{"id":15761,"date":"2018-01-10T19:26:46","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T03:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=15761"},"modified":"2018-01-10T19:26:46","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T03:26:46","slug":"an-evangelical-from-the-evangelical-church-talks-about-evangelicalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/an-evangelical-from-the-evangelical-church-talks-about-evangelicalism\/","title":{"rendered":"An Evangelical from the Evangelical Church Talks About Evangelicalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Evangelicals are are into conversionism (the belief that lives need to be changed), activism (the expression of the Gospel in effort), biblicism (a particular regard for the Bible), and crucicentrism (a stress on the sacrifice of Christ) [1], then I am one of them!<\/strong><\/p>\n

If Evangelicals hang their hats on justification (the forgiving of our sins through the atoning death of Christ), and new birth (the renewing of our fallen human nature at the time of conversion) [2], then I am one of them!<\/strong><\/p>\n

If Evangelicals give priority to evangelism over everything else (even worship) [3], then I might<\/em> be one of them.<\/strong> I happen to believe us Evangelicals are so consumed about “conversions” that we completely neglect “discipleship”. We argue repeatedly about “once saved always saved” and brag about who prayed the sinners prayer, or raised their hand during an invitation. Seems to me, God is the only one who can sort out who was saved and who was not saved or IF they were saved. I was commanded to MAKE DISCIPLES, not converts, so that is what I have attempted to answer my call to do.<\/p>\n

I would be lying if I told you every person I have led to Christ in the past 15 years is still following Jesus. Don’t get me wrong, I believe angels rejoice in heaven when lost souls are converted. But conversion is only one of the important parts of discipleship. So is baptism, healing, and sanctification (a cleansing of the inside I have experienced more than once–with profanity, victory over an addiction, or a transformed thought life).<\/p>\n

\"\"[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m a theological MUTT. Growing up, my next door neighbors on one side were Catholic, on the other side they were Jewish. My parents belonged to, and brought our family to, the Presbyterian Church, but sent us kids to a Dutch Reformed high school. I attended a Nazarene college, but am ordained in the Evangelical Church. I meet regularly with Pastors who are Lutherans, Assembly of God, Congregational, Baptist, etc.<\/p>\n

I learned at an early age not to pick sides. I just wanted to be known as a Christian, which I simply learned was a “Christ Follower”–not just a fan of Jesus, nor a scholar of Jesus, but a DISCIPLE of Jesus! I noticed I was a transformed person in real relationship with Jesus, who surrendered my will to His, and actually FOLLOWED Him. So, when the Holy Spirit put up a stop sign, I tried to obey what I was taught the Bible said to do. Childlike in my faith, God allowed me not to be caught up in centuries old arguments. Then I became a Pastor…<\/p>\n

My mom taught me Luke 9:23, “Deny yourself, take up your cross (daily), and follow me.”<\/strong>\u00a0[5] Seemed to me that this one verse didn’t allow for much denominational arguments. It is common ground even John Calvin, John Wesley and Jacob Arminius could agree upon. A life of surrender, submission and sacrifice.<\/p>\n

I fully respected the quote by Bebbington from William Wilberforce, “That I myself am no Calvinist, though I am not either an anti-Calvinist.” [6] If the many reviews of the totality of Bebington’s many books are correct, then he is an author to be listened to, even though he may be quite dry. For sure, his books have endured many decades of readership.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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[7]<\/p>\n

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But, let’s dial this in a notch, use our critical thinking skills like we have been taught, and capture an important lesson from last semester. To do this, I would like to use Bebbington’s comment regarding Scripture where he said, “Yet, in the period up to that date (1816), there was no attempt to elaborate any theory of infallibility or inerrancy.” <\/strong>[8]\u00a0Whoa! Did he just say the accuracy of Scripture was not questioned until the late 1800’s? Does that mean for about 17 centuries the followers of Jesus didn’t doubt Scripture was God-breathed and Holy Spirit-inspired, without error?<\/p>\n

Who do we think we are to question the inerrancy of Scripture, in just the past TWO centuries, compared to the prior SEVENTEEN? Are we that arrogant to think we have some new revelation that the events in Scripture didn’t really happen–that they were just meant to be figurative?<\/p>\n

Our college Chaplain at the place I served as Athletic Director and Vice-President stood up in front of the entire student body and proclaimed Noah’s Ark was just a fairy tale, that the flood was never meant to be taken literally, and that Scripture was\u00a0full<\/em> of good stories that never happened. \u00a0You thought the room in Cape Town huffed when “God is Queer” was mentioned–the collective gasp of our Chaplain’s audience was deafening when she further explained the many supposed errors in God’s Holy Word.<\/p>\n

Everyone might be a Theologian [9], but certainly not all Theologies are equal [10], as Grenz and Olson taught us in WHO NEEDS THEOLOGY? AN INVITATION TO THE STUDY OF GOD.<\/em>\u00a0Where do we draw the line with inerrancy, inspiration and Biblical accuracy? If the flood didn’t happen, why would we be given the promise of the rainbow? And if we go around spouting the Bible is full of “good stories” then which writings are to be taken literally and which are to be taken metaphorically? BECAUSE THE BIBLE DOESN’T EXPLAIN THAT ONE TO US! Did Daniel survive the lion’s den, did Moses see a burning bush, did Peter escape chains and locks from prison? Or even bigger, did Jesus heal the sick, cast out demons, and the biggest question of them all–did the resurrection happen as it was written? I believe literally, they did!<\/p>\n

That is why I finish with another good quote from Bebbington’s book from Edward Bickersteth, “The Bible is altogether TRUE…It is truth without any mixture of error.” [11]<\/p>\n

If Evangelicals relate to this higher regard of the Bible (that all Spiritual truth is to be found in its pages) [12], then I am definitely one of them!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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[1]\u00a0Bebbington, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s<\/i>. London: Routledge, 2015. Loc. 108.<\/p>\n

[2] Ibid., Loc 112.<\/p>\n

[3] Ibid., Loc. 144.<\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0Eckhardt, Brian. “Evangelical Church Logo.” Theevangelicalchurch.org. January 01, 2003. Accessed January 08, 2018.<\/p>\n

[5]\u00a0Barker, Kenneth L. Zondervan NIV Study Bible: New International Version<\/i>. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008. Luke 9:23.<\/p>\n

[6]\u00a0Bebbington, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s<\/i>. London: Routledge, 2015. Loc. 458.<\/p>\n

[7] Rupert, Michael.\u00a0What is an Evangelical?<\/em> Glasgow, Scotland: Tron Church, 27 June 2011.<\/p>\n

[8]\u00a0Bebbington, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s<\/i>. London: Routledge, 2015. Loc. 376.<\/p>\n

[9]\u00a0Grenz, Stanley J., and Roger E. Olson. Who Needs Theology? an Invitation to the Study of God<\/i>. Downers Grove, IL, USA: InterVarsity Press, 1996. Loc 48.<\/p>\n

[10] Ibid., Loc. 155.<\/p>\n

[11]\u00a0Bebbington, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s<\/i>. London: Routledge, 2015. Loc. 376.<\/p>\n

[12] Ibid., Loc 347.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Evangelicals are are into conversionism (the belief that lives need to be changed), activism (the expression of the Gospel in effort), biblicism (a particular regard for the Bible), and crucicentrism (a stress on the sacrifice of Christ) [1], then I am one of them! If Evangelicals hang their hats on justification (the forgiving of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-15761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bebbington","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15761"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15777,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15761\/revisions\/15777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}