Comments on: Evangelicalism and Theological Mediocrity

By: nhe

nhe — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:54:12 +0000

Just for the record Jared, I agree (strongly) with you on your position regarding female pastors…….I just didn’t necessarily see having one as a deal breaker for dating my daughter. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being counted among the theologically illiterate. My daughters also have never run in circles where they’d have dated a guy with a female pastor. I guess being in the red-state South has its perks.

Having thought more about this, I’m coming more to your line of thinking on that “#8″…….mission accomplished with the daughters, I suppose now its on to some grand-daughters.

By: On Women Pastors and Dating My Daughter « Yearn For God

On Women Pastors and Dating My Daughter « Yearn For God — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:05:06 +0000

[...] received a fair amount of feedback, most of which was good, but some he described as, “quite vitriolic.” I also received a lot of feedback from the post, the majority of which was positive. [...]

By: Michael Hall

Michael Hall — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:07:30 +0000

Good post Jared, it’s a big problem here in the UK as well, where I know people who call themselves evangelical yet resort to the “that’s your interpretation” line straight away on any sort of issue. It’s rare that they’ve got an alternative, theological, text-based interpretation but they actually just mean they’ve got a different opinion.
One of the comments on your daughter post summed up that sort of attitude well with the comment about the bible being full of errors so “do your research”. I can’t speak for the individual concerned but when I’ve heard that sort of reply it’s usually from someone whose own research has been watching tv and reading a bit of the god delusion.

By: Robert Smith

Robert Smith — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:43:30 +0000

Jared – Excellent essay. It should be taken seriously, and not as something humorous.

Brad – I know a number of well-meaning Christians, including some relatives, who believe in justification by faith alone, and probably the inerrancy of the Bible, yet their theology is guided by feelings. They feel it is “unfair” that women should not serve as pastors. What is interesting is that I have never heard one of these un-thinking believers question the “fairness” of attributing original sin to Adam, rather than Eve. Moreover, any attempts to reason from the Bible are usually met with the response, “Well, that’s just your interpretation.”

By: David Axberg

David Axberg — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:58:40 +0000

Amen and amen. Jared thanks for the list by the way I will be sending it to one of my daughter’s suiters, more as an “I am watching and protecting voice.” I did change it up abit because I am not a pastor but left the rest of #8 alone.

God Bless Now!

By: Brad Haggard

Brad Haggard — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:33:26 +0000

Sorry, I’m probably arguing with Dr. Mohler more than I am with you about this. I’m not even putting my had in the ring of egalitarians, but I always bristle when we as Christians label other Christians. You made it clear that you can have principled disagreement with “the other side”, and I appreciate that very much.

By: Jared C. Wilson

Jared C. Wilson — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:27:39 +0000

Brother, I tried to make it clear I am not referring to the theologically-grounded egalitarians but the “functional-but-not-educated” ones. I even said there are plenty of complementarians who are only of that view by default too. But I am sorry if that distinction was not clear enough — wasn’t my intent to say egalitarianism = theological mediocrity. Only to say that the *sort* of egalitarianism that dominates evangelicalism reflects that. (And, again, that sword cuts both ways.)

By: Brad Haggard

Brad Haggard — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:22:39 +0000

I guess that just seems like we’re lumping everything together to try to find some trend, or even agenda. All-encompassing claims of liberalism make me wary without really parsing out the issues. It makes it easy to marginalize well-studied people on another side of a secondary issue (such as women in ministry).

By: Jared C. Wilson

Jared C. Wilson — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:18:32 +0000

Oh, I see what you mean. I cannot speak for Dr. Mohler, but I don’t believe he makes complementarianism a salvation issue. In the context of the article — where he then goes on to discuss homosexuality — I think he is making a more specific point similar to the one I’m making, which is that the trend is away from a biblical framework for big questions like these, everything from the exclusivity of Christ to the biblical teaching on gender roles.

By: Brad Haggard

Brad Haggard — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:13:07 +0000

In that quote from Mohler he moved from salvation by faith in one sentence to women in ministry in the next. They don’t seem to be related.