Theology That Bites Back
Introduction: Yesterday I was discussing with some friends the nature of the Reformed collapse in the face of all our crazytoon times. Reformed guys are supposed to be the heady ones, the keepers of the Big Thinks, and they went down before the most transparent lies—they went down like dry August grass before a freshly …
“When we say that the reality of the decrees should not be allowed to trump the covenant, we are saying that it is right and appropriate and proper and good for a minister to warn a congregation against falling from grace, or trampling underfoot the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, or failing to bear fruit as a branch in the vine. We are talking about how we function, how we warn, how we admonish. The covenant is given to us. The decrees are made concerning us. It is not our job to parse the decrees. It is our job to live in terms of the covenant. We affirm that the decrees are there. We deny that we should preach or admonish someone in particular based on a presumed knowledge of the content of the decrees with regard to that person.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 477
Many regrets to all of you good folks, and here's the deal. Something went south in the WordPress template that I use for letters, and I don't know how to fix it. I cannot block and copy letters ...
“The FV statement that we issued was motivated in part because of our recognition that we bore some responsibility for the confusion. Consequently, we issued a statement that made very clear what the center of FV agreement was, and the statement also included a number of items where we differ among ourselves.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 475
“Those in the Reformed tradition who have sought to accommodate the anti-magisterial bent of the American system of theology have done this by means of making sacraments the means of secondary graces, instead of secondary means of grace. They got the adjective in the wrong place is all. Fine. Let them do that. But them when they go on a rampage and start accusing those people who still hold to Westminster the way it was written of denying the gospel, denying sola fide, and denying the Three Silmarils, it gets a bit thick and a response is required. As I said earlier, many fine Christians don’t hold to Westminster. Great. Fine. But if you don’t hold to Westminster, it is not possible to still use it as a club.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 472
“Faith as the sole instrument of justification refers to faith as the sole primary instrument. There are plenty of lesser instruments, lesser means—preachers, tracts, sermons, mothers, mission agencies, the Lord’s Supper, soup kitchens, baptism, and bumper stickers.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 471
“This means that Westminster teaches that when someone, baptized in infancy, is converted in college, his baptism is still to be reckoned as one of the means involved. That is what the words say.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 468
As some of you all know, Nancy and I are planning to travel down to Brazil next month in order to speak at a large evangelical conference. Word got out that we were coming, and a newspaper article was published by a leftist activist named Ronilso Pacheco, accusing me of racism and advocating for slavery. …
[Regarding WSC #91 & WLC #161] “We are talking about the baptized regenerate. The blessing of Christ, and the working of the Spirit, enable someone who receives the sacrament in true evangelical faith to rightly consider those sacraments to be numbered among the effectual means of their salvation.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 466
