This (Thursday) morning at the FBFI Annual Fellowship there is a very important discussion taking place. There will be a Q & A Symposium on the subject: Let’s Discuss “Conservative” Evangelicalism?
In the Sword & Trowel Dr. Peter Masters published The Merger of Calvinism With Worldliness. The subtitle is especially compelling, “An alarmed assessment by Dr. Masters of the ‘new Calvinism’ promoted among young people in the USA.
In the article Masters warned of a
“...a seriously distorted Calvinism falling far, far short of an authentic life of obedience to a sovereign God.”And furthermore he stated,
“The new Calvinism is not a resurgence but an entirely novel formula which strips the doctrine of its historic practice, and unites it with the world.”In stark terms Dr. Masters indentifies the disturbing trend toward worldliness and charismatic leanings we are seeing among the “conservative” evangelicals. Many of our younger Reformed IFB men have been willing to look past these trends as they seek closer fellowship with the “conservative” evangelicals.
This timely expose The Merger of Calvinism With Worldliness by Dr. Masters should make for a compelling symposium on Thursday morning.
At some point following the close of the symposium I plan to report on what took place and my impressions of the symposium. It will likely be late in the day or Friday morning. I considered a live blog, but I do not want to miss any important questions or commentary while the symposium is under way.
Yours in His service,
Lou Martuneac
To All:
ReplyDeleteI am just back from the FBF Fellowship.
The session with Chaplain Joe Willis, and two other chaplains who gave testimonies, was outstanding.
Dr. Stephen Jones was not able to attend due to his having the flu.
I did attend the Q & A Symposium. There were some helpful moments. Near the end, however, an interaction took place that was highly disconcerting. Several of delegates were frustrated with what happened and in private discussions expressed this afterward.
Details to flow.
LM
To All:
ReplyDeleteI am not ready to publish any specifics at this juncture. There are key issues that I will be addressing in coming days.
What I can tell you at this point is what I am hearing from several others who were in the audience.
In the opinion of numerous men who were there:
1) Little if anything genuine was accomplished.
2) Disappointment with what appeared to be nothing more than 80 minutes of questions given to sidestep the crux of the subject matter, and...
3) Instead of striving for answers and solutions to the "conservative evangelicalism" question, seeking appeasement for the sake of unity was the goal.
I will be addressing two highly significant issues that came out in the symposium. These two items were not referenced or discussed by any other public blog.
Several men at the symposium, however, were keenly aware of these two incidents and I will report on them in due course.
LM