John Armstrong, founder and president of ACT 3, was recently taken to task by John MacArthur in the latter’s most recent book, The Truth War. Armstrong weighs in on the emerging church controversy offering a clarification of his position and a critique of those who too hastily condemn without carefully listening.
Most of the critics on the right have not bothered to read this movement carefully and thus these critics level massive broadsides against something that is still quite small and young. I prefer to interact, to listen and to give these friends time. The broadside approach looks and feels like old fundamentalism dressed in modernist epistemology. The more open approach, that wants to listen and learn, gets labeled as “liberal” by people of fear and personal suspicion who react to all new forms that do not fit their notion of how things ought to be.
Relying on a single article in Armstrong’s newsletter Viewpoint, and a single post from his blog, MacArthur writes (pp. 20-23) that Armstrong is suffering from the “illusion” of postmodernism, having replaced his former certainty “with a wholly subjective, irrational, postmodern antihermeneutic.” MacArthur implies that Armstrong is a false prophet and a false teacher, one of the Satanically deceived—and deceivers—in today’s evangelical church (p. 23). On what basis? Because Armstrong dared to say publicly that he had changed his mind, not about his doctrinal beliefs (which stand unshaken), but about his epistemic beliefs—that is, how he arrives at and holds his beliefs. MacArthur considers this epistemic shift unforgivable and worthy of scorn and obloquy.
I appreciated the emphasis on the nature of true manliness in Phil Johnson’s session:
Biblically, when we are talking about manliness, we are talking about character. We are not talking about bravado, or boyishness. It’s not about style at all. Going out into the woods and getting in touch with nature has nothing to do with real, biblical manliness. Real manliness is defined by Christlike character.
Pulpit Magazine just finished a series on spanking. The posts are helpful, especially in light of proposed legislation against corporal punishment and our culture’s general rejection of this form of discipline.
If you’re still in the dark regarding the emerging church and want to get the perspective of a conservative evangelical leader, you may want to check out John MacArthur’s newly released book The Truth War. You might also find the following articles by MacArthur helpful.
The 2007 Ligonier National Conference, Contending for the Truth, was held in Orlando last weekend. The goal of the conference was to “equip believers to answer the false claims of postmodernism, naturalism, and our culture’s other atheistic theories.”
The speakers were R. C. Sproul, John MacArthur, Al Mohler, John Piper, and Ravi Zacharias.
Tim Challies was liveblogging the conference. Here are his posts:
John MacArthur’s Pulpit Magazine is answering questions in a three-part series. Many other bloggers are sharing their input as well. Check out our post for the latest.
Over at Pulpit Magazine John MacArthur starts a series that seeks to answer the question, “How can a true work of the Holy Spirit be distinguished from a false one?” Based on Jonathan Edwards’ treatise The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, MacArthur gives five criteria for answering that question. Each one will occupy a post.
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The Shepherds’ Conference