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Apologia Report 14:29
July 30, 2009
Subject: Touchstone considers "The War on Error"
In this issue:
APOLOGETICS - when to go public when calling down those in error
CULTURE - "how to discover and introduce change into a people's worldview"
+ responding to "myths of terrorism, religious violence, human
rights, multiculturalism, science, and postcolonialism"
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM - monitoring its confused trinitarianism
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APOLOGETICS
What is it about apologists? They sure seem quick to accuse. Or, is it
that their alert systems have become more sensitive than those of the
average person? After all, a steady diet of apologetics does tend to
open one's eyes to wide-spread error - and some would say, blind them
to everything else.
And there lies the rub. Some people are less concerned than others
about the growth of false messiahs and teachings. It would seem that
apologists, therefore, are less likely to be very popular outside
their own circles.
In his essay, "The War on Error," S. M. Hutchens reflects on the
timing of when to publicly object to error. He wonders, at what point
does one "call apparently well-intentioned and perfectly respectable
people, often very important, very religious people, snakes or
hypocrites, or compare them to dirty tableware, whitewashed tombs, or
ravening wolves?" Hutchens notes that the common objection to this
often comes from the one who "regarded the name-calling as prima facie
immoral, and as a practical matter counter-productive because it
serves to cut off the constructive dialogue by which errors can be
corrected and the bond of peace maintained. ...
"Accusing people of being heretics or liars or of saying things
that befit only the insane or demonic is simply not Christian
behavior.
"Unless, that is, it is true, and the time to say it has arrived."
Ahh, the essential question of timing. Hutchens weighs the penalty for
failure to speak out and fulfill leadership obligation against the
pitfalls of premature accusation. Then he considers the heresy hunting
that is too often done by those "more interested in the approval of
their party than truth...." Hutchens adds the concern for balance
regarding the intensity of denouncing error and the need to avoid
"subjecting those who commit [such blunders] to terror and humiliation
that hardens them against truth."
In taking a stand, "one must weigh the advantage, for oneself and
others, of speaking what he believes the truth, against the
disadvantage of being scuttled down to the category of the peevish and
rude, unworthy of being heard by reason of his un-Christian manner of
speaking. ...
"The end of the matter, I believe, is this: Speak the truth always,
making sure one does it in the right way and at the right time, and
letting the chips - including God's judgment on one's own actions and
words, for naming heresy is a matter of faith as yet unvindicated -
fall where they may." Touchstone, May '09, pp3-4.
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CULTURE
Worldview for Christian Witness, by Charles H. Kraft [1] -- reviewer
Darrell L. Whiteman explains that Kraft "has been writing and teaching
on worldview for forty years at Fuller Theological Seminary....
"Kraft defines worldview as 'the totality of the culturally
structured images and assumptions (including value and commitment or
allegiance assumptions) in terms of which a people both perceive and
respond to reality.' ...
"The book summarizes much of the work that has been done on
worldview by both missiologists and secular anthropologists.... Eight
chapters describe in detail the characteristics of worldviews,
including an excellent chapter on how to discover a people's
worldview, and the last third of the book focuses on how to introduce
change into worldviews." International Bulletin of Missionary
Research, 33:3 - 2009, p156. [3]
While establishing source URLs for the books noted above and below
in brief reviews from the International Bulletin of Missionary
Research, we noticed that Amazon.com offers the full text of the
reviews for $10 each. That's a stiff price for something that fits on
less than half a page in the original. - RP
Subverting Global Myths: Theology and the Public Issues Shaping Our
World, by Vinoth Ramachandra [2] -- Roger E. Hedlund opens his review:
"The six chapters of this carefully nuanced expose address myths of
terrorism, religious violence, human rights, multiculturalism,
science, and postcolonialism. Chapter 1 meticulously deconstructs the
so-called war on terror. Ramachandra is appalled by the ignorance of
Western university students and professors, an ignorance that the
chapter on religious violence bears out. Contrary to popular notion,
the worst violence of the twentieth century was committed not by
religious groups but by atheistic regimes....
"The chapter on myths of science is particularly revealing. Genetic
engineering is the new humanism. The author counters that the answer
to scientific determinism is a Christian theological anthropology.
'The entire biblical narrative attests to God's solidarity with and
selection of the weak and "insignificant" that they may be the
vehicles of this redemptive love to the rest of his creation.' ...
"The concluding chapter on postcolonialism confronts aspects of
Edward Said's Orientalism. Ramachandra points out that Orientialism
'led to the creation of Hinduism as a world religion' and fed into the
'Indo-European myth of a pure Aryan race' that became the ideology of
Nazi Germany's National Socialism. In Hindutva [Hindu nationalism] the
fruit of Orientalism now buttresses violent persecution of Christians
by religious extremists in India." International Bulletin of
Missionary Research, 33:3 - 2009, pp162-163. [3]
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SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM
Recently Apologia received a notebook full of web page printouts from
<www.cultorchristian.com>, an online ministry that represents the
interesting work of former Adventist Jeremy Graham, who examines
numerous Seventh-Day Adventist subjects. Below we relay some of his
findings on the confused trinitarianism of some Adventists. Here,
among other concerns, SDA representatives appear to reject the
traditional view of God as one Being, describing him as three separate
Beings. Visit this site for more information.
* - SDA scholar and seminary professor Dr. Jerry Moon writes: "In
her [SDA prophetess Ellen G. White's] earliest writings she differed
from some aspects of traditional trinitarianism and in her latest
writings she still strongly opposed some aspects of the traditional
doctrine of the Trinity. ... It appears, therefore, that the
trinitarian teaching of Ellen White's later writings is not the same
doctrine that the early Adventists rejected. ... Rather, her writings
describe two contrasting forms of trinitarian belief, one of which she
always opposed, and another that she eventually endorsed." From "The
Quest for a Biblical Trinity: Ellen White's 'Heavenly Trio' Compared
to the Traditional Doctrine," Journal of the Adventist Theological
Society, Spring 2006, n.p.
* - During a Q&A session after Dr. Merlin Burt's presentation at
the Adventist Theological Society's 2006 Trinity Symposium, an
unidentified speaker remarks that, in regard to the Arian SDA
pioneers: "What James [SDA co-founder James White, husband of Ellen
White] and the other men were opposed to, we are just as opposed to as
they were. ... But, in reality, we have been faithful to their
commitment, and I know of nothing that they were objecting to, in
objecting to Trinitarianism, that we have not also objected to." From
the podcast at: <www.tinyurl.com/lq2awa>
* - SDA author and seminary professor Dr. Norman Gulley writes: "We
noted that there are several OT texts indicating a plurality in God,
as one God addresses another God." From "Trinity in the Old
Testament," Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, Spring 2006,
n.p.
* - The official North American Division curriculum standards for
SDA schools makes brief reference to the "Godhead as creators" and
also summarizes: "Understand that the God family — 'God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit' - work in perfect unity, yet are
separate and unique beings" <www.tinyurl.com/lzt9yn>
* - The introduction to the Oct-Dec 1998 Adult Sabbath School Bible
Study Guide, the official SDA lesson quarterly, tells us that: "The
Godhead consists of three divine Beings, unified in action but
distinct in personality." <www.tinyurl.com/mog2pc>
* - In his book The Marriage Covenant: A Biblical Study on
Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage, the late Samuele Bacchiocchi,
former Professor of Theology and Church History at Andrews University
(SDA), writes: "The God of Biblical revelation is not a solitary
single Being who lives in eternal aloofness but is a fellowship of
Three Beings so intimately and mysteriously united that we worship
them as one God." <www.tinyurl.com/na36cf>
To find the full text of articles cited above in the Journal of the
Adventist Theological Society above, use this search engine link:
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Sources, Monographs:
1 - Worldview for Christian Witness, by Charles H. Kraft (William
Carey Library, 2008, paperback, 608 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/lt2pdb>
2 - Subverting Global Myths: Theology and the Public Issues Shaping
Our World, by Vinoth Ramachandra (IVP, 2008, hardcover, 296 pages)
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