Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

2 November, 2006   comments: (0) Postmodernism   Blog Rage: 'About Page' Not Written By Hallmark I don't know what it is with my About page, but it often ends up being the lightening rod for my blog. I received another email protest from a reader of it last week. Along with their sentiments, here's a look at some of the inbound artillery that I've had fired in the general direction of my About page in the recent past. If this were politics, I'd have advisors telling me that I need to "soften my image" (some politicians need that advice after all). Do I need to make changes to the page? Perhaps the last words on the page should say "now count to ten and breath deeply". Maybe you can give me some suggestions for it. Before I forget, I want to mention that I added a family photo to my About page last week. I've always been hesitant to put my picture online, ever since I saw what somebody did to a photo of James White sitting (originally) on his motorcycle. My favorite part is the little Reformer statues in his "front basket". I have however decided to be brave, and post my photo. Now, on to the anonymous email from last week: I am troubled by your bio (About page) and some of your disagreements with those that are not of the Baptist faith. I do not understand your attitude of the only ones who have the truth of the scriptures, and have a superior attitude when it comes to Bible knowledge and having all the answers. I say this not to be argumentative but from a point of not understanding why you are so negative against others who do not do and see things exactly as you do (Baptist) Ref Mk 9:38-39 Lk 9:49 I have no doubt that there are true born again believers in many different denominations, but does that mean they're all equally right about everything? It's not a popular thing to say in our postmodern climate, but someone might actually be right about something while at the same time - somebody else is wrong about that very thing. Right and wrong, true and false, are defined by God; our goal should be to line-up uncompromisingly with His beliefs. Beyond that, I have no interest in defending a denomination or any given person. Unfortunately today, doctrinal precision is often viewed as arrogant and intolerant. When I get those labels assigned to me by Emerging Church people, I have to ask, are you certain about the incarnation, deity, and resurrection of Christ? (they usually say 'yes'). If so, how arrogant and intolerant of you to have certitude about those things! The point being, all true Christians draw lines, and there's always going to be someone who thinks that your lines reflect a narrow-minded "superior attitude". I make no apologies for the things that I'm certain about, but I do hope that I can present and defend my beliefs with gentleness and respect. Back to my About page dilemma however. Here's a couple of more things that were posted on other blogs. I suspect that the above was written by a Charismatic believer; this one however, was written by a pastor (ironically a Baptist one I think): This Mr. Bublitz came out of the Purpose Driven Movement, to his credit, and now spends an inordinate amount of time attacking the very group he left. I have always been taken aback at how cultists in general have the propensity to attack those they were once in accord with. ... This "blaster" grew up in the Roman Catholic Church and then spent two decades in denominational churches according to his own testimony... He goes on to say that the church he had been attending was swept into Willow Creeks Seeker Sensitive model. He rightly desires to warn people that have fallen for this sort of thing. If he was so wise, why did Mr. Bublitz attend so many dangerous doctrinal churches? He professes that he was a Purpose Driven Leader, which is what I would term a mis-leader. He even taught this dubious Alpha Course. Mr. Bublitz shows little discernment in many of the things he has willingly participated in. I am most glad that he has finally removed his past "theology" from his resume. Now, however, he is taking the lead of the Reformers and Puritans. He openly admits to being a Reformed Baptist now so of course he would defend Calvinism just as he previously defended the Purpose Driven Movement, the Alpha Course, and those denominations he attended. He seems to drift from one persuasion to another zealously defending that at the time. He seemed to think that all the other things he had been involved with were man-centered, but Calvinism is also man-centered, at least in the formation of that theology. Note: "Man centered" because he assumes it comes from John Calvin rather than the bible. Whoa! All of that from my about page. And it doesn't stop there. Here's a PhD Christian Counselor who referred to me as a "Calvinistic Lemming". I had a co-worker who played the Lemmings computer game during his lunch break everyday, and after watching him do that, I can relate to how blindly these little creatures will follow one another over a cliff. According to this reader, I should expect to be falling off the theological lemming-ledge any day now: This guy has bounced all over the place during the past twenty-something years but now expects us to take his word as gospel truth! He's been Charismatic, seeker-sensitive, and now a Real Calvinists. Who knows where he'll be in another ten years? Well, I could go on but I think you get my point. I'm not in favor of people straddling the fence but I'm also tired of those arrogant, elitist Calvinists (may their tribe decrease) pontificating on things they know no more about than most, and a lot less than some. They don't own the terminology. They say if you're not a monergist, then you're Arminian; I say, if you're a monergist, then you deny the responsibility of humans and bring God's justice and holiness into question. Is that fair? Well, it's as fair as the monergists are being. They just cloak their superiority in the garb of human logic, quoting Calvin more than Christ, Spurgeon more than the Spirit... So, what do you think? Do I need a kinder, gentler About page; something that reads more like Chicken Soup for The Ecumenical Soul? Maybe you think the problem isn't the page, but the beliefs of the writer of it. Since I've changed my mind about my beliefs in the past, does that mean I should be silent about what I believe now? It's your turn to sound-off in the comments below! Be quick about it though; my volatile beliefs could change again at any moment, and if they do, Old Truth could quickly disappear! Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.525   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism