age in the future, when I look back at my (pre-) seminarian life. When I consider what battles I am facing in evangelicalism right now, I shiver at the mere thought of the war we are in right now. I gulp and swallow hard at what Paul wrote to his young pastor-disciple Timothy a long time ago:
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (1 Tim. 4:3-4)
Unfortunately, that time has come again (though some would say it’s always been here). I have not even started my seminary education yet, and already there is so much in Christianity being questioned that I never, ever would think would be doubted. As John MacArthur has continually noted, the battleground in the church will always be centered around truth. It is still the same today on April 25, 2007.
Apparently, what has been true and always believed to be true by Christians around the world–these very things are being questioned, doubted, even thrown out. People these days, think that even if there is absolute/objective truth, they cannot know it. Seeing some highly esteemed theologians, pastors and seminary/Christian professors turn liberal and make clear-as-mud what God’s Word has made certainly clear… it’s making me go crazy, and driving my passion for God’s Word.
Thus, I am very thankful that God is sending me to Southern Seminary–where the centrality and authority of God’s inerrant Scriptures is paramount, along with the subsequent high priority on expository preaching. I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else, where everybody believes in the certainty and clarity of the Bible.
Where is the battle today? Even with the emerging ooze that is seeping into our churches, it is not in secondary, or tertiary issues. The battle is in the primary issues, and right now, the war is around atonement. I have previously mentioned a new book that’s come out in defense of penal substitution, but this past Easter the battle got even more violent. The Very Rev. Jeffrey John (Anglican) said on BBC that the crucifixion was “repulsive” and “insane”:
“In other words, Jesus took the rap and we got forgiven as long as we said we believed in him. This is repulsive as well as nonsensical. It makes God sound like a psychopath. If a human behaved like this we’d say that they were a monster.”
Thankfully, Godly men like President Albert Mohler has written extensively in response.
More recently, the floodgates have opened, as Bishop of Durham, N.T. Wright the ever popular emerging leader and promoter of the “New Perspective on Paul” has responded in an article titled, The Cross and The Carciatures. The authors of Pierced for Our Transgressions have also responded (more briefly) to N.T. Wright’s criticism.
If you are concerned as I am, I encourage you to take some time to read those articles above. I have not read through Wright’s lengthy article, but please read everything with a humble orthodoxy, and serious discernment–measuring all that you read according to the standard of Scripture. And if you dare, join the ongoing conversations with the following bloggers who have already posted on the issues at hand:
