Be Thankful for Truth!

Yesterday I was working on a study on "Answered Prayer" I will be delivering in a few weeks. After consulting several commentaries, I was reading Johannes G. Vos' commentary on the Westminster Larger Catechism. As I read the catechism, I began to envy the Presbyterians for their rich history, their strong theological tradition, and their churches. At that moment I wished I could be a Presbyterian and enjoy the benefits of being in a large, well ordered, theologically sound organization. But, I was quickly convicted of the foolishness of that kind of thinking. It wasn't long before I realized that I should be thankful that I have the truth, even if I don't have some temporal comforts. I should be more thankful that I am firmly convinced that I am in a better theological strand than they are. I should be thankful that the Lord has been pleased to open my eyes to things in Scripture like believer's baptism and New Covenant Theology. It is not a small thing to be convinced of the truth. Therefore, I should not envy those whom I believe are in error on certain points.

I am in no way inteding to bash the Westminster Larger Catechism, the Westminster Confession of Faith, or the Westminster Shorter Catechism. They are all three great documents and I have benefited greatly from them. After all, even the 1689 London Baptist Confession is just a baptized version of the WCF (which is why I prefer the 1646 London Baptist Confession, but that's another issue all together).

I guess the reason I'm posting this isn't so much for those of you who may be struggling between different denominational positions. Rather, I am posting this in hope that you will be thankful to God for the fact that there is objective truth, that we have His Word, and that we can know Him! I believe that New Covenant Theology is a more accurate system than Covenant Theology. I believe that believer's baptism is the only scriptural form of baptism. But, that doesn't mean I think everyone who doesn't agree with me is lost. If anything, the differing positions encourage me to search the Scriptures further and seek out which position is accurate.

I hope that you will love the Truth, be thankful to God that He has revealed His Truth, that you will search the Scriptures that you may discover what is True and what is not, and that you will be thankful that you have Truth, even if you don't have some of the temporal comforts you may desire.

Quote of the Day

"When you see that you are dependent, not self-determined, then--and then alone--can you appreciate Who God is and who you are. God is the Creator of all things Who made you for His pleasure; He does not exist to please you. He is not some cosmic vending machine that will give you whatever you want when you insert the proper prayer coins. You were made to glorify Him either as a vessel of mercy or as a vessel of wrath. It is not incumbent upon God to glorify you. That He has chosen to save you, Christian, should not merely please you; it should astonish you."
- Jay Adams, The Grand Demonstration, p. 49-50.

A Thinking President

I'm pleased to say that we have a thinking president at SEBTS. Yesterday in the "Q&A with Dr. Akin" chapel, Dr. Akin received questions from students and provided some thoughtful, scriptural insight. I must say, I was thoroughly pleased with Dr. Akin's response to the Arminian question. Anyone who was there will know to which I refer. Dr. Akin spoke clearly to the issue, and even went further than I expected him to go. Toward the end of his answer Dr. Akin said "Pelagianism is heresy, Arminianism is error." I take this to be roughly the same as Spurgeon saying "And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the addition of something to the work of the Redeemer?" Both Akin and Spurgeon recognize that Arminianism is clearly aberrant, but that it not a soul damning error. To prove the difference in types of "heresy", Spurgeon later goes on to comment "But far be it from me even to imagine that Zion contains none but Calvinistic Christians within her walls, or that there are none saved who do not hold our views....and if there were wanted two apostles to be added to the number of the twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two men more fit to be so added than George Whitefield and John Wesley." My hat definitely goes off to Dr. Akin for speaking so clearly to this theologically charged issue. I wonder what he would have to say about Molinism? Perhaps next Q&A time...