At first this does not make sense. These three views seem to be at odds with each other. Many times they are. All of these viewpoints have good and bad things about them. All have redeeming qualities. I have tried to chew the mat and spit out the bones of these views. Let's examine these view points.
Reformed
The reformed view is the views of the reformation, primarily in the area of God's sovereignty. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin were major components of God's sovereignty. The TULIP was developed in response to the teaching of Jacobus Arminius who went nuts on man's free will to the exclusion of God's sovereignty. I agree with the TULIP but have reservations about limited atonement. The reformed do not believe for the most part in dispensations or in pretrib rapture. Some reforms, such as the Presbyterians, favor infant baptism. For centuries the reformed view was mostly in the presbyterian churches but in recent years has been popularized and been made mainstream by John MacArthur Al Molar and John Piper. There is now a reformed evangelical and reformed Baptist movement. I am very excited that the reformed movement has tackled the funky doctrine of easy believism with Lordship salvation.
Fundamentalist
In the 1800s the church was not much more than a social club. In the 1900s, fundamentalism began to grow under the influence of baseball player turned evangelist Billy Sunday. In the 1930s Bob Jones continued that tradition. One of the major views of the fundamentalist is the idea of second degree separation. Not only do they separate from the world but other Christians. Sometimes that goes to far. This is a response to many evangelical churches teaming up with Catholics and Pentecostals. In my home church they have starting uniting with churches they wouldn't even think of teaming up with thiry years ago. Another major component is that many are KJV only. While I reject the King James only view I very much appreciate the King James Bible. The translators had a deep respect for the word of God, where the translators of the day allow secular translator experts to guide them. One of the objections I would have to the fundamentalism is there are Armenian bent. I also disagree with their easy-believism. I also disagree with their extreme animosity towards Christian rock.
Emerging Church
The emerging church is an offshoot of the emergent church. When the emerging church decided that they were now emergent, many like Mark Driscoll and Mark Chandler deiced this is where they got off. They started the reformed emerging church, which is heavily influenced by DA Carson JI Packer and John Piper. They are Biblically conservative and culturally liberal. They are jeans wearing, rock listening and culture savvy. In many ways I was emerging church and didn't know it.
Reformed Emerging Fundamentalist
To summarize, I believe God is sovereign. He chooses those who are saved. Those who are saved live like it. They aren't perfect but they are consistent. I believe in dispensational and pretrib rapture. I believe in separation from clearly funky views even if the Christian elite have labeled it a “minor.” I believe that some Bible versions are better than others. I believe that the NA27 may not be the best text. I believe that the KJV is an excellent translation even if it is old and hard to understand. I believe that we can be in the world but not of it. I like wearing jeans and listening to rock. Reformed Fundamentalist Emerging Church isn't for everyone but I like it.
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The NEWEST Pretrib Calendar
ReplyDeleteHal (serial polygamist) Lindsey and other pretrib-rapture-trafficking and Mayan-Calendar-hugging hucksters deserve the following message: "2012 may be YOUR latest date. It isn't MAYAN!" Actually, if it weren't for the 179-year-old, fringe-British-invented, American-merchandised pretribulation rapture bunco scheme, Hal might still be piloting a tugboat on the Mississippi, roly-poly Thomas Ice (Tim LaHaye's No. 1 strong-arm enforcer) might still be in his tiny folding-chair church which shares its firewall with a Texas saloon, Jack Van Impe might still be a jazz band musician, Tim LaHaye might still be titillating California matrons with his "Christian" sex manual, Grant Jeffrey might still be taking care of figures up in Canada, Chuck Missler might still be in mysterious hush-hush stuff that rocket scientists don't dare talk about, John Hagee might be making - and eating - world-record pizzas, and Jimmy ("Bye You" Rapture) Swaggart might still be flying on a Ferriday flatbed! To read more details about the eschatological British import that leading British scholarship never adopted - the import that's created some American multi-millionaires - Google "Pretrib Rapture Diehards" (note LaHaye's hypocrisy under "1992"), "Hal Lindsey's Many Divorces," "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)" and "Thomas Ice (Hired Gun)," "LaHaye's Temperament," "Wily Jeffrey," "Chuck Missler - Copyist," "Open Letter to Todd Strandberg" and "The Rapture Index (Mad Theology)," "X-Raying Margaret," "Humbug Huebner," "Thieves' Marketing," "Appendix F: Thou Shalt Not Steal," "The Unoriginal John Darby," "Pretrib Hypocrisy," "The Real Manuel Lacunza," "Roots of (Warlike) Christian Zionism," "America's Pretrib Rapture Traffickers," "Pretrib Rapture - Hidden Facts," "Dolcino? Duh!" and "Scholars Weigh My Research." Most of the above is written by journalist/historian Dave MacPherson who has focused on long-hidden pretrib rapture history for 35+ years. No one else has focused on it for 35 months or even 35 weeks. MacPherson has been a frequent radio talk show guest and he states that all of his royalties have always gone to a nonprofit group and not to any individual. His No. 1 book on all this is "The Rapture Plot" (see Armageddon Books online, etc.). The amazing thing is how long it has taken the mainstream media to finally notice and expose this unbelievably groundless yet extremely lucrative theological hoax!
John MacArthur & Pretrib Rapture
ReplyDeleteWho knows, maybe John (Reformedispy) MacArthur is right and the greatest Greek scholars (Google "Famous Rapture Watchers"), who uniformly said that Rev. 3:10 means PRESERVATION THROUGH, were wrong. But John has a conflict. On the one hand, since he knows that all Christian theology and organized churches before 1830 believed the church would be on earth during the tribulation, he would like to be seen as one who stands with the great Reformers. On the other hand, if John has a warehouse of unsold pretrib rapture material, and if he wants to have "security" for his retirement years and hopes that the big California quake won't louse up his plans, he has a decided conflict of interest. Maybe the Lord will have to help strip off the layers of his seared conscience which have grown for years in order to please his parents and his supporters - who knows? One thing is for sure: pretrib is truly a house of cards and is so fragile that if a person removes just one card from the TOP of the pile, the whole thing can collapse. Which is why pretrib teachers don't dare to even suggest they could be wrong on even one little subpoint! Don't you feel sorry for the straitjacket they are in? While you're mulling all this over, Google "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" for a rare behind-the-scenes look at the same 180-year-old fantasy.