tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post1237044515019890480..comments2024-03-10T10:40:32.319-07:00Comments on Pyromaniacs: Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Heretic?Phil Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00649092052031518426noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-84603776829442559522011-04-01T10:12:42.373-07:002011-04-01T10:12:42.373-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Bill O'Neillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02171442755000659771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-48337519514375515032011-03-31T12:58:29.563-07:002011-03-31T12:58:29.563-07:00"Guys like John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul bot..."Guys like John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul both have a healthy sense of humor that comes through in their preaching, but they limit it, and I can't imagine anyone thinking of humor before strong preaching when it comes to those men."-Mark<br /><br />I agree. Rc has a wonderful sense of humor. Pastor John Mac?<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYpc5P802K8donsandshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03665794015011057098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-33201946481286404002011-03-29T16:54:34.812-07:002011-03-29T16:54:34.812-07:00>>>...No one in this post or comment thre...>>>...No one in this post or comment thread had mentioned or alluded to Finney until you did, but you pretended that's what the post is all about....<br /><br />So what happened in 1850?WoundedEgohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10587474211232415755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-15445527895939398942011-03-28T19:03:49.513-07:002011-03-28T19:03:49.513-07:00"Is it too late to say that the nipple on the..."Is it too late to say that the nipple on the baby in that illustration caused many weaker brothers and sisters to sin?"<br /><br />I don't know about sin, but your remark certainly caused me to laugh... out loud. Yes, I LOL'd :PSir Brasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01893578064434019702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-17419333689896665002011-03-28T14:28:29.233-07:002011-03-28T14:28:29.233-07:00Frank, I didn't notice the nipple on the baby ...Frank, I didn't notice the nipple on the baby until you mentioned it. Is it too late for you to remove that comment from this discussion thread? Now everyone that reads your comment about the nipple is going to think about that.<br /><br />Excellent blog posting and I have read the book from which this blog posting comes several times.Reggie Reinholdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07157010608782386342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-11197856209427256542011-03-28T11:08:53.545-07:002011-03-28T11:08:53.545-07:00I guess the admonition to pass on the faith once d...I guess the admonition to pass on the faith once delivered to the saints and to guard against false doctrine still has its opponents.<br /><br /><b>sma9231961:</b> You are an unknown quantity by your own design. As such, it shouldn't surprise you that your assertions <i>sans arugumentum</i> won't here be met with applause.<br /><br />Instead of calling people like Phil names and casting aspersions on his character by implying that he is unteachable, why not instead do some actual persuasive work including logical argumentation supported by verifiable evidence?Mr. Fosihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17652392944938128012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-16052885196437372672011-03-28T08:40:16.269-07:002011-03-28T08:40:16.269-07:00No problem, Phil.
The clay is pretty much baked w...No problem, Phil.<br /><br />The clay is pretty much baked with folks like you, anyway.<br /><br />Good luck with your spiritual ladder climbing projects with folks like Piper, MacArthur, et al.Steve Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13251554325064300307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-13772482065264844822011-03-28T08:18:52.149-07:002011-03-28T08:18:52.149-07:00It's all about proportion. I had some interest...It's all about proportion. I had some interesting comments about funny pastors when I brought this up on Facebook a while back. If the first thing a person thinks of with a given pastor is how funny he is, it seems to me that pastor is doing a bad job of focusing on the teaching.<br /><br />Guys like John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul both have a healthy sense of humor that comes through in their preaching, but they limit it, and I can't imagine anyone thinking of humor before strong preaching when it comes to those men.<br /><br />Then you have preachers who joke all the way through their sermons, which by the way tend to be 12% exposition, 40% self-referential humor, 10% other humor, 5% Starbucks, 20% politics and the rest varies between book quotes, slogans and cliches, misappropriated Scripture and announcements about how much the church is growing.~Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01819856178499938127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-27702055785889443622011-03-28T07:14:29.492-07:002011-03-28T07:14:29.492-07:00I felt like I was being riddled with spiritual bul...I felt like I was being riddled with spiritual bullets from start to end. Great article, that church deacons and elders MUST know. Amen, amen, and amen!Gilberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05267525662313103148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-63415303861011322222011-03-28T07:14:04.611-07:002011-03-28T07:14:04.611-07:00Is it too late to say that the nipple on the baby ...Is it too late to say that the nipple on the baby in that illustration caused many weaker brothers and sisters to sin?<br /><br />Is it ever too late to say that?FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-78773914515565189642011-03-28T06:15:24.474-07:002011-03-28T06:15:24.474-07:00"Unless you glory in your own shame, I think ...<i>"Unless you glory in your own shame, I think whatever cause you represent would be best served if you took it elsewhere and toned it down a few notches, OK?"</i><br /><br />Is a wince followed by simi controlled mirth an acceptable reaction here? If not, I will repent, perhaps grudgingly!bassicallymikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00559349653723448348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-25758148589798582572011-03-28T00:39:05.746-07:002011-03-28T00:39:05.746-07:00sma9231961:
Perhaps you should bow out anyway. Wh...<b>sma9231961:</b><br /><br />Perhaps you should bow out anyway. When someone who never comments on our regular blogposts suddenly shows up with an anonymous profile in order to attack a guest post by John MacArthur--firing off two or three angry and unbalanced antinomian rants; attributing words to MacArthur that have nothing to do with the excerpt we featured (indeed, words that he has never said in ANY context); ignoring both propriety and good manners--such misbehavior usually so discredits the person that his participation is unedifying to anyone.<br /><br />Unless you glory in your own shame, I think whatever cause you represent would be best served if you took it elsewhere and toned it down a few notches, OK? We don't like to ban people here, but our track record with antinomians has been so dismal that frankly we're inclined to give them the heave-ho after just two admonitions (Titus 3:10). So please don't push it.Phil Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00649092052031518426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-82345941488384942352011-03-27T21:22:18.121-07:002011-03-27T21:22:18.121-07:00That J. MacArthur himself teaches falsely about ho...That J. MacArthur himself teaches falsely about how "easy it is to lead the Christian life"...ought qualify.<br /><br />Unless this is a J. MacArthur lovefest instead of a serious discussion of the dangers of false teaching. <br /><br />If it's the former, then I will bow out.Steve Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13251554325064300307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-75271747590565403902011-03-27T21:07:09.012-07:002011-03-27T21:07:09.012-07:00'Twould be nice if dissenting and/or critical ...'Twould be nice if dissenting and/or critical commenters would dissent from or critique the actual content of the posts on which they comment.Aaron Snellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08551668915973379312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-80461965039121874072011-03-27T20:49:49.911-07:002011-03-27T20:49:49.911-07:00Telling people to buck up and "do" the ...Telling people to buck up and "do" the Christian life, "it is not hard to do", is graceless. it is all law.<br /><br />I've got news for J. MacArthur, living the obedient, faithful life that is expected of us is impossible for us. We are full blown sinners who ARE disobedient.<br /><br />But Christ died for who? The obedient, or the ungodly?Steve Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13251554325064300307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-35549541495307392472011-03-27T19:24:02.632-07:002011-03-27T19:24:02.632-07:00Excellent points. It is sad that some commenters ...Excellent points. It is sad that some commenters had to deliberately misconstrue what MacArthur wrote. I guess that's the blogosphere for you.<br /><br />Christians today are no longer on guard against false doctrine, because they do not believe that sound doctrine matters. This, despite numerous biblical warnings on the subject.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-38402714966828260152011-03-27T14:08:48.236-07:002011-03-27T14:08:48.236-07:00Excellent reminder that discerning men have NOT be...Excellent reminder that discerning men have NOT been surprised by Bell and others here. I remember John calling out McClaren and Bell specifically in "Truth War" long before other folks finally noticed that their "questions" were far more than "mere" and were far more rhetorical than interrogative.<br /><br />The whistle was blown on these clowns (Bell, McClaren, et al) years before. So my actual probing question is... why has it taken folks this long to actually start listening to the warnings?Sir Brasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01893578064434019702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-9384787072713992852011-03-27T11:22:02.289-07:002011-03-27T11:22:02.289-07:00WoundedEgo:
You have been off-topic since your fi...<b>WoundedEgo:</b><br /><br />You have been off-topic since your first comment. No one in this post or comment thread had mentioned or alluded to Finney until you did, but you pretended that's what the post is all about. It's not. (And you misspelled Finney's middle name to boot.)<br /><br />You don't get to derail topics in the comment-threads here. It's bad form.<br /><br />Your most recent comment further insinuates that you're about to propound some heresy, because you expressly renounced "the whole of Christendom, including 'The Reformation.'"<br /><br />I don't know if you're planning to question the deity of Christ, promote a governmental view of the atonement, or something else subtle and sinister borrowed from the spectrum of bad doctrine between those two. In any case, don't. This blog is not an open forum for anyone and everyone to float their pet errors.<br /><br />You seem to be new here, so you may not have realized that. Perhaps it would be good for you to read for awhile and get to know something about the forum before commandeering our comment-threads.<br /><br />Alternatively, you can find a blog with a high tolerance level for heresy and homebrew doctrine. There are plenty of them out there. But we have never hosted that kind of free-for-all here.Phil Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00649092052031518426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-47563782178949830952011-03-27T10:53:11.136-07:002011-03-27T10:53:11.136-07:00My own position is that Paul would say that the wh...My own position is that Paul would say that the whole of Christendom, including "The Reformation" (which was actually just "The Re-Packaging") is post-Christian. The denominations, the creeds, the churches, the pews, the dogmas, the pastors, the preachers, the doctrines, the programs... they are all of them wholly Roman in design, and unscriptural. Paul's "better approach" is all but extinct. See 1 Cor 14:26-40 (but skip (verses 34-36, since they don't really belong there).WoundedEgohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10587474211232415755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-30587572049915992752011-03-27T04:17:05.438-07:002011-03-27T04:17:05.438-07:00There is a difference between using humor in a ser...There is a difference between using humor in a sermon as a matter of course and in the process of exposition on the one hand and building humor into your sermon because you want people to relax and have a great time on the other. <br /><br />There is a difference between using an illustration or anecdote drawn from culture to help people grasp the meaning of a text on the one hand and using an illustration or anecdote to obscure the text and make everyone feel comfortable about a painful and convicting bit of divine revelation on the other.<br /><br />Having been nourished, convicted, and edified by, oh, hundreds of Macarthur sermons online (I listen to one just about every morning) I think it would be incorrect to say that he is calling for humorless and dry sermons. He does not preach that way.<br /><br />I think he is calling for sermons that do what sermons are supposed to do...expound a text fully and faithfully rather than entertain a congregation--sermons in which difficult texts are illumined and interpreted by other parts scripture rather than by our own imaginations and opinions. <br /><br />Illustrations anecdotes and/or stories...must be slaves of the text not the other way around.<br /><br />Also, in answer to another comment above. Macarthur is not "graceless". Instead he recognizes the power of grace at work in the justified believer. In Christ we have been given strength and freedom to struggle against sin. The struggle is not waged through our raw natural power--we have none--but through God's Holy Spirit who strengthens and equips us for war. Nor is it a battle in which our eternal destiny is at stake...that destiny is not subject to our failures or feebleness (thanks be to God) but rests in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us by God and our sins imputed to Christ.<br /><br />But the fact is that we have been predestined, called, justified etc in order to do the works God has prepared for us to do (Eph 2:10). <br /><br />So a call to "do" them is far far from "legalism". It is a call to walk in the liberation and freedom Christ has won for us.Matt Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10975005135486296368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-72704665456232929002011-03-26T20:48:39.902-07:002011-03-26T20:48:39.902-07:00I can't really say that I agree with most of t...I can't really say that I agree with most of this. Paul, for instance, did say that he became all things to all men so that by so doing, he might save some (1 Cor 9:22). He also used the statue to the unknown god to declare Christ as known (Acts 17:23)! So, generally speaking, Paul wasn't above referencing the culture to reach it. I find arguing against this particularly ironic in a blog post that assails the lack of Biblical knowledge among believers! <br /><br />And as for comments -- now preaching has become defined as humorless? Or can only jokes that are in the Bible be told? Folks, if you go any further down that road, you'll be saying that cars are evil because the Bible doesn't mention them.In Russet Shadowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16209093483312914859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-74184729726563889352011-03-26T20:43:27.846-07:002011-03-26T20:43:27.846-07:00The entire book is quotable. Read it and reap!!!The entire book is quotable. Read it and reap!!!Mary Elizabeth Tylerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08915438088186414796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-6467203315411348092011-03-26T20:40:31.285-07:002011-03-26T20:40:31.285-07:00"Profile unavailable." Yep, fits the te..."Profile unavailable." Yep, fits the template.Sharonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14534421623031122881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-8514172697657339942011-03-26T20:26:26.760-07:002011-03-26T20:26:26.760-07:00I listened to J. MacArthur's sermons for about...I listened to J. MacArthur's sermons for about three days in a row and it was about all I could stand.<br /><br />He was telling people how to live the Christian life. And telling people that "it wasn't hard to do", to boot.<br /><br />All law. All moralistic, how to, buck up and DO IT, law.<br /><br />Dreadful. I know that he knows what the gospel is. But he insists on this legalistic mix of law and gospel because he has an improper understanding of the external Word and Sacraments.<br /><br />It's a shame. He is a really nice man. I have had the pleasure of meeting him.Steve Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13251554325064300307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-9292605596334751622011-03-26T19:17:00.481-07:002011-03-26T19:17:00.481-07:00Is there any way in which your comment is even rem...Is there any way in which your comment is even remotely connected to what was said in this post, WoundedEgo?Aaron Snellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08551668915973379312noreply@blogger.com