Author: fundyreformed

Is Membership in 1 Local Church Biblical?

~ fundyreformed ~ 28 Comments

The baptism discussion is raising many questions. Sam Storms has entered the discussion and emphasized how the very nature of the Lord’s Supper would lead one to include all believers not engaged in gross unrepentant sin in the celebration of the Supper.

I ask how is celebration of the Supper different from membership in the local church? And even more pointedly, is membership in 1 local church biblical?

Where do we get the idea of a specific roll-call style membership? We see believers together in homes and meeting in different locales. We see a great amount of interaction and unity among various churches. Do we ever see separate churches in one geographical area? Do we have a basis for assuming that today’s world of thirty plus evangelical churches in the average Midwestern city (I’m probably underestimating the number, too) is a good thing?

Consider the fact that once believers join a particular church, they often forget about those fellow saints who attend other churches in the same town. And many of those churches have almost no ties with the other evangelical churches in their town. Is this advisable? Is this biblical?

My friend Nathan Pitchford discussed these trends in an article a while back: “Shopping for the Right Church“. He calls for us [see also the comments under that post] all to take some radical steps toward a practical togetherness focused on the Gospel.

Please weigh in with your thoughts? Why do we assume the status quo is both best and biblical?AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Proof Mike Huckabee Has an Across-the-Aisle Appeal

~ fundyreformed ~ 9 Comments

We all know Mike Huckabee is a true conservative, and has a good chance of gaining broad support from the Republican base. But this is one reason why I believe Mike Huckabee can win the general election.
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Agreement on Baptism

~ fundyreformed ~ 12 Comments

There has been a discussion of late concerning Baptism. Is it something about which professing believers can agree to disagree over and at the same time be fellow members of one church. John Piper says yes, and Wayne Grudem used to agree with him in his Systematic Theology. In the latest edition, Grudem changed his mind and Justin Taylor publicized that on his blog.

I provided links to the discussion in a recent post Baptism & Church Membership. Then Justin Taylor linked to some articles by Vern Poythress about young children and baptism, which I link to (and discuss briefly) in this post: Baptism & Young Children.

Then Mark Dever chimed in. John Piper responded. Justin Taylor provided a helpful summary of the Biblical argumentation for infant baptism [see my summary of that position here]. Ligon Duncan (of the PCA) responded with a simpler summation (focusing on Acts 2:38-39); and Justin Taylor followed up with a Baptist brief response.

Now Justin has posted a list of 17 points on which paedobaptists (of the Presbyterian variety) and Baptists agree. He takes his list from a footnote a new book edited by Thomas Schreiner & Shawn Wright from a chapter written by Mark Dever. The points come from a debate on the issue hosted at Dever’s church between himself (SBC) and David Coffin (PCA). This list is well worth your time and should serve to broaden your understanding of the arguments and the degree of Christian charity you can display to brothers who differ on this issue. Note, Dever agrees to the list even though he would forbid a paedobaptist from joining his church.

Finally, I should point out that Aaron Menikoff of Church Matters (the blog for Mark Dever’s 9 Mark’s Ministries) has posted his second “Historical Reflection on Baptism and Church Membership“. This time he focuses on 19th Century Baptist theologian John Dagg, who affirmed both the universal and local church, but distinguished the two arguing for believer’s baptism as necessary for local church membership. Don’t forget to see Menikoff’s first historical post on John Bunyan & Abraham Booth.

I find this whole debate encouraging as there is such a display of Christian charity even as opposing arguments are laid down. I hope that if any of my readers have followed this exchange they will at least have a greater appreciation for brothers on the opposite side of this issue.AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Fundamental Reformers, an Update

~ fundyreformed ~ 7 Comments

The Idea

Just over 1 year ago, I created an aggregate feed which I called Fundamental Reformers. I wanted to bring together the blogs that I see as reforming fundamentalism, and make it easy to follow them or learn more about them. The goal was to make a webpage with the latest posts from these blogs all together in one place. Plus you could subscribe to the feed and be notified each time one of these blogs posted new content.

Technical Issues

At the time, Blogdigger Groups and xFruits.com seemed to provide an easy aggregate feed (for free). But Blogdigger had some problems, and I never liked its format. I liked xFruits but it had problems too. So from time to time since then, I’ve been looking for an alternate method to create my aggregator.

In my latest search I came across Server.com’s NewsApp service (this is what Adrian Warnock uses for several of his blog groups, see sidebar here), that service looked great, but I couldn’t get it to work for me, with the blogs on my list. But then I discovered the solution was in front of me all along. xFruits.com allows me to easily create an aggregate feed, but it also can take any RSS feed and turn it into a static webpage. So I took my xFruits’ aggregate feed and made it into an xFruits’ webpage, and I think I’m in business. Although it still doesn’t list the blogs on the side of the page, it does provide a very easy format to read the blog posts in (with links to the blogs themselves), and if someone clicks around they’ll quickly find a link to a page on my blog with the complete list.

The Aggregator (& A Little About RSS)

So, here is the link to the new aggregator page: Fundamental Reformers. If anyone is interested in linking to it (especially you all who are listed in that feed), you can use this button I created a while back. Copy the button and use it on your blog (make it link to the aggregator, by the way). Fundamental Reformers--the blogs reforming fundamentalism

And for any of you who don’t utilize feeds, you really should. It is like getting an email every time a blog posts, except the post (pictures and all, usually) or an excerpt of it appear in your feed reader program. Google Reader and Bloglines are 2 of the most popular. I’ve been using Google Reader and it lets me follow many more blogs than I could without a feed reader, and it lets me do other neat stuff for my blog.

The List of Blogs

Some of you were waiting for this part. Here is my new list of the blogs reforming fundamentalism.

Many of these are new additions, and there were some blogs that are no longer in operation. Of course right now you’re wondering what are my selection criteria. Why these blogs?

What Do You Mean by “Reforming Fundamentalism”?

These blogs all, from time to time, aim to help reform fundamentalism (the independent Baptist variety). Of course they post on a variety of other topics, but they deal with the problems of hyper fundamentalism in one degree or another. John Chitty, for instance, primarily blogs about all things Reformed, yet he often mentions his past as a hyper fundamentalist. And he has several posts devoted to the King James Only problem.

There is a wide spectrum here in this list, too. Some, like Josh Gelatt, have never had an actual history within the IFB movement, but he is confronted with these issues and addresses them. Others, like the Big Orange Truck and Will Dudding are still quite the conservative fundamentalists. They have a desire to reform and stay within the movement. Scott Kay, Ryan DeBarr and myself, with others, now find ourselves outside of mainstream fundamentalism (IFB). I guess I should use Joel Tretau’s taxonomy and admit I have type A, B, and C fundamentalists in this group.

I didn’t include other blogs because I either don’t quite feel they belong (or that they would want to be included), or most likely, I’m not familiar with them. Sharper Iron is not included because it is so big. It is a mixed bag, so to speak, and of late most of the posts seem not to be directed toward these issues. Lots of the good stuff on Sharper Iron is in the forums anyway. I also want the aggregator to promote blogs that could benefit from the promotion.

(I am open to being convinced that I should add other blogs that you all may know — even to add Sharper Iron. Just comment below.)

So How Does Someone Join This Aggregator?

If you think your blog qualifies, just let me know in the comments here (or on this page). Explain why you think you qualify (unless it is very obvious from just checking out your blog). I can’t guarantee I’ll include everybody, but I will consider you. Oh, and if someone is on the list and wishes to be removed, I’ll be glad to do so.

Now that you have the scoop, be sure to check out the aggregator! Here is the webpage version, and here is the actual feed. Enjoy.AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Some Good Stuff

~ fundyreformed ~ 3 Comments

Since I won’t have time to do any more blogging today, most likely, I thought I’d highlight some great posts.

  • Many of you have probably not been following Kingdom Surge, my new team blog. If you haven’t you’ve missed out on a great series called Firstruits from the Nations. “Ambassador” has been exploring the glimpses of missions we see even in the OT. And the insights have been spiritually enriching and encouraging. You’ll be blessed by thinking through what the Queen of Sheba, the Gibeonites, Jonah, and Malachi have to teach us about Christ, His Church, and His mission.
  • Nathan Pitchford, another friend of mine, posted a follow up to his well received Calvinism topical Scripture reference. This time he has a categorical list on dispensationalism. Not all of my readers will think it is necessarily good, but it is extensive. He doesn’t interact with all the latest evolutions of this system, but he specifically aims for the “revised” dispensationalism of Ryrie, Showers and others (see the discussion here). The Scriptures referenced on this list would be good for people on all sides of the issue to explore. And like most of Nathan’s writings, this list is well crafted.
  • I should also note that the Baptism discussion wages on. This time Mark Dever (of 9 Marks Ministries, and their new blog Church Matters) weighs in. See my recent posts linking to the exchange between John Piper and Wayne Grudem: Baptism & Church Membership, and Baptism & Young Children.
  • UPDATE: Aaron Menikoff also blogging at Church Matters, just posted the first part of a series on this issue entitled: “Historical Reflections on Baptism & Church Membership”. The first post focuses on John Bunyan and his arguments for open membership.

These next two are series of posts I’ve been meaning to point out for some time. Both intersect with fundamentalists head on, and would be worth the time to consider.

  • Josh Gelatt has begun posting a series called Fractured Foundations: Areas in which Baptist Churches Need to Grow. He is focusing on many of the very things which make us Baptists — the things we would likely have a blind spot for. His latest post focuses on congregationalism gone wild, and points out that there is “no recorded vote in the New Testament on any issue save the selection of leaders”.
  • Scot Kay, another ex-hyper fundamentalist, is all the way to part 6 in his series “Inside the Legalist Mindset“. His latest post contains links to the other 5, and stresses the tendency of legalists to define legalism very precisely (small enough to exclude themselves), and sin very broadly (big enough to include any who don’t adhere to there supra-Scriptural standards). His thoughts might be controversial, but no one should doubt that such legalists exist in great numbers. It is possible to be deceived and think legalism applies only to others. I know, because I was a legalist!
  • On the heels of that series, I ran across a sobering post by my friend Nathan Pitchford. It examines the pharisees and has some harsh things to say about those who follow in their ways and actions. I believe his warning is as Scriptural as it is potentially stinging. All of us should pay heed to this article.