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The Calvinism Advisory Committee report online...

The committee Frank Page put together to consider how to approach the continued conflict Calvinism has become in the Southern Baptist Convention has published its report. Entitled TRUTH, TRUST, and TESTIMONY in a TIME of TENSION: A Statement from the Calvinism Advisory Committee, the reader may find it in the current online edition of SBC Life. For your convenience, I posted a link below so the reader may download it as a PDF file. I do not want to comment on the report itself before carefully reading it first. But... Read more →

Whatever happened to Lake Ridge Church?

It's been said of Acts 29 Network, "When you're looking for theologically vibrant, healthy models that lead to growing churches, where else are you going to look?" If I am not mistaken, Dr. Ed Stetzer introduced Southern Baptists to the church planting network known as Acts 29 while he was Director of Research and Missiologist at the North American Mission Board (NAMB). In addition to introducing Southern Baptists to Acts 29 Network and its assumed "theologically vibrant, healthy models" of church planting parallel to none, Stetzer also planted a church... Read more →

Resolution on Sexual Abuse of Children by Peter Lumpkins

I've never proposed a resolution before. Truth is, I've not written one either. But if this issue is not a valid subject about which Southern Baptists should publicly express a strong voice, I'm not sure what qualifies as an issue we should address. For all its flaws, I just submitted the following resolution to the Resolutions Committee for the 2013 Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Houston, Texas. As with all resolutions, it has but a small hope it will make it out of committee deliberations. I fully understand this dynamic.... Read more →

C.J. Mahaney, The Victims, and Depths of Darkness

I got about two-thirds of the way through the Second Amended Class Action Complaint and Jury Demand filed by attorneys representing the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against young, restless, and reformed icon, C.J. Mahaney, Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), two SGM churches, one SGM school, and ten other SGM leaders.1 Truth is, I couldn't go on. It's most horrifying and even solicits the deepest anger and rage from a person's soul. To imagine these poor children--children then the ages of my five grand babies now--might have suffered such degraded... Read more →

Contemporary Reformed authors on John 3:16: Joel Beeke

I've been posting some classic Calvinistic authors' renderings of KOSMOS in John 3:16. Thus far, we've considered: John Owen: KOSMOS = "his elect throughout the world" Arthur W. Pink: KOSMOS = "believers"1 Francis Turretin: KOSMOS = "the elect of every nation" John Gill: KOSMOS = "the Gentile elect of every nation" One thread which ties the above strict Calvinists together pertains to the way they all understand KOSMOS in John 3:16. While Greek language experts carefully catalog multiple usages of KOSMOS in the New Testament as all the authors above... Read more →

John Gill vs. Jesus Christ on the World of John 3:16

Thus far, we've compared three strict Calvinists--John Owen, Arthur W. Pink, and Francis Turretin--and presumably their understanding of John 3:16 (especially, the term translated "world") with the clear words of the Lord Jesus Himself. Let's offer another popular strict Calvinist theologian and author--John Gill (1697-1771). Below are Jesus' words followed by my inference of John Gill's rendition of Jesus' words.1 Here's our Lord Jesus in John 3:16: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will... Read more →

Francis Turretin vs. Jesus Christ on the World of John 3:16

Thus far, we've looked at John Owen and Arthur W. Pink's rendition of the word "world" in John 3:16. While some have logged on either denying it matters what the biblical text actually says (see here), others have falsely but desperately and incredibly claimed I'm putting words in the author's mouth (e.g see here, here). What no one has demonstrated thus far is, how either Owen or Pink's rendition of KOSMOS ("world" in John 3:16) as the world of "believers only" (or world of the "elect") is deduced from the... Read more →

Arthur W. Pink vs. Jesus Christ on the World of John 3:16

Here's our Lord Jesus in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (NASB) Here's Arthur W. Pink, strict Calvinist1 and famed Reformed Baptist author, in his rendition of John 3:16: “For God so loved believers, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”2 Do you think Pink has a point in substituting "believers" for "world" in John 3:16? 1Note:... Read more →

Louisiana College and its critics: a textbook example where the cure may be worse than the disease

UPDATE: Joshua Breland has just posted what he calls his final piece on Louisiana College (LC). While he speaks of the remarkable blessings he received from LC, it cannot be he can end his series without asserting "Louisiana College needs to figuratively burn to the ground and start afresh before health and prosperity can return." The freshly graduated college senior adds that "The Louisiana Baptist Convention (LBC) is also in need of much correction" since the Executive State Director, David Hankins, remains "part and parcel of the deception and wickedness... Read more →

John Owen vs. Jesus Christ on the World of John 3:16

Here's our Lord Jesus in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (ESV) Here's John Owen, the theological darling of many contemporary Baptist Calvinists, in his rendition of what Jesus said in John 3:16: "God so loved his elect throughout the world, that he gave his Son with this intention, that by him believers might be saved" (The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, p.214) For some reason, there... Read more →

Calvinists and the World of John 3:16: Take Two

I was looking for something else when I ran across this piece I first posted on September 12, 2006. After scanning it, I thought it'd be good to offer a Take Two. Enjoy... ============================================================= In Jesus’ private conversation with Israel’s star Pharisaic pupil, He uttered words that would become the measure by which no other verse in Scripture so encapsulates the basic message of the Gospel: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have... Read more →

A.C. Dixon on what results from prayer

I've been preaching a series on prayer over the last several weeks. One meaningful quote I employed to describe the results of prayer contrasted to something else is by A. C. Dixon (1854-1925). Dixon was a "southern" Baptist (graduate of Wake Forest College and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, SC at the time) ministering in a northern cultural climate. He eventually became pastor of Moody Memorial Church. Professor Gerald Priest describes Dixon as, Something of a microcosm of fundamentalism... [embodying] ... the qualities of personal piety, evangelistic zeal (intensified... Read more →

A Tribute to "Mary" and "Lydia", frequent commenters at SBC Tomorrow

I do not know who the insult is aimed at. Given my dealings with aggressive Calvinist, J.D. Hall, it's probably intended to be a three-way tie. Whatever the case, I thought ending this very tiresome, weary, heart-wrenching week with a little humor would be healthy for us all. Below is a tweet representative of Hall's complete meltdown in attempting to deal with SBC Tomorrow. He just can't quite get a handle on us here. Indeed I think we pretty much burn his beans every time he shows up for supper.... Read more →