October 5, 2008

Rachel is Beheading Hodges’s Hydra

Dear Guests:

I am pleased to announce that Rachel (Stephen’s wife) has published the first of a three part series in which she reviews Zane Hodges’s article, The Hydra’s Other Head: Theological Legalism.

Part 1 of Rachel’s review has been published at her blog, The Land of Reason.

Her is a sample from Part 1 of Beheading Hodges’s Hydra

Even Dr. Earl Radmacher, who was at the center of a recent Crossless Gospel controversy, is quoted from his book Salvation, “How readily some fall into the trap of adding requirements to the Gospel beyond simply believing that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead.” Apparently even Dr. Radmacher did not think that requiring the lost to believe that Jesus died and rose again could be considered “legalism.”

Hodges is only deceiving himself if he thinks that his view is “traditional” Free Grace, and that it is a new thing to require the lost to believe in and accept Jesus’ death and resurrection
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Please visit The Land of Reason to read Rachel’s Beheading (of) Hodges’s Hydra, which is posted for your consideration.


LM

12 comments:

  1. Lou:

    Correct me if I'm mistaken but Hodges article under discussion never uses the word "legalists", even in the title.

    JP

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  2. Oops! My bad. Corrected.

    Thanks,


    Lou

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  3. Hi JP,

    Actually, the word "legalist" is used approximately 10 times throughout Hodges' article. "Legalism" is also used several times (I didn't count how many), and is also in the title, as Lou's corrected version above indicates. You can read the article for yourself right here, or Lou or I can email you a "pretty" copy of the original publication. :-)

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  4. Rachel:

    I have the PDF of the article.


    Lou

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  5. Lou, you wrote

    Oops! My bad. Corrected.

    Maybe it's just ME but there's something really funny about reading you say "My bad."

    LOL

    Kev

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  6. Is it just me or does the GES article smack of being intentionally formated to be hard to read?

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  7. I think the problem with the GES blog article being hard to read is probably the result of a less savvy website editor. I get the impression that the departure of Jeremy affected the GES web work. He is evidently good at doing such things, and I don't think this work was picked up too quickly by someone else.

    As for getting a good copy, you could simply add your name to the GES mailing list and you'll get their newsletter free of charge when it issues. It is easy to read in that format. Also, then there won't be any possible misunderstandings which might arise by publicly offering copies of copyrighted material which was not yet publicly posted online by the copyright owners.

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  8. Looker:

    Thanks for these suggestions.


    LM

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  9. Maybe it's just ME but there's something really funny about reading you say "My bad."

    Is that to say you find that youthful expression funny coming from an ol' fuddy-duddy?

    ;-)


    Lou

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  10. I do encourage all guests to read and interact in the thread under Rachel's review of the Hydra's Head article.


    Lou

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  11. All:

    Thanks for the correction. I was quite sure the term "legalist" was not used in the title and was mistaken about it's use in the paper.

    JP

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  12. Earlier I posted this at The Land of Reason:

    I think we need to recognize that this article by Hodges is a sign of open warfare on anyone or any fellowship that has rejected the teaching of the Crossless gospel.

    It’s also more than that. It is obvious to me that the GES is gasping for life. Its membership has been in free fall for a protracted period.

    A personal friend of mine attended the 2008 National GES Conference for two days. He reported to me during the GES conference that the number of attendees was down significantly even from the previous year.

    The egregious errors of Hodges’s reductionist assault on the Person and work of Christ has isolated the GES into shrinking cell of extremists that those who are balanced in their theology want NO further fellowship with.

    I also heard, but have not been able to confirm that Wilkin closed the GES office and now administers GES out of his home. Again, that is what I was told, but I have not confirmed this.

    In any event, we must not allow the heresy of the Crossless gospel gain any kind of foothold out side the small cell of extremist followers of Zane Hodges.

    Identify the heresy, the men who instigate it, warn the unsuspecting.


    Lou

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