Theology Central
Theology Central exists as a place of conversation and information for faculty and friends of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Posts include seminary news, information, and opinion pieces about ministry, theology, and scholarship.Why Did God Elect?
Rolland McCune is a former professor at Central Baptist Theological Seminary and president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.
The most primitive basis of divine election must be in God Himself and not man. It is in His sovereign good pleasure as understood in light of His grace and love. There is nothing meritorious in man, in what he is, does or would/could do that induces God to act savingly in his behalf. Without His sovereign, unilateral electing love no one could be saved.
–Rolland McCune, A Systematic Theology of Biblical Christianity, Vol. 3, p. 24
What Does College Cost?
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interactive tool that allows you to find out what a college or university charges for room, board, and tuition. It will also display the data for past years back to 1998. By the way, some of the better fundamentalist schools approximate the costs of their state university systems. You can get a good biblical education for not much more than the cost of a secular education, and maybe for less if you qualify for some kind of a scholarship. Here’s what it costs for a year at the following schools:
Evangelical and Fundamentalist Schools
$20,630 — Baptist Bible College, Missouri
$20,980 — Maranatha Baptist University
$22,020 — Bob Jones University
$23,566 — Faith Baptist Bible College
$28,480 — Clarks Summit University
$32,326 — Liberty University
$34,050 — Nyack College
$34,990 — Cedarville University
$35,945 — Cornerstone University
$36,696 — Biola University
$40,306 — Corban University
$42,420 — The Master’s University
$43,610 — Wheaton College
Non-Evangelical Schools
$18,433 — University of Iowa (Resident)
$20,934 — University of Wisconsin, Madison (Resident)
$23,519 — University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (Resident)
$25,274 — University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Resident)
$45,056 — Drake University
$49,354 — University of St. Thomas, St. Paul
$59,306 — Mount Holyoke College
$61,677 — California Institute of Technology (Resident)
$62,514 — Stanford University
$62,662 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology
$64,043 — University of Notre Dame
$64,650 — Yale University
$66,344 — Northwestern University
$68,405 — Columbia University
$69,717 — Harvey Mudd College
FBFI Position Statement on Creation
The board of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International adopted the following position statement on March 11, 2016.
ON CREATION
The Bible teaches six solar days of creation, as indicated by a plain reading of Genesis 1, Exodus 20:8–11, and other passages that refer to the creation week. The Bible also affirms that God created by His miraculous, spoken word, not by any natural process. This precludes the change from one “kind” to another, although it allows for subsequent modifications within a “kind.”
1
The genre of Genesis 1–11 is the same as that of Genesis 12–50. Since Genesis 12–50 is taken as genuine history, then so should Genesis 1–11 be.
2
Humanity descends from a single pair of original humans, Adam and Eve (Gen. 1:27; Gen. 2:7, 21–23; Gen. 3:20; Luke 3:38; 1 Tim. 2:13). A literal, historical, grammatical interpretation of the Scriptures leads one to reject the concept that there were multiple evolutionary paths which led to multiple human ancestors.
3
The sin nature of all humanity is the result of the fall of Adam (Gen. 3:6–11; Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22). If humanity today were merely the result of evolutionary processes and Adam and Eve were only symbols of early humanity, then what we call sin would only be the natural outworking of the evolutionary process. If God used evolution as His tool for creation, then sin would be a natural part of His work, not an aberration and affront to Him.
4
Death is the result of sin (Gen. 2:17; Gen. 3:19; Rom. 5:12–21; 1 Cor. 15:21–22). Death is not part of God’s creative design; neither is it a tool or a step on the way to a higher evolutionary plane. Rather it is the final enemy which God will destroy (1 Cor. 15:26).
Christian Writers and the Public Square
Why do we have fewer Christian (taken broadly) thinkers and writers influencing the public square? The answer to this question is being debates in a series of articles at Image. The essays are by Morgan Meis; the responses by Gregory Wolfe can be found in the comments. Here are links to the essays.
The New Critics and the Barbarians
T. S. Eliot, Agent of His Own Demise
This exchange is well worth following. It is also a good illustration of how friends may disagree in public.
Donne’s Hymn to God the Father
A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER.
by John Donne
WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which is my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin by which I’ve won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallowed in a score?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And having done that, Thou hast done;
I fear no more.
Questions:
- What sins does Donne confess in the first stanza? The second? The third?
- Do these sins grow less or more serious as Donne progresses? Which is most serious of all? Why?
- How does Donne pun on his name? What other puns does he employ?
- What images does Donne use, and to what effect?
- In view of the foregoing, what is the overall message of the poem?
C. S. Lewis Forgery Warning
There’s a fake C. S. Lewis quote about politics making the rounds on the Internet (where else?). Be warned. And be enlightened by what he actually did say. Read about it at The Wardrobe Door.
Encouraging Words from Douglas Wilson
Somebody said it about Mae West, but it fits Douglas Wilson. When he’s good, he’s very good. And when he’s bad, he’s better.
Wilson’s really good with his “7 Encouraging Words in Case 2016 Has Got You Down.” Thanks, Doug. We needed this.
The Dilemma of the Conservative Thinker
Conservatism is an idea. The articulation and defense of that idea requires a core of competent thinkers and writers. Modern American conservatism was built largely on the intellectual labors of three men: Russell Kirk, Richard Weaver, and Frederick Hayek. These men’s ideas were translated for ordinary people by William F. Buckley, primarily in the pages of the National Review. Buckley really deserves the credit for the conservative juggernaut that eventually brought Ronald Reagan into the presidency.
To do that, however, Buckley faced two significant problems. One was the quirky libertarianism of Ayn Rand. The other was the even quirkier conspiricism of the John Birch Society. Before Buckley could build a positive conservatism, he first had to erect barriers against these two faux-conservative alternative. Erect those barriers he did. He effectively read both Rand and the Birchers out of the American Conservative Movement.
Still, much of conservatism was build on populist impulses. Buckley lived to see a day when these impulses were again unleashed, first by talk radio and then by internet journalism. The effect is that many conservatives today have scant acquaintance with conservative ideas. Theirs is not a conservatism of thoughtful commitments, but of resentments and vendettas.
That is the situation that Ross Douthat has in mind. He believes that the thinkers have no one to blame but themselves. He recently editorialized on “What the Right’s Intellectuals Did Wrong.” He opined,
What the intellectuals did not see clearly enough was that Fox News and talk radio and the internet had made right-wing populism more powerful, relative to conservatism’s small elite, than it had been during the Nixon or Reagan eras, without necessarily making it more serious or sober than its Bircher-era antecedents.
After what we’ve seen this year, it’s hard to argue with him.
Accreditation Under Fire
In the United States, accreditation for colleges and universities is not run by the government, but by private agencies. The various accrediting agencies are approved by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), which in turn is authorized but not governed by the Department of Education. The problem is that the government pours something like 180 billion dollars into educational institutions every year. Many people would like the government to have closer oversight of the accreditation process.
The New York Times recently ran an editorial calling for this kind of governmental oversight. The editorial states, “Incredibly, [the government] cannot dictate the standards or benchmarks by which these accrediting organizations judge whether a school is financially or academically sound.” The editorial continues,
The system is clearly in need of repair. A bill pending in the Senate would be a start. It proposes several changes in the law, most important a provision that would require the Education Department to write standards dealing with graduation rates, job placement rates, loan repayment rates and other criteria that accrediting organizations would have to apply when evaluating colleges.
In other words, since the government is now successfully running airport security and the health care system, the Times would like to see that same efficiency and expertise brought to bear on higher education. Not surprisingly, CHEA sees the matter differently. Judith Eaton, president of CHEA, responded to the Times editorial in a letter:
Accreditation has been integral to the creation of a higher education enterprise that is, worldwide, unparalleled in its success in terms of access and quality. What would be incredible — and a colossal mistake — is to wrest authority for academic judgment from accreditation and the academic community and place it in the hands of government officials.
In the United States, expenditures on education account for about 5.5 percent of the gross domestic product. That is a huge part of the economy. Does anybody really think we’ll be better off if the government takes this over, too?
Horror Fiction?
C. R. Wiley asks, “Is Horror Fiction Immoral?” The answer is a bit surprising.
“The horror genre may be the most morally-structured popular literary form we have.”
Well, maybe.
College Salaries Comparison
The Chronicle of Higher Education offers a nifty tool that lets you find out what professors make at your favorite university or college–including your favorite Bible college. It also lets you compare their salaries with those of professors in other institutions. Just enter the name of your school and find out how little the teachers get paid!
Examples: in 2014, the average professor at Cedarville University was paid over $71,00. The average professor at both Bob Jones University and Maranatha Baptist University was paid just north of $45,000. The average professor at Northwestern University was paid almost $187,000. But then, the cost of living is higher in Chicago.
Note : while a few seminaries are listed, the tool doesn’t always work for seminaries–unless they are attached to a college or university.
Why Is Hell Eternal?
Here’s what Paul Washer says:
The punishment of hell is eternal, because throughout eternity the wicked continue in their rebellion without repentance. We must not assume that the wicked repent on the day of judgment or even after a short stay in hell. Rather their hatred of God, hardness of heart, and shameless rebellion continue throughout eternity. They were cast into hell as haters of God, and haters of God they remain. Eternal rebellion demands eternal punishment.
Washer, Paul. The Truth About Man – Biblical study of the Doctrine of Man (Kindle Locations 2271-2274). HeartCry Missionary Society. Kindle Edition.
Student Loan Debt
According to a report by the Institute for College Access and Success, the 2015 graduates of public and private universities came out of school with an average student debt of just over $30,000. You can download a PDF of the report here.
Can Churches Avoid Politics?
Andrew T. Walker of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Commission on Ethics and Religious Liberty says no in an essay entitled “The Impossibility of the Apolitical Church.”
I have to be very clear about something: The church that insists on calling itself “apolitical” or relegates “the gospel” to a message of pious sanctimony unbothered by earthly affairs has a tragic misunderstanding of what “politics” really is, and how the church’s very essence is fervently political in nature.
A Lost Cause
Barton Swain on the use of the generic masculine:
My general attitude is to wish the whole problem away and just use masculine pronouns. The obsession over gendered pronouns is part of a general tendency in recent decades to treat social and political questions as fundamentally about signs and symbols rather than actual men and women. I do not believe that using “he” or “him” to refer to “everyone” or “a writer” or “a physician” in any way implies that men are superior to women, or that the language of power, whatever that is, is somehow intrinsically masculine. I think the whole silly controversy arises from the conflation of reality and signifier.
That ship has sailed.
God’s Presence in Hell
Here’s Paul Washer on hell:
In modern Evangelical thinking, hell is often described as a place of torment outside of the presence of God. It is often said that heaven is heaven because of the presence of God, and hell is hell because of His absence. Although this statement has an element of truth, it is extremely misleading. It is not the absence of God that makes hell a place of torment, but the absence of His favorable presence. In fact, hell is hell because God is there in the fullness of His justice and wrath.
Washer, Paul. The Truth About Man – Biblical study of the Doctrine of Man (Kindle Locations 2205-2208). HeartCry Missionary Society. Kindle Edition.
Hymns for Kids?
Jonathan Ainger at Ponder Anew lists “20 Hymns Your Kids Should Know.” He also has some good advice about teaching your children to sing hymns.
I grieve for this and subsequent generations of churched children growing up without any awareness of the rich inheritance of hymns, without ever, many not even once, having the opportunity to sing hymns in a congregation, and without internalizing songs of faith that will stick with them and serve them well throughout their faith journey.
For what it’s worth, his list is great.
Defense of the Religious Right in … Wait! … the New York Times?
Yup. By Ross Douthat.
America needs a religious right. Maybe not the religious right it has; certainly not the religious right of Carson and Falwell Jr. But the Trump era has revealed what you get when you leach the Christianity out of conservatism: A right-of-center politics that cares less about marriage and abortion, just as some liberals would wish, but one that’s ultimately far more divisive than the evangelical politics of George W. Bush.
Spurgeon’s Depression
You’ve heard about it. Thanks to Adrian Warnock, you can now read about it. How many pastors could say what Spurgeon said?
Lower they cannot sink who are already in the nethermost depths. Misery itself is the guardian of the miserable. All things combined to keep me, for a season, in the darkness where neither sun nor moon appeared.
Ryan Reeves on What Luther Intended
Ryan Reeves teaches at Gordon-Conwell. I love his little videos on church history. Here he answers the question, “Did Luther Intend the Reformation?“
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