Brother Vinny
Active member
It's 2010. People are just as intent on calling this a new decade as they were calling 2000 the Millennium, even though there was no year zero and the tenth year had to have completed before ten years had passed.
I'm being pedantic, I know.
Observances of having been involved, more or less, with TheologyOnline for over ten years:
Opponents to Mid-Acts Dispensationalism have, on average, become stupider. Or more misinformed. I don't know, but there are descriptions of MAD being tossed around that sound nothing like what I'd learned in my earlier involvement with them, and others that sound like gross distortions. The asininity of these comments and the emotional pitch with which they are delivered almost make me want to run back to the Acts Nine fold.
What's worse, is that MAD proponents have also (on average) become stupider. Maybe it's because so much of the old guard is busy doing important things like preaching Christ and Him crucified and saving babies, rather than become a spectacle over which the heathen is given cause to blaspheme the name of God. So many of these guys are young, and it shows. I'll be 40 this May; started out here in my late 20's, still a newlywed who'd been referred to TOL by Bob Enyart through his TV show. I look at some of these posts and wonder, "Was I ever so stupid?" (The answer of course is, Yes, and not only that, but you were prideful enough to use your real name online and think it wouldn't come back to bite you in the derriere. Good times, my friends.)
What saddens me most is the overall lack of charity, though. This is a marked contrast from, say, how Pastor Enyart handles internecine conflicts in Christendom. In my long lost manuscript copy of The Plot, I recall Bob using the MAD model as a way to hopefully reach out to Christians of differing opinions, including charismatics, cessationalists, even Catholics, if memory serves. In a videotaped* debate with Calvinist Brian Schwertly, Bob acted, well, gracefully when confronted with charges of "heresy," "damnable heresy," "heresy and rumors of heresy," "heresy most foul," and my personal favorite, "heresy with the intent to do blasphemy." And even Schwertly, after having lobbed grenades of righteous indignation at Enyart over the course of the debate, had it within him to be cordial and civil (maybe even loving, in his own way) towards his opponent.
None of that here. Reaching out to others has, in many instances, been done in the attempt to wring their necks. Determinists regard Open Theists as heretics, and Catholics are kicked out of Christianity altogether by some.
As for me, I just want that which will draw me closer to God. People adhere to their theologies because they make sense to them in the context of reality (and vice versa). I can make near-total sense of the MAD worldview; the Achilles' heel to MAD (and, to a lesser degree, other Protestant theologies), is sola Scriptura. This is because I spent time with them and dug into what they were saying. Other points might be raised about coherence of the model in light of certain passages, but the same can be said for any theological model.
I can also make some sense of Free Will Baptists, Southern Baptists, Calvinists, and Catholics. I am indebted, in some measure, to each of these groups. For example, Free Will Baptists, with their love of fire-and-brimstone sermons, taught me to fear hell. Southern Baptists taught me to appreciate grace. Pastor Enyart was the first teacher to get me genuinely interested in Bible study. Catholics have taught me the interconnectedness of life issues (which is to say, disrespect of the means of procreation leads to devaluing of its ultimate outcome).
For now, though, I'm content to sit in the foyer of the great building of Christianity. All the rooms have their beauties; all of them have unspeakable horrors, often done by those who would be lights to the blind. If Jeremiah is right, and the heart is deceitful above all things, it's possible I may never be able to be certain of a theological model. (What's worse is I've been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so things that make sense when I'm "up" won't make as much when I'm "down." I'm sure this is helpful for those who have tried to make sense of me.) This should scare me, especially if Catholics are right.
Strangely, I'm not frightened. even as I type this, I feel at peace, trusting that He who bought me will lead me to where I need to be.
Reader, I'll be needing a new name for my blog, as the current name doesn't really fit me. Feel free to offer suggestions (e.g., "Heresy," "Damnable Heresy," etc.) either in response here or via PM.
In Christ,
Pau-- Brother Vinny
*You see, we once had these things called VCRs, and they could record moving images to tape. . ..
I'm being pedantic, I know.
Observances of having been involved, more or less, with TheologyOnline for over ten years:
Opponents to Mid-Acts Dispensationalism have, on average, become stupider. Or more misinformed. I don't know, but there are descriptions of MAD being tossed around that sound nothing like what I'd learned in my earlier involvement with them, and others that sound like gross distortions. The asininity of these comments and the emotional pitch with which they are delivered almost make me want to run back to the Acts Nine fold.
What's worse, is that MAD proponents have also (on average) become stupider. Maybe it's because so much of the old guard is busy doing important things like preaching Christ and Him crucified and saving babies, rather than become a spectacle over which the heathen is given cause to blaspheme the name of God. So many of these guys are young, and it shows. I'll be 40 this May; started out here in my late 20's, still a newlywed who'd been referred to TOL by Bob Enyart through his TV show. I look at some of these posts and wonder, "Was I ever so stupid?" (The answer of course is, Yes, and not only that, but you were prideful enough to use your real name online and think it wouldn't come back to bite you in the derriere. Good times, my friends.)
What saddens me most is the overall lack of charity, though. This is a marked contrast from, say, how Pastor Enyart handles internecine conflicts in Christendom. In my long lost manuscript copy of The Plot, I recall Bob using the MAD model as a way to hopefully reach out to Christians of differing opinions, including charismatics, cessationalists, even Catholics, if memory serves. In a videotaped* debate with Calvinist Brian Schwertly, Bob acted, well, gracefully when confronted with charges of "heresy," "damnable heresy," "heresy and rumors of heresy," "heresy most foul," and my personal favorite, "heresy with the intent to do blasphemy." And even Schwertly, after having lobbed grenades of righteous indignation at Enyart over the course of the debate, had it within him to be cordial and civil (maybe even loving, in his own way) towards his opponent.
None of that here. Reaching out to others has, in many instances, been done in the attempt to wring their necks. Determinists regard Open Theists as heretics, and Catholics are kicked out of Christianity altogether by some.
As for me, I just want that which will draw me closer to God. People adhere to their theologies because they make sense to them in the context of reality (and vice versa). I can make near-total sense of the MAD worldview; the Achilles' heel to MAD (and, to a lesser degree, other Protestant theologies), is sola Scriptura. This is because I spent time with them and dug into what they were saying. Other points might be raised about coherence of the model in light of certain passages, but the same can be said for any theological model.
I can also make some sense of Free Will Baptists, Southern Baptists, Calvinists, and Catholics. I am indebted, in some measure, to each of these groups. For example, Free Will Baptists, with their love of fire-and-brimstone sermons, taught me to fear hell. Southern Baptists taught me to appreciate grace. Pastor Enyart was the first teacher to get me genuinely interested in Bible study. Catholics have taught me the interconnectedness of life issues (which is to say, disrespect of the means of procreation leads to devaluing of its ultimate outcome).
For now, though, I'm content to sit in the foyer of the great building of Christianity. All the rooms have their beauties; all of them have unspeakable horrors, often done by those who would be lights to the blind. If Jeremiah is right, and the heart is deceitful above all things, it's possible I may never be able to be certain of a theological model. (What's worse is I've been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so things that make sense when I'm "up" won't make as much when I'm "down." I'm sure this is helpful for those who have tried to make sense of me.) This should scare me, especially if Catholics are right.
Strangely, I'm not frightened. even as I type this, I feel at peace, trusting that He who bought me will lead me to where I need to be.
Reader, I'll be needing a new name for my blog, as the current name doesn't really fit me. Feel free to offer suggestions (e.g., "Heresy," "Damnable Heresy," etc.) either in response here or via PM.
In Christ,
Pau-- Brother Vinny
*You see, we once had these things called VCRs, and they could record moving images to tape. . ..