Adapted and excerpted from Elliot Grudem’s Orlando Boot Camp message, “Why Arrogance Has No Place in Reformed Theology.”
When your study of theology grows your head and hardens your heart, you find yourself on a path of theological arrogance that won’t lead to greater theological precision – it will lead to heresy.
Reformed soteriology, rightly understood and applied in your life, should promote humility, not arrogance.
But if you look at church history, you know that even some of our greatest churchmen have wandered off into some pretty weird beliefs. And just their example should honestly sober you up.
Bible-Loving Theologians Defending Slavery and Segregation?
It isn’t just the liberal Germans. It’s men like Thornwell and ...
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Posted in: Theological Clarity
Tags: elliot grudem, arrogant, arrogance, arrogant theologians, arrogant pastor, proud pastor, mean christians, rude, prideful, theology, humility, thornwell, dabney, warfield, morton smith, reformed, doctrines of grace, humble confidence, reformed soteriology when rightly understood and applied, good reformed soteriology, soteriology
Excerpted from Elliot Grudem's message at the Orlando Boot Camp.
Keller, Calvin, Predestination - BINGO!
When I was in seminary, my friends and I would occasionally play bingo during the classes: what we’d do is write the names of people in our class in the bingo squares, and if that person spoke in class, you got that square – and if you got all the squares in a row then you got ‘bingo.’ We’d always make sure we filled our squares with a couple of ringers that we knew we could get to talk by tipping off their hot-button issues. So if you needed the ringer’s name, you’d ask a questions like, “can someone please tell me what this has to do with homeschooling?” and you knew that individual would ask the next question – and ...
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Posted in: Spiritual Vitality, Theological Clarity
Tags: arrogance, church planting, haughty, prideful, proud, bad attitude, mean, superiority complex, pastor, preacher, theology, calvinism, reformed, humility, confidence, humble confidence
Theological Clarity and Application: Equipping Believers in Biblical Doctrine
by Pastor Scott Thomas, President of Acts 29 Network
Theological Clarity and Application is an interactive curriculum of the book, Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005) written by Wayne A. Grudem and edited by Elliot Grudem. Christian Beliefs (160 pages) is a condensed version of Grudem’s book, Bible Doctrine (528 pages), and that itself is a condensed version of Grudem’s award-winning Systematic Theology (1,290 pages).
This guide is designed to equip Christians in the core beliefs of Bible doctrine in preparation for church leadership or to help new Christians to distinguish truth from error. This guide can be used to prepare elders, deacons, ...
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By Scott Thomas, President of Acts 29
I grew up in an A-Theological church. They weren’t anti-theology but they were not pro-theology either. Frankly, I think theology scared them because they made fun of people who emphasized theology, especially Calvinists. So, we didn’t get into theology. But we studied the Bible. A lot! Sunday School, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and Tuesday morning men’s Bible Study.
You can study the Bible without understanding theology.
I learned Greek and how to use the tools for Hebrew and how to parse verbs and exegete passages of Scripture and use big words in sermons. But it was like describing the intricate details of the bark of a tree without really knowing anything about the tree or the forest. It is a foolish way to ...
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By Pastor Scott Thomas, Acts 29 Director
As a church planter, I received more arguments over our position of Reformed Theology than I did everything else combined. It angered the most faithful of Christians and confused others. Only a handful, I believed, truly understood the doctrine of salvation as described in the Bible. It was a point of contention that got people off mission--even though it was not presented in a polarizing manner.
[JI Packer, above, at a hotel room in Orlando talking to us about his desire to leave a lasting legacy]
Recently I read The Five Points of Calvinism co-authored by David Steele, Curtis Thomas and Lance Quinn (P&R Publishing). I felt it was a shepherdly treatise on the doctrines of grace that can help the layman to understanding ...
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