Yet Another Middle Way
Good while since my last post…we’ve “moved” up to northern Maine for three weeks with my daughter Hannah, her husband Phil, and two of our four grandchildren.
Here’s yet another very balanced Reformed approach to the NPP,, this one from a professor of New Testament at RTS Orlando:
Just when I hear knives being sharpened in anticipation that the upcoming PCA General Assembly will “deal with” NPP in the PCA, these reasonable, dispassionate asessments (see those of Bryan Chappell and Rich Lusk referred to in recent posts here) keep appearing. Signs of hope and sanity, perhaps?
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June 9th, 2005 at 1:24 pm
Thanks so much for this! I’ve been trying to figure out what the big deal with NPP is and this’ll be a great help.
(P.S. I pop in on the RMFO boards every once in a while as “thelivingroom”. Great blog; I’ll be around.)
June 9th, 2005 at 8:43 pm
Manders,
You are most welcome to “be around” often!
June 12th, 2005 at 10:00 pm
Speaking of the PCA…um, I’m beginning the quest for a new church. I’m torn in many directions, but I’m attracted to joining a more “mainline” denomination, if you will. I’m soteriologically a Calvinist, beginning to lean more towards a Reformed sacramentology (though there’s more Baptist left in me than I thought), very unsettled on paedo vs. credo baptism issue, and would describe myself as paleo-orthodox.
Based on those few things, what you’ve read on my blog, and your experience in the PCA - would you say “it’s a good idea to come check it out” or “run for your life”?
Just so you know this comment isn’t coming out of left field, the fact that there are people in the PCA who are reasonable about the NPP is an attraction to me.
June 13th, 2005 at 8:34 am
Travis:
I would be reluctant to advise you on such a decision; my knowledge of all the factors is surely limited. We’re admittedly in a PCA church right now for the same reason that probably the vast majority of evangelicals are in whatever local congregation their in…they like the particular local congregation. A few generations ago people used to join a denomination, or more likely were born into one. Then, if they moved, they automatically sought out the nearest church of that denomination. It is no longer that way, so far as I can see. People shop for an individual congregation where they fit in and pay very little (if any) attention to its denominational ties. I even know several friends who attend churches they love but whose denom they despise.
As for the PCA, if the General Assembly tries to make any sweeping power plays concerning things like NPP or FV in the near future, it will be interesting to see the fallout. I think most men and women in the pews have very little knowledge of or concern about these issues, and if they are suddenly seen as tearing the denom apart, their are going to be a lot of surprised and disgruntled congregants.
Somewhat related: I’m about 3/4 of the way through Mark Strom’s book Reframing Paul and plan to review it when I finish. One of the basic theses of the book is that the way most modern evangelical church & denom leaders think and act reflects the Graeco-Roman idealism/moralism/statusism that Paul fought against in his epistles than the model of gracious servant-laborers that he modeled and taught. In other words, the people who are inflaming all these controversies live in the realm of the abstract and ideal and are out of touch with the everyday people in their churches and the real relational implications of the Gospel.
June 14th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
Hey, checkout the GA 2005 blog here: blog.ga2005.com
We’ll make sure to have good reporting on the NPP stuff.