Cindy K

Thank you, Bob K. Wright!

Cheryl,

I too am baffled at how Bruce Ware can remotely and with any sense of good conscience quote Augustine (when discussing Christ being the Eternal Son of the Father — which does not in any way mean that Christ has non-supreme authority) when in my reading, he completely destroys Ware’s argument.  I can’t wait to study how the freewillism aspect plays into this, which is an ironic twist and pretty funny (likely as offensive to Dr. Ware as the term subordinationism proves for him).  It is frustrating to read Ware after Augustine, because Augustine was so committed to the same-ness of the power of each Divine Person.  I’ve also found two quotes from Tertullian that destroy what Ware suggests, yet the hierarchalists claim a long litany of church father’s that supposedly prove their point.  Actual reading of them, even including RL Dabney, strongly argue against their thesis, that which is presented as the most solid argument of doctrine in Christendom.  I was admonished to present my refutations of Ware online by the spokesman for the apologetics group that disavowed me, but it is very difficult to wade through on an emotional level.  If I put up only the quotes from Ware and others without calling the problems out that are so blatantly clear to me, I believe that people will miss the error, as they have done so all along.  The appeal to authority is a strong master for so many.

I’m re-reading some old stuff about the difference between social trinitarianism which prefers emphasis on the diversity of the Divine Persons which sees the Persons as each having very discrete and separate consiousness, intellect and free will.  This view is predisposed to a type of polytheistic tri-theism.  (Something Barth wrote quite a lot about, not that he elucidated all things clearly in orthodox fashion.)  This is opposed to an “anti-social Trinitarianism” that prefers the view and perspective that there is one God with a consistency or uniting of intellect and will that is in no way compromised by the Three Persons.  Anti-social Trinitarianism risks falling off into unitarianism or monism.

That is why, in Trinitarian matters, I always lean to Iraneaus and what I understand typified his perspective:  we must stay grounded in solid Christology which will keep us balanced.  We must stay committed to the historical Jesus and what we know clearly and absolutely from the Word based on what eventually would become a solid hermeneutic.  (I learn best with a grammatico-historical one and find that best for my brain as it makes its attempt to put things together in a meaningful way.)  I also come back to what Harold Brown says about heresy in his book on the topic:  it is the intent that one brings to the study.  Either one seeks out Scripture to confirm an hypothesis or one comes to the Scripture with the paramount interest to discern what what we know from Scripture, committed to discern the truth regardless of what we would like the conclusion to be.  That is what distinguishes heresy even from a misguided teaching — intent and motive.

I would like to throw this into the mix as well concerning motive and behavior such as the use of “I will pray for your misguided, errant soul” tactic.  I recently heard Dr. Paul Martin of the Wellspring Center in Ohio teach (at the unnamed apologetics conference where I spoke).  He pointed out that there were 210 Scriptures in the Bible dealing with false teachers, abusive shepherds, Pharisees, etc.  Of those Scriptures, this is what each verse is concerned with:
99 verses (47%) concern Behavior
66 verses (31%) concern Fruit
24 verses (13%) concern Motives21 verses (10%) concern Doctrine

It’s hard for me to process the rebukes to ignore behavior, fruit and motive in favor of doctrine when this is exactly what the Word of God teaches us to do.  I believe that this politically correct Christianity is likely responsible for the mess in which we now find ourselves.

God have mercy on us all and give us abundant wisdom that we might discern just even the basics of the Word.  God help us.