I am currently the Site Coordinator for VLI at VCC , a volunteer role that allows me the privilege of being able to view the classes and Weekend Intensives even though I’ve already graduated and am no longer a tuition paying student. So last night, since as usual there wasn’t much on TV, I decided to watch the first two Systematic Theology II lectures being taught for the first time by Homero Garcia, Ph.D.
Now Roger Olson teaches Systematic Theology I and has done so for the past three summers that I’ve been involved with VLI. The book he authors “The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity” is one of reference books recommended for the topic. After viewing the first Intensive, One of the students (Adam) mentioned to me that he really needed to re-think some of his beliefs, to dig in and unpack further teaching on the subject as Roger made some pretty compiling points for his theology and had basically rocked Adam’s world.
I wonder what my friend Adam is thinking now after viewing last weekend’s Intensive by Dr. Garcia?
Oh did I fail to mention that Dr. Garcia is a 5 point Calvinist, while Dr. Olson is thoroughly Armenian? Okay students and Professors hold on to your seats cause Q & A was a wild ride!
So, why the wild ride? A quick look at the different theologies will bring that into focus (the Reformed side represents the Calvinist view and the Remonstrant side represents the Armenian view).
Reformed Views (TULIP) (monergism)
1) Total Depravity
· The fall has affected every aspect of human nature; so, people are totally dependent on God’s grace to seek God or to will or do good.
2) Unconditonal election
· God sovereignly predestines some fallen people to be saved.
3) Limited atonement
· Christ’s atoning death on the cross was done only for those he unconditionally elects or predestines for salvation.
4) Irresistible grace
· The elect cannot resist God’s grace. God’s effectual call can only be responded to with repentance and faith.
5) Perseverance of the saints
· Those unconditionally elected by God to be saved will persevere in grace and not fall from it.
Remonstrant Views (synergism)
1) Not total depravity
· Humans still have free will.
· They can choose or reject God.
2) Election is conditioned by faith
· God knew who would freely believe In Him. Election is conditioned on what a person would do.
3) Unlimited atonement
· Christ died for all human beings.
· Although he died for all, only those who believe in Him are saved.
4) Grace can be rejected
Humans are free to choose and therefore can resist the grace of God
5) Believers can lose their salvation by failing to keep up their faith.
Starting to get the picture? Those “strongly” in one camp or the other can get pretty darn emotional when this topic comes up with both sides evoking this answer to seemingly unanswerable questions, “Well that’s the mystery of God.”
Now I was raised as a “Free Will” Baptist and when I first came into contact with a 5 point Calvinist I was amazed that there were people out there who actually believed that God pre-ordained those who were to be saved and those who were not to be saved. That just wasn’t the God I knew! I mean what about John 3:16? “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Or, 2 Peter 3:9? “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but desiring that everyone to come to repentance.” Then, as my Calvinist friend argued, what about Romans 8:29 & 30; “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Well these verses put my mind into a tail spin especially as I am assured by Steve Robbins (Pastor and VLI Director) an ancient Greek scholar that the word translated as predestined is indeed translated correctly and does not mean simply fore knowledge. WOW! How do I ever unpack all of this and many more Bible verses that seem to set in contradiction to one or the other of these theologies? Do I fall back on the “mysteries of God” statement and just let it go at that?
When faced with this dilemma my mind keeps wondering back to the covenant that God made with Abram. Let’s begin with Genesis 12:1-3 which states “The LORD had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Psalms 135: 4 states “For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.” So when I read these verses (coupled with the teachings of my youth, how I was raised to believe) I can see that God did choose a person (Abram) and through him a people (Israel) and because it was the Old Testament and the old covenant never really saw how it might fold into the new covenant and this question of Calvinist vs. Armenian.
Let’s visit again the portion of the verse above that states, “and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Now for years and years I thought that this was just a prophecy of Jesus and didn’t really focus too very much past that thought. But what if I look closer at that statement? What if I see not only the prophecy but also what it meant to Abram in that day? Yes it was a prophecy of Jesus, but it was also a reason that Abram was elected. He and his seed were “elected” by God to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth. Could it be, that by electing Abram, God was not rejecting everyone else but was raising a priestly people proclaiming the source of blessings, to proclaim God to the nations? That God’s purpose was that all nations should come to Him even under the old covenant?
Well, it seems to me that God called Abram and his descendents to be his “peculiar” treasure (one translation of the word peculiar means moveable); God also gives to Abraham and his seed a land flowing with milk and honey that just so happens to be geographically positioned so that in the Ancient Near East if you wanted to trade you pretty much had to pass through that region – thus bringing the nations into contact with Abraham’s seed (God’s priestly people).
When Israel was given the law, it was not set out as a path to salvation (they were already elected to this through Abram who’s faith was credited as righteousness; see Genesis 15:6 – not who’s keeping of the law was credited as righteousness). The law was given to set God’s people, His treasure apart, to show them how to live in a pagan world. As I understand it, not given so that the nations could see they were “exclusively" God's, but to be the highlighter of how God’s people live and to draw the nations (inclusive) to the one true God.
So what happens if we take this election of Israel and lay it over these two theologies? Does it illuminate or does it bring up more questions? Could it be “both / and” instead of “either / or?” Could it be that yes God elects, not so He can reject others, but so that these elect can be His priestly people; called to proclaim the light of the one true God to the nations (the unsaved).
I haven’t presented this well and what I’ve written doesn’t totally express exactly what I started out to communicate. But as always, I have more questions than answers and know that I need to do loads more studying and unpacking to bring this idea into sharper focus and I would love to know your thoughts on the topic.
One thing stated by Dr. Garcia I am in 100% agreement. He told a story of a pastor's response to the question of eternal security as detailed in Calvin’s 5th point. The pastor said, well I can live my life one of two ways. I can decide that because I believe that through election I have eternal security I can live my life anyway I want. Or, I can live my life as though there is no eternal security staying focused on God and my relationship to Him. When I die I will find out the truth. If there is eternal security and I’ve lived my life as though there wasn’t I’m still going to be with Jesus. But, if there is no eternal security and I’ve lived my life in sin because I thought there was – what a horrible mistake I’ve made!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
It Involves all the Senses!
First of all I guess you might need to know a little about, well me. You see, I have a tendency to latch onto an idea or concept, not being able to let it down until I’ve discovered as much information about it as possible. Now this might sound noble or outright studious if they weren’t questions, ideas and concepts like why do we call “a toast” a toast? Or, why does something I love taste thoroughly awful if I’m expecting to taste something totally different? From the former questions research I was led to the question “Why do we clink our glasses together during a toast?” Starting to get the picture, the questions of my mind lead me down many paths and into many rabbit holes and it’s always been like that for me.
I remember as a little girl I just could not get my mind around the concept that God actually wrote the Bible. Here’s where I got confused. I was assured there was a God and even then I thoroughly believed in Him. But I’d never seen Him in person, EVER. Yet I was supposed to believe that He came down to earth and wrote the Bible. Here’s how that picture looked in my mind; God, the Ancient of Days, with long gray cottony hair and beard, in flowing white robes, with old man soft wrinkled hands setting at a desk or table with a quill pen and ink pot writing the Bible page by page! This picture led me to the question, “How did He get it published in a time when there weren’t any publishing houses (or even the technology to publish a book)?
So I decided to find out and proceeded to ask the wisest person I knew at the time, Mom. Here’s how that conversation went. “Mom, did God write the Bible? Yes honey He did. How did He do that, did He come to earth and write it out page by page? No sweetie, He had people here on earth write it for Him. Well, how did they know what He wanted them to write? Well He told them. Did He come down to earth to have a conversation face to face with them? No, He led them to the thoughts that they wrote down. How does He lead someone to write something, you think He might lead me to write something like the Bible someday? Well honey the Bible is already written so He probably isn’t going to need for you to write any more of it but with those who did He just put the information in their mind. So Mom, there was more than one person writing the Bible? Yes there was! How did they know which part they were supposed to write? Well I don’t think they worried about which part they were writing, they just wrote what God told them to write. Mom? Goodness Peggy, go ask your Dad!”
Now as crazy as it seems I’ve since had these type of conversations with church leaders, where I simply just did not understand what they were teaching me and the conversation was very frustrating (I’m sure for them as well as me) with me in the end metaphorically being sent to, “Go ask Dad!”
For a moment here let’s go back to my original question stated above regarding why the glasses clink together during a toast or the sharing of a glass of wine? Well I found some solid background taking it back to both Greek and Roman times, linking it with the poisoning of a someone’s drink – but the explanation I found and liked the best is this. When we share a glass of wine, as we pour the wine we experience it’s rich color which involves our sense of sight, we pick up the glass (which involves our sense of touch) swirling it in the glass to release the full aroma involving our sense of smell, right before we take our first sip of the liquid (involving our sense of taste) we clink our glasses. Now without the “clink” the only sense that would not be involved is our sense hearing….thus, today we clink the glass so that all of our senses are involved. It involves all of our senses.
Okay I’m sure, since you’ve stayed with me until now, that you are asking yourself what does that clink of that glass have to do with my childhood questions about the Bible? The answer is simple, for me to fully understand the answer to that question, and many other Biblical concepts I struggle with, I need to have all my senses involved. I need answers based in something other than someone’s beliefs and faith that it is just true, like Mom’s well meaning answers so many years ago. I desire to be able to converse with people in ways that defend my beliefs, yes I need faith (Mom had loads and loads of faith) but I need an understanding or at least have a chance of coming to an understanding about what God is actually saying to me through His word.I need an education that involves all my senses to empower me to search out these answers for myself and I found that here at VCC attending the Vineyard Leadership Institute at a Distance’s two year academic program.
Vineyard Leadership Institute (VLI) was created to integrate hands-on training, ministry experience, spiritual formation, and academic understanding with an uncompromising commitment to excellence in biblical-theological, ministerial and spiritual-formational training. Without sounding like an advertisement it is important to note that VLI’s instructors are experienced pastors, teachers and recognized theologians who are experts in the fields they teach. Professors qualified and experienced to teach at university and graduate levels. Teaching courses on interpreting scripture, church planting, leadership, preaching and teaching, power ministry, counseling, spirituality and many others. It is an empowering, distinctive, cutting-edge curriculum that allows students pragmatic training in church leadership as well as challenging studies into spirituality and theology.VLI has advantages that most traditional seminaries do not offer, training students practically, spiritually and academically for ministry in the context of the local church.
As a student I enjoyed the benefits of hands-on ministry training, developing a relationship with a mentor from the pastoral staff and at the same time receiving excellent-theological instruction.Was it difficult? Yes! Was it time consuming? Yes! Was it a blessing? Yes! Yes! Yes! It involved all my senses and thus has developed my abilities to search out the answers and to read the Bible in context, cause as Steve Robbins (Pastor and VLI Director) says, “It’s all context dependent!” and “ It can never mean for me what it would never have meant for the original audience!”
Oh, something I figured was true – but I also discovered along the way, Mom was absolutely correct, God did write the Bible!
I remember as a little girl I just could not get my mind around the concept that God actually wrote the Bible. Here’s where I got confused. I was assured there was a God and even then I thoroughly believed in Him. But I’d never seen Him in person, EVER. Yet I was supposed to believe that He came down to earth and wrote the Bible. Here’s how that picture looked in my mind; God, the Ancient of Days, with long gray cottony hair and beard, in flowing white robes, with old man soft wrinkled hands setting at a desk or table with a quill pen and ink pot writing the Bible page by page! This picture led me to the question, “How did He get it published in a time when there weren’t any publishing houses (or even the technology to publish a book)?
So I decided to find out and proceeded to ask the wisest person I knew at the time, Mom. Here’s how that conversation went. “Mom, did God write the Bible? Yes honey He did. How did He do that, did He come to earth and write it out page by page? No sweetie, He had people here on earth write it for Him. Well, how did they know what He wanted them to write? Well He told them. Did He come down to earth to have a conversation face to face with them? No, He led them to the thoughts that they wrote down. How does He lead someone to write something, you think He might lead me to write something like the Bible someday? Well honey the Bible is already written so He probably isn’t going to need for you to write any more of it but with those who did He just put the information in their mind. So Mom, there was more than one person writing the Bible? Yes there was! How did they know which part they were supposed to write? Well I don’t think they worried about which part they were writing, they just wrote what God told them to write. Mom? Goodness Peggy, go ask your Dad!”
Now as crazy as it seems I’ve since had these type of conversations with church leaders, where I simply just did not understand what they were teaching me and the conversation was very frustrating (I’m sure for them as well as me) with me in the end metaphorically being sent to, “Go ask Dad!”
For a moment here let’s go back to my original question stated above regarding why the glasses clink together during a toast or the sharing of a glass of wine? Well I found some solid background taking it back to both Greek and Roman times, linking it with the poisoning of a someone’s drink – but the explanation I found and liked the best is this. When we share a glass of wine, as we pour the wine we experience it’s rich color which involves our sense of sight, we pick up the glass (which involves our sense of touch) swirling it in the glass to release the full aroma involving our sense of smell, right before we take our first sip of the liquid (involving our sense of taste) we clink our glasses. Now without the “clink” the only sense that would not be involved is our sense hearing….thus, today we clink the glass so that all of our senses are involved. It involves all of our senses.
Okay I’m sure, since you’ve stayed with me until now, that you are asking yourself what does that clink of that glass have to do with my childhood questions about the Bible? The answer is simple, for me to fully understand the answer to that question, and many other Biblical concepts I struggle with, I need to have all my senses involved. I need answers based in something other than someone’s beliefs and faith that it is just true, like Mom’s well meaning answers so many years ago. I desire to be able to converse with people in ways that defend my beliefs, yes I need faith (Mom had loads and loads of faith) but I need an understanding or at least have a chance of coming to an understanding about what God is actually saying to me through His word.I need an education that involves all my senses to empower me to search out these answers for myself and I found that here at VCC attending the Vineyard Leadership Institute at a Distance’s two year academic program.
Vineyard Leadership Institute (VLI) was created to integrate hands-on training, ministry experience, spiritual formation, and academic understanding with an uncompromising commitment to excellence in biblical-theological, ministerial and spiritual-formational training. Without sounding like an advertisement it is important to note that VLI’s instructors are experienced pastors, teachers and recognized theologians who are experts in the fields they teach. Professors qualified and experienced to teach at university and graduate levels. Teaching courses on interpreting scripture, church planting, leadership, preaching and teaching, power ministry, counseling, spirituality and many others. It is an empowering, distinctive, cutting-edge curriculum that allows students pragmatic training in church leadership as well as challenging studies into spirituality and theology.VLI has advantages that most traditional seminaries do not offer, training students practically, spiritually and academically for ministry in the context of the local church.
As a student I enjoyed the benefits of hands-on ministry training, developing a relationship with a mentor from the pastoral staff and at the same time receiving excellent-theological instruction.Was it difficult? Yes! Was it time consuming? Yes! Was it a blessing? Yes! Yes! Yes! It involved all my senses and thus has developed my abilities to search out the answers and to read the Bible in context, cause as Steve Robbins (Pastor and VLI Director) says, “It’s all context dependent!” and “ It can never mean for me what it would never have meant for the original audience!”
Oh, something I figured was true – but I also discovered along the way, Mom was absolutely correct, God did write the Bible!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Illumination
When ever I get in a hurry, am questioning God on His obvious lack of keeping me informed or giving me vision; He gentles brings me back to an incident that occurred about 9 or 10 years ago.
It was a warm, breezy fall evening. Just that time of day as the sun is dimming and twilight is just falling, with deep, lush and long shadows. Danielle (my daughter) and I decided that it was the perfect time for me to ride my bicycle alongside her while she ran. I hadn’t had the bike out in a while, but figured all was well, so I hopped on and we took off together. The plan was for me to take it easy and pace alongside her. Only problem was, I couldn’t keep up. Even taking into consideration that I was definitely not in shape, this didn’t make any logical sense. I was riding in low gear on smooth, level terrain and that ride was totally gruesome for me! Especially considering the fact that I wasn’t about to admit defeat and confess that my 21 year old daughter could outrun me, with me on a bicycle no less!With heart pounding, face blood red, gasping for each breath and I'm sure with elevated blood pressure I forced myself on. After begging Danielle to not run off and leave me (if she wasn’t there who was going to administer CPR for her hard-headed Mom?) we finally and with great relief made it home. I gimped off the bike, so proud I didn't fall, pushed the bike into the garage, and turned on the light only to discover I had made that entire bike trip with two totally flat tires! You can surely imagine just how silly I felt.
Once I had started on that ride I wouldn’t stop. No matter what the consequences, I was bound and determined to finish my task, my chosen path. Had I just turned on the light before the ride, allowed the illumination in, I would have seen that I was not fully equipped to successfully make that journey.
The bible says, “If a man desires to do His will (God's pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize, and can tell for himself) whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from myself and of my own accord and on my own authority.” John 7:17 Amplified Bible (AMP).
It was a warm, breezy fall evening. Just that time of day as the sun is dimming and twilight is just falling, with deep, lush and long shadows. Danielle (my daughter) and I decided that it was the perfect time for me to ride my bicycle alongside her while she ran. I hadn’t had the bike out in a while, but figured all was well, so I hopped on and we took off together. The plan was for me to take it easy and pace alongside her. Only problem was, I couldn’t keep up. Even taking into consideration that I was definitely not in shape, this didn’t make any logical sense. I was riding in low gear on smooth, level terrain and that ride was totally gruesome for me! Especially considering the fact that I wasn’t about to admit defeat and confess that my 21 year old daughter could outrun me, with me on a bicycle no less!With heart pounding, face blood red, gasping for each breath and I'm sure with elevated blood pressure I forced myself on. After begging Danielle to not run off and leave me (if she wasn’t there who was going to administer CPR for her hard-headed Mom?) we finally and with great relief made it home. I gimped off the bike, so proud I didn't fall, pushed the bike into the garage, and turned on the light only to discover I had made that entire bike trip with two totally flat tires! You can surely imagine just how silly I felt.
Once I had started on that ride I wouldn’t stop. No matter what the consequences, I was bound and determined to finish my task, my chosen path. Had I just turned on the light before the ride, allowed the illumination in, I would have seen that I was not fully equipped to successfully make that journey.
The bible says, “If a man desires to do His will (God's pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize, and can tell for himself) whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from myself and of my own accord and on my own authority.” John 7:17 Amplified Bible (AMP).
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