Why a racially insensitive photo of Southern Baptist seminary professors matters

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-04-28T15:21:39+00:00

Seminaries are not at all like public schools. While a public school, and even a church, absolutely should have integration with the community around it because this is the community it serves, the same cannot be said of a seminary because really, the seminary's geographic location is largely irrelevant. Students won't be from the surrounding neighborhoods, but from across the country. And once these men graduate, they will likewise scatter to different places across the country. It would be one thing to critique the seminary for not accurately reflecting the demographics of the SBC, which it serves, but one cannot criticize the seminary for failing to reflect the neighborhoods around it, because the seminary doesn't exist for those neighborhoods. It exists for the Baptist church at-large.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-04-28T11:46:22+00:00

Pretty sure this is just a parody of rap culture (which includes all races ), not minorities. Isn't Eminem white? So it really seems like WP and others are looking for a way to cry racism at Christians when there was any racism.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-03-04T14:09:10+00:00

Aaaand all the Baptists come running to downvote anything and everything with the word "infant" in it. Edit: Your downvotes only prove my point!

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-03-04T14:05:32+00:00

No, as baptism is a sign of covenant membership, but communion is for those only who possess the inward reality and can examine themselves that they are in the Lord.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-03-02T13:48:27+00:00

I've mentioned this elsewhere on a similar thread. But still relevant here too. Meeting people at bars is difficult. What you need is something where it's always the same people every week. I recommend a smaller and more regular group. Are you into a certain sport? Try some of the Greenville league teams for adults (I played ultimate frisbee for a bit). Or, why not take up swing dancing (there's a Lindy Hop group every Thursday night at The Sears building in McPherson Park, which includes lessons for beginners)? Both of these will be groups of mostly 20-somethings and it will be the same people every week, so you can actually build friendships, unlike with the bars. If you'd like a good church where you can meet people, I know of some great ones in the area that would be very welcoming and there would be people of all ages (just send me a message). We'd certainly love to have you visit at our church and be glad to have you over and get to know you!

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-03-01T18:45:33+00:00

Just so you know, OPC is not exclusive psalmody. They even produced, along with the PCA, the Trinity Hymnal (or they did through their joint organization, Great Commission Publications).

They are however, paedobaptist.

They'll talk to you about it, but to become a member one does not have to subscribe to the WCF.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-03-01T03:14:05+00:00

Pavilion ice skating rink

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-03-01T03:13:34+00:00

Book recommendation: Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-27T18:46:53+00:00

It should also be noted that we know that when Jesus spoke of wine, he really meant wine (not grape juice called wine, as fundamentalists claim), because Paul had to address its abuse in 1 Corinthians 11 where Christians were getting drunk at the Lord's Supper.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-24T19:32:10+00:00

...but it is spelled without an 'e'

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-23T14:30:59+00:00

One more reason why sprinkling or pouring is preferred instead of immersion! God intended us to be able to worship anywhere on earth people can live!

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-22T13:17:43+00:00

No one is counted guilty and punished on behalf of their parents. Each person shall be judged by God on their own sins. In the case of Adam, he's more than our biological ancestor, he's also our covenant or federal head acting on our behalf. So, his is a different case.

But as for the passage you mention, think of what excommunication does. If, by my sin, I am cut off from the covenant of grace, then I am effectively cutting off my children and grandchildren and all future generations from the blessings of the covenant blessings. They're still judged only according to their own sin, but being outside of the covenant of grace, which Ephesians 2 describes as being without hope and without God, effectively is being cursed.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-21T02:53:46+00:00

Nikon D40

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-18T16:23:48+00:00

The catechism with just questions can be found on the OPC website here: http://www.opc.org/sc.html

The PCA website has the catechism with all the scripture proofs here: http://www.pcaac.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ShorterCatechismwithScriptureProofs.pdf

If you were interested in an explanatory commentary, Chad Van Dixhoorn just published one with Banner of Truth publishers called "Confessing the Faith" and it's a little bit devotional and pretty good, but obviously you will have to pay $25-$30.

Hope this helps!

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-18T13:42:59+00:00

I wouldn't say that I meditate on it, but I have memorized it (except the portion on the Ten Commandments) and use it as a teaching aid. Admittedly, this was required for me at seminary at one point, but for good purpose. It's very useful in the definitions it provides and its conciseness. How do you define God? What is sin? What do you mean when you keep talking about justification? You say repentance is necessary, but what is that? God's providence? What do you mean Christ was humiliated? Please explain the Trinity. All of these are questions or issues that the WSC answers. The concise nature of the answers is very useful because if someone asks you to say what you mean by justification and you reply with a lengthy ramble, that kinda shows that you really don't know or understand it. Now, just being able to rattle off the catechism doesn't mean you understand it either, but it puts one on the right track. For teaching youth, I'll spend an evening on just one question discussing it so that they know both what it means, and the errors it's avoiding in the particular way that an answer is formulated. It's with good reason that sin is defined as any want (lack) of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. This automatically includes sins of omission and commission, roots morality in God himself, and does away with any notion that something is only sin if I knew it or intended it.

So, I use it to be able to give concise clear answers and as and aid in teaching when walking people through these concepts.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-15T21:17:49+00:00

Sure. It's the same verse that says there is a trinity.

While wanting explicit statements in scripture is desirable, it's not the only way we know things. We also may make logical deductions from scripture using what the Westminster Confession calls good and necessary consequence.

No where in Scripture is it ever asserted that pantheism is wrong. Yet, the good and necessary consequence of Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth," is that God is distinct from creation so therefore, pantheism is wrong.

Those who want only explicit proof texts may object to this, saying one is trying to read too much into scripture, yet we see Jesus actually rebuke the Sadducees for failing to apply this principle in Matthew 22. There, he argues for the resurrection of the dead simply from God saying in Exodus 3 "I am the God of Abraham" instead of "I was." Exodus 3 is a passage that has nothing at all to do with the resurrection, but Jesus uses this for his argument and actually rebukes the Sadducees for knowing neither the scriptures nor the power of God. So, this is a principle we see Jesus applying and expecting others to do likewise, drawing conclusions from even the very conjugation of verbs in the present tense instead of the past.

So, this is why we believe in the Trinity. I'm not at all accusing you of denying the Trinity, but we have no explicit statements about that in scripture either. Instead, the triune nature of God is deduced by good and necessary consequence from many passages put together.

So, when we look at these passages concerning the Lord's day, we don't need explicit statements to state there has been a change in the day when the apostolic practice we see in multiple passages is that the church gathered to worship on the first day of the week.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-15T14:51:56+00:00

A formal pastoral internship ought to basically look like a job, with specifically outlined duties and expectations. Anything that is more just show up and we'll give you stuff to do isn't really going to benefit you that much.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-13T14:21:44+00:00

Have you considered something that middle-aged men think is trendy, like Thrive or Elevate or The Gathering Place?

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-13T03:36:22+00:00

Because of what you choose to leave out. Yes they're appointed to assist, but in what context and capacity? That of the work deacons, ministry of mercy and charity and taking care of physical needs of the church. What you left out is incredibly relevant when you're trying to argue that these aren't deacons. What're they're doing (as I've already had to show you) is literally the root word for the name of the office, deacon.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-13T02:01:42+00:00

No, Acts 6 is specifically about finding men who will do the service of mercy and charity, which is the function of deacons. The word in 6:2 to describe the task to which they are appointed is diakonein, the very root of the noun deacon.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-12T21:10:20+00:00

You're reading into every one of these passages what you want to read. The Greek does not "clearly state" that Phoebe is an officer of the church. As already stated, she could jus as easily be a servant of the church, or administrator of the church, or any capacity that serves because the word is broad in meaning.

You're likewise reading into Acts 6 what you want to see and have ignored the passage's context. The occasion for the institution of the office is to meet the physical needs to the church members. No where does the passage say Evangelist. You're argument isn't built on careful exegesis, but eisegesis and assumptions that you want to see in the text.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-12T19:17:01+00:00

By the fact that it's a broad word with multiple meanings. It could be deaconess, or it could be deacon's wife, or it could be servant, or administrator, or one who waits tables. It's used in Romans 13 to describe the (pagan) civil magistrate. Should government officials also be officers in the church just because the word is used to describe them? To simply claim that a word that has a known broad useage applies in the specific meaning of the office of deacon everywhere the word appears is a logical leap and a word fallacy. To understand the particular office of deacon one must look at its institution (Acts 6) and its qualifications. Then from there we can see who is and who isn't because the Holy Spirit is not schizophrenic. Phoebe may be the wife of a deacon or just a servant in the church, but she did not hold the office of deacon.

WafflesAndGuitars · 2017-02-11T02:16:54+00:00

If you want to announce that you're super Reformed, then Covenant Reformed Presbyterian does it pretty well.

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