As an interim between Part I and Part II of my response to Tom Ascol, Executive Director of Founders Ministries, who recently made an open attack on Dr. David Allen and the John 3:16 Conference platform, implicating them as "Anti-Calvinists," Dr. Malcolm Yarnell III, offers this brief response to Dr. Ascol and Founders Ministries.
Dear Peter,
Thank you for letting me post my last response to Tom Ascol at your place. I have learned three things from this short interchange on the blog of Dr. Ascol, whom I am glad to see is returning to full health after his recent difficulties. The three things learned from Dr. Ascol are:
**Dr. Tom Ascol, Executive Director of Founders Ministries, has finally offered his evaluation of the recent John 3:16 Conference. J316C, according to Ascol, is one of "three events that have put the spotlight on [Calvinism in the SBC] recently have
come from those who are not merely non-Calvinists, but are more
accurately described as anti-Calvinists." I have a full response to Dr. Ascol in Part II forthcoming.
Update: James White offered a response to this post here. I offered some initial remarks toward White's response which I may, after a coat of polish, post on the main page in due time.
Since the John 3:16 Conference, there has been an excessive amount of attention to my comments concerning James White on the various Calvinist blogs. Allow me to set the record straight on three fronts: 1) what I said, 2) the context in which I said it, and 3) why I said it.
Tomorrow, I'll post Dr. Allen's lengthy response to critics concerning his paper on Limited Atonement which he presented at the recent John 3:16 Conference.
He especially deals with critics pertaining to his remarks on Hyper-Calvinism. Stay Tuned...
One of the participants at The John 3:16 Conference (J316) was Dr. David Allen,
Dean of the School of Theology, Professor of Preaching, Director for
the Center for Expository Preaching, and George W. Truett Chair of
Ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
(SWBTS). Professor Allen's presentation focused on Limited Atonement. I wrote before the conference that we
"expect[ed] his contribution to invigorate the discussion on what I view[ed] as
the definitive chink in the Dortian Calvinist's armor." I was far from being incorrect. The discussion has been inciting.
I've tried to keep up with the internet reviews on the recent John 3:16 Conference. Thus far, they have been predictably both positive and negative. I'll let you guess who wrote each respectively. Now, I've been accused at SBCTomorrow of being biased. Imagine that! Me biased! The nerve of some people...
The J316C is now history. I cannot thank Jerry Vines Ministries and the co-sponsoring seminaries enough for hosting this much needed conference.
I planned to offer my own thoughts pertaining to its success or non-success, but the clubbing the conference has already taken from the more "objective" websites has sparked me to offer a few corrections to the record first.
I offer two particular quotes I found interesting, each of which is a part of Dr. Allen's query into Dr. Tom Nettle's paper entitled "A Historical View of the Doctrinal Importance of Calvinism Among Baptists" and Dr. David Dockery's paper entitled "Southern Baptists and Calvinism: An Historical Look."
One of the participants at The John 3:16 Conference (J316) is Dr. David Allen, Dean of the School of Theology, Professor of Preaching, Director for the Center for Expository Preaching, and George W. Truett Chair of Ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS). Professor Allen's paper will focus on Limited Atonement. We expect his contribution to invigorate the discussion on what I view as the definitive chink in the Dortian Calvinist's armor.
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