“The intention of the human author has been consistently valued throughout most of Christian interpretation…”
-Jonathan Pennington, 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺, p. 125
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“From the ethics of Scripture itself—for example, the Golden Rule and the Ninth Commandment—we must respect and listen to what the author of a text is saying.”
-Jonathan Pennington, 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺, p. 126
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“This does not mean, however, that all texts—and especially normative texts like Holy Scripture—are simply wax noses that can be bent and manipulated into whatever shape and direction we choose...."
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"This ‘anything goes’ approach is a valid cause for concern, especially for people who do consider some texts authoritative (and inspired) across all generations of situated readers,..."
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"...hence the continuing role of authorial intent discussed above.”
-Jonathan Pennington, 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺, p. 128
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I am grateful for my colleague and brother, Jonathan Pennington. He's a master teacher, prodigious scholar, and faithful pastor. If you don't know him, here's a great introduction. This is from @SBTS chapel a few weeks before the lockdown.
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Earlier today, I read an irresponsible attempt to call the above into question. I’m not going to go back and forth, tit for tat, with this kind of asininity. But in this case, perhaps it will help for fair-minded readers to be able to see the baselessness of the charge below:
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The tweet above refers to the following line from Dr. Pennington’s book 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺:
“If Jesus did not appear as the named figure in both of these accounts, one would never suspect they were stories about the same person” (p. 56).
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This comment appears in a section of the book noting the differences between the synoptic gospel accounts. Nothing controversial here. Dr. Pennington is merely explaining that the Synoptic Gospels have both similarities AND differences before explaining how to harmonize them.
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And in fact several pages later, Pennington writes this:
“We can see that the wide differences between Matthew’s and Luke’s birth narratives don’t really contradict each other but are complementary; they can be reasonably harmonized” (p. 62).
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To insinuate that Dr. Pennington believes the Bible contradicts itself or has errors is a gross mischaracterization. Indeed, it is a slander and bearing false witness.
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If you really want to understand Dr. Pennington’s convictions, I encourage you to read his book for yourself. I also encourage you to watch the video below.
I teach the doctrine and SBC portion of our new members class at our church. And one of the things I try to emphasize is that Baptist churches are autonomous. The SBC exercises zero control over our congregation. None.
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An SBC church could call a flamingo to be its pastor, and there would be absolutely nothing that the SBC could do to counteract that. The SBC has no authority or power to do anything about who a congregation calls as pastor. None.
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Some Thoughts on the #AsburyRevival
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My prayer: "Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, Hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by."
No. All sinners (gay, straight, or otherwise) are justified by faith alone in Christ alone. The invitation is open to all.
But if the faith that saved you didn’t change you, then it didn’t really save you.
“No one who is born of God practices sin…” -1 John 3:9
“For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
-Ephesians 5:5
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals…will inherit the kingdom of God.”
“A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.”
-Deuteronomy 22:5
“You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”
Leviticus 18:22
“The men of Sodom… called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them’…
Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.”
“Let me say it loud and clear. Get back in the closet… We look at our sin through the crosshairs of an instrument of execution, not a selfie at the Revoice conference.”
-Rosaria Butterfield
To understand why Rosaria would give this exhortation, you have to come to terms with what "coming out of the closet" actually means in common parlance. Here's one example of how the term is commonly defined...
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"Coming out refers to the process that people who are LGBTQ go through as they work to accept their sexual orientation or gender identity and share that identity openly with other people."
The Bible teaches that all people are made in God's very own image and therefore have inestimable value worth.
"And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
-Genesis 1:27
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The Bible also teaches that God's image bearers come in two distinct genres--male and female. Genesis 1 teaches that "male" and "female" do not refer to so-called "gender identities" but to the human body's organization for reproduction.
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Some bodies are organized for reproduction as fathers (male bodies), and others are organized for reproduction as mothers (female bodies).
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