I've heard people bark in the Spirit. I've seen people roll in the Spirit. I've also sat in Baptist churches that might not know the Spirit if He slapped them in the face.

What's a Christian to think?

In this episode, I unpack why I no longer buy into arguments that the gifts of prophecy and tongues have ceased. While avoiding extremes and spectacles, we should expect these gifts to function until Jesus returns—even if that makes us a bit uncomfortable.

SHOW NOTES:

Tom Schreiner article: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/cessationist/

Sam Storms article: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/continuationist/

Sam Storms on spiritual gifts throughout church history: https://www.samstorms.org/enjoying-god-blog/post/spiritual-gifts-in-church-history--1-

Some people try to put God in a box. In this episode, I try to put him in a bucket. Listen all the way through, and you'll figure out what I mean.

I’m sharing this episode, not just because I’m not a young earth creationist and want to explain why. It’s really more than that. I think this issue has become needlessly divisive among certain Christian tribes in the United States—my tribe included.

NOTES:

I highly recommend John Lennox's book Seven Days That Divide the World.

I also highly recommend John Sailhamer's Genesis Unbound.

First Charles Spurgeon quote from this sermon: https://www.spurgeongems.org/sermon/chs30.pdf

Second Charles Spurgeon quote from this sermon: https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/election/#flipbook/

In 2006, Calvinism was making a comeback. Evangelicalism was buzzing, and Christianity Today gave the moment a name: “Young, Restless, and Reformed.” Southern Seminary was given the label “ground zero.”

I was there—fresh PhD, junior faculty member, associate dean, newly minted Vice President for Communications. I had a book contract, expanding opportunities, and a front-row seat to the resurgence.

But over time, Calvinism lost its appeal. I found it increasingly difficult to use in making sense of the Bible. Like when a restaurant turns down the lights and turns up the ambient music, it became a struggle to read the text and hear the over-arching message. This episode is why I elected to leave T.U.L.I.P. in the dust.

SHOW NOTES:

Christianity Today article "Young, Resltess, and Reformed": https://www.christianitytoday.com/magazine/2006/september/

Book "Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists": https://www.amazon.com/Young-Restless-Reformed-Collin-Hansen/dp/1581349408

New York Times Article (though late - still analyzes the same movement): https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/04/us/a-calvinist-revival-for-evangelicals.html

Did you know one of the most influential figures in American fundamentalism was a con artist who ditched his family, did time in jail, and then got rich selling a study Bible?

In this episode, I get personal—sharing about my own years in Bible college and how I was shaped by a system built on shaky foundations. I expose the scandal behind the Scofield Study Bible, a book that quietly molded the curriculum of countless Christian colleges through its connection to C. I. Scofield. And I lay out five reasons why I’m deliberately trying not to be a fundamentalist anymore.

Show Notes:

Kansas gov website with reference to Scofield: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ks/history

Article with overview of Scofield: https://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-35-number-2/ci-scofield-gods-self-made-man

Overview of influence of the Scofield Reference Bible: https://textandcanon.org/the-bestselling-reference-bible-that-remade-american-evangelicalism/

Academic thesis on Scofield: https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2571&context=etd

From the conclusion of the thesis: "This thesis reveals that C. I. Scofield’s claim to be a decorated Confederate hero, a successful lawyer, and a Bible scholar merely reflected a reputation he sought after his political and personal ruin in Atchison, Kansas in 1873. C. I. Scofield used opportunity, confidence, and the good will of others to disguise an unrepentant ambition for recognition as a professional minister. Reverend Scofield’s claim of being a decorated veteran, successful lawyer, or Bible scholar each seem less than compelling individually, but considered together as part of his life story reveals the complex nature of the man and his theology."

https://pcusa.org/news-storytelling/blogs/historical-society-blog/beginnings-fundamentalism

Lyman Stewart and gift to Scofield's Bible project and he and his brother's funding of The Fundamentals of the Faith. This connection doesn't demonstrate anything sinister or unethical, but rather shows the close connection between Scofiled's views and the coining of the term "fundamentalist." Scofield is one of sixty-four authors of the articles in The Fundamentals of the Faith.

Was Jonathan Edwards a heretic for believing he could own other humans?

How can we give him a pass for being a product of the spirit of his age, and then critique others today for views we believe are too influenced by our times?

These are some of the points I'll hit as I introduce "Why I'm Not," a journey of verbal processing and theological reflection on my journey in and through Christian fundamentalism.

SHOW NOTES:

Precious Puritans by Propaganda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTZFjzY_0eg&list=RDlTZFjzY_0eg&start_radio=1

Baptists, Slavery, and the Road to the Civil War: https://thelondonlyceum.com/baptists-slavery-and-the-road-to-civil-war/

Deliver Us From Evil:Baptists, Slavery and Freedom: https://abhms.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Deliver-Us-From-Evil-booklet.pdf

Defending the Indefensible: https://srmp.wfu.edu/to-stand-with-and-for-humanity/defending-the-indefensible-wake-forest-baptists-and-the-bible/

Report on Slavery and Racism in the History of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary: https://cf.sbts.edu/sbts2023/uploads/2023/10/Racism-and-the-Legacy-of-Slavery-Report-v4.pdf?_gl=1*ixe2ex*_gcl_au*NDgxNzk5MTg1LjE3NjczNjUxMzc.*_ga*MTA2MDcxNzkzOC4xNzY3MzY1MTM3*_ga_RV75BBRJ5K*czE3NjczNjUxMzckbzEkZzEkdDE3NjczNjUyMTAkajYwJGwwJGgw

I still have nightmares about a movie my fundamentalist church made me watch as a kid: A Thief in the Night. It was a groovy 1970s horror film built on bad theology—and a lot of fear.

That theology was dispensationalism, a system invented in the 1800s by John Nelson Darby and later popularized in the 1900s in America by C. I. Scofield through his reference Bible. Scofield didn’t just explain the text; he smuggled Darby’s ideas into it. Literally. Some critics joke it should be called the Darby Bible because of the level of plagiarism.

In this episode, I'll describe why a theology that sees Palestinian Christians as an obstacle to God's work should be left behind.

NOTES:

N.T. Wright's article “Farewell to the Rapture”: https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/farewell-to-the-rapture/

While I say Darby invented dispensationalism, it can be argued it was more due to the way his views were developmed by his followers. To further explore this, here's an interesting interview by Dr. Albert Mohler with Dr. Crawford Gribben from Queen's Colelge about his book, "J.N. Darby and the Roots of Dispensationalism":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow9bN5RXVa4

You can read more about the displacement of Palestinians here:

https://bylinetimes.com/2024/01/17/the-palestinians-and-israel-a-modern-day-trail-of-tears/

Here's the Faith on the Road episode I mentioned where we interviewed Palestinian theologian John Munyaer:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1oVKrJmDKrkiggq7TswBlb?si=umPaoeJCQYSfbhmDpsnAIA

Opinion piece on why Christians tolerate Israel's genocide against Palestinians:

https://politicstoday.org/why-do-evangelical-christians-support-israels-genocide-against-palestinians/

Replace Theology is a Heresy by Jack Sara:

https://www.comeandsee.com/view.php?sid=1453