Discuss Theology

It appears that the Holy Spirit is often the step child in the Trinity.  The next question we must always ask is why?  My own opinion is that the Holy Spirit makes us uncomfortable and does a lot of things that are unpredictable. Trinitarian Theology

I have been thinking a lot about this recently.  I appreciate the desire of complementarian theologians to be Biblical first and everything else second.  I think they are really serious about this. What does a complementarian theologian do right?

Fox News cites Sen. Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania, stating that recently declassified documents record hundreds of WMD’s found in Iraq. Hundreds of WMD’s Found

Let’s look at our generation from the view of church historians. I think they will simultaneously wince and praise us. I think they will wince as they consider evangelical theologians like Wayne grudem holding to a subordinationist view of the Trinity and receiving a broad complementarian audience. I think they will further wince as they think of process theologians, like Clark Pinnock, Greg Boyd and others, in the name of evangelicalism, telling us that God does not absolutely know the future. I think they will wince as they consider our waffling on life issues such as abortion, on sexual moral/ethical issues such as homosexual ordination. I actually believe there will be more wincing than this.
With all of the wincing, I also think there will be at least two places where they will praise our generation. I think that church historians will rejoice over the emphasis on missions in our era. There are more people becoming Christians in Africa and in mainland China than there are people physically being born in those areas. I think the historians will look back and rejoice over this wonderful circumstance. I also believe that they will look back and rejoice over the progress that the evangelical church made relative to the rights of women in the church-the right to preach, the right to pastor and the right to lead in even broader capacities. I think historians will write that the majority of evangelicalism began to take Galatians 3:28 seriously, “In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female”. The church historians will probably contrast the positive strides made on male/female issues in the evangelical church at large with what the evangelical radio and television media usually espouses-namely Victorian leadership ethics. Historians will simultaneously wince and praise.

Colin Ewart Gunton (1941-2003) was a systemic theologian. Gunton was born 19 January 1941. He died suddenly on 6 May 2003. As a theologian he made large contributions to the Doctrine of Creation and the Doctrine of the Trinity. He was Professor of Christian Doctrine at King’s College London from 1984 and founder of the Research Institute for Systematic Theology. Gunton was actively involved in the United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom. He was arguably the most important British theologian of his generation.

In 1992 Gunton delivered the Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford. In 1993 he delivered the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary. He co-founded with John Webster the International Journal of Systematic Theology.

He was a keen member of the Society for the Study of Theology.

Wayne Grudem is a Protestant theologian and author.

Grudem holds a BA from Harvard University, a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. In 2001, Grudem became Research Professor of Bible and Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he was also the chairman of the Department of Biblical and Systematic Theology. Grudem is currently on the staff at Phoenix Seminary as Research Professor of Bible and Theology, Arizona.

Grudem served on the committee overseeing the English Standard Version translation of the Bible, and in 1999 he was the president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He is the author of, among other books, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, which advocates a Calvinistic soteriology, the verbal plenary inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible, the body-soul dichotomy in the nature of man, and the complementarian (rather than egalitarian) view of gender equality.

Grudem holds Charismatic beliefs and is a supporter of the Vineyard Movement and one of its main apologists and spokespeople.

Top 20 Most Frequently Asked Bible Questions 1. Women pastors / preachers? What does the Bible say about women in ministry? 2. What does the Bible say about homosexuality? Is it a sin? 3. What does the Bible say about tattoos / body piercings? 4. Once saved always saved? / Is eternal security Biblical? 5. Masturbation – is it a sin according to the Bible? 6. What does the Bible say about interracial marriage? 7. Who was Cain’s wife? 8. What is the Christian view of suicide? What does the Bible say about suicide? What about a believer who commits suicide? 9. Do pets / animals go to Heaven? Do pets / animals have souls? 10. What happens after death? 11. What does the Bible say about Christian tithing? 12. What is the gift of speaking in tongues? Is it for today? What about praying in tongues? 13. What does the Bible say about dinosaurs? Are there dinosaurs in the Bible? 14. What is the importance of Christian baptism? 15. What does the Bible say about drinking alcohol? Is it a sin for a Christian to drink alcohol? 16. What does the Bible say about gambling? Is gambling a sin? 17. What does the Bible teach about the Trinity? 18. What does the Bible say about sex before marriage? 19. Where was Jesus for the three days between His death and resurrection? 20. What does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage?

What do all of those blogs say when they have made themselves look less than credible?  “Oops?”  I understand the dilemma that the left now faces.  Their worst nightmare, Karl Rove,  is still roaming the streets as a free man.  They gave it their best shot and “oops” missed again. Blog Foibles, Oops, Blog Accountability and Karl Rove

“In the final analysis, the Trinity is incomprehensible.  We cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity.” Christian Theology, p. 363 Trinitarian Theology, Millard Erickson

Richard and Catherine Kroeger write in the introduction to I Suffer not a Woman, [p.17] that, “It is essential that we face honestly the difficulties inherent in a traditional understanding of 1 Timothy 2:12.  Traditional interpretation has held that this verse forbids women to teach or make decisions.  The fact is that women did indeed teach men, that women served as leaders, and that in doing so they enjoyed God’s blessing and won the praise of other believers.” Non Complementarian thought for the day