Theological Ramblings

For those of you who don’t know, BFO stands for Blinding Flash of the Obvious - a little something I stole from Matt Pierson at Scioto Hills. You could call it an epiphany, but I like BFO b/c most of the time it’s something I already knew or was right in front of my face that I suddenly see again or in a new light or in a new way that makes me stand back and go “WHOAH!!!!!!!!!!” (and usually ‘holy crap’ and shake my head a few times. My wife can testify to this. I love BFO’s!!!)

This is a conversation I had with a fellow teacher here at school (this is the Not Fred from the discussion earlier. Remember, Fred was the Fundamentalist)

Not Fred:

So, we just had a discussion in Bible 10 about whether or not a person who only became a Christian because they didn’t want to go to Hell actually is a Christian. They then asked then why do we always treat evangelsim like that. I then explained that most people don’t think about real questions unless death is brought up. Then we discussed Augustine’s famous City of God or City of Man sermon. I didn’t plan on talking about that stuff. I thought you would find it intriquing.

- Not Fred

Me:

that’s a good and necessary discussion, and they raise a very good point. That seems to be all that IFBC’s talk about - “You don’t want to go to Hell, do you? Then join the club that’s going to heaven!”

I was listening to Piper today and he was talking about how that’s a very self-centered view of the gospel and if that’s why you’re coming to Christ, you’ve totally missed the point!

Not Fred:

That was what they asked. They started it with isn’t it selfish to want Heaven as oppose to Hell to begin your journey into selfless Christianity? Good question huh?

Then my BFO:

THAT’S IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s why Fundamentalists are so insuffrably Arminian!!! It’s because they think that what’s at stake is their eternal destiny and the problem is Hell, and if that’s the case, they ought to have a say in it - because what other being has the right to determine that.

But that’s not what’s at stake and that’s not what the problem is. What’s at stake is God’s glory and the problem is that our sin keeps us from being the accurate picture of His glory as He intended - so Calvinism is very right because if what’s at stake is God’s glory, shouldn’t HE have the say, and what right does any other being have to determine that?

Not Fred:

Ignorance is the death of knowledge and philosophy (in this case theology) is the product of wonder. Most of them do not even know what they are and for this we should pray for them.

Me:

Amen

And please do pray. The Christians among our students are really good leaders, but the ones who are not are really good at dragging the others down - and we do have a few who want nothing to do with God. The fact that they’re asking these questions means their thinking deeply - which can only lead to good things. Pray that the message I spoke last week in chapel will continue to sink in.
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