The Complete and Utter Farce of Evangelical "Scholarship"

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The Complete and Utter Farce of Evangelical
"Scholarship"

• Darrel Henschell

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• BEWARE OF PHILOSOPHYA WARNING TO BIBLICAL
  SCHOLARSby Norman L. Geisler, Ph.D.
• An address to The Evangelical Theological
  Society November 19, 1998

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Favorite Howler (of many) "Historical evidence
that Jesus was supernaturally conceived of a
virgin is more than substantial. Indeed, there
are more eyewitness contemporary records of the
virgin birth than for most events from the
ancient world." (Geisler, _Baker Encyclopedia of
Christian Apologetics_, pg. 764)
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Can the Bible be wrong?

• The answer to this question is found in another
  Can Jesus be wrong? Absolutely not! Jesus is the
  Son of God. He said that the Bible is the Word of
  God. The Word of God cannot err. Therefore, the
  Bible cannot err.
• --Billy Grahams Decision magazine, January 1995.

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Beware of Philosophy?

• philosophy Love and pursuit of wisdom by
  intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
  --American Heritage

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Beware of Wisdom?

• wisdom
• The ability to discern or judge what is true,
  right, or lasting insight.
• American Heritage

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Geislers Intro

• Why We Must Beware of Philosophy
• Paul's exhortation to beware of philosophy
  (Col. 28) are appropriately applied to other
  alien systems of thought that have invaded
  Christianity down through the centuries since
  then.

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Current Philosophies

• Beware of Naturalism
• Naturalism is the philosophy that denies there
  are supernatural interventions in the world. It
  is at the root of modern negative biblical
  criticism

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Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677)

• Spinoza's naturalism led directly to the first
  modern systematic negative criticism of the
  Bible. It has had a devastating effect on
  biblical interpretation.

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David Hume

• The results of Hume's philosophical naturalism
  have been disastrous for Christianity. As they
  say, the rest is history. Or better, the rest is
  the destruction of history--particularly
  miraculous history recorded in Scripture.

(1711-1776)
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Rudolph Bultmann

• Rudolph Bultmann (1884-1976) turned Gospel
  history into religious mythology. Why? Because,
  in his words, he believed it would be both
  senseless and impossible not to recognize the
  Gospels as myth.

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Beware of Agnosticism

• The great German thinker, Immanuel Kant
  (1724-1804) claimed to have been awakened from
  his dogmatic slumbers by David Hume, not to
  skepticism but to agnosticism. .
•  
• Considering the immense influence of Kant on the
  modern world, we see once more the importance of
  our thesis to beware of philosophy.

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Beware of Evolutionism

• Many thinkers labor under the illusion that
  evolution is an empirical science when in fact it
  is a philosophy.
• The result of the philosophy of evolutionism
  has been catastrophic for biblical and
  theological studies. The historicity and
  scientific accuracy of the Genesis record has
  been denied.

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Beware of the Philosophy of Progressivism
Beware of Existentialism few have done more from
within the evangelical fold to methodologically
undermine historic orthodoxy than Kierkegaard.

• Beware of Phenomenology

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• Beware of Conventionalism
• since this truth claim all meaning is
  relative is itself both self-defeating and
  incompatible with evangelical theology, then we
  must beware of the philosophy of
  conventionalism.

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Beware of Processism

• in the name of proper biblical exegesis many
  evangelical theologians have forsaken the
  absolutely omniscient and unchanging God of
  historic orthodoxy for a God who not only changes
  His mind but who does not even know for sure what
  will happen in the future.

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Momentary digressionGod might not know the
future?

• And it repented the LORD that he had made man on
  the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
  Gen. 66
• And the LORD repented of the evil which he
  thought to do unto his people.
• Exod. 3214

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• ...and the LORD repented that he had made Saul
  king over Israel. 1 Sam. 1535
• And God saw their works, that they turned from
  their evil way and God repented of the evil,
  that he had said that he would do unto them and
  he did it not. Jonah 310

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• ...for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing
  thou hast not witheld thy son, thine only son
  from me. Gen. 2212
• ...the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in
  the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove
  thee, to know what was in thine heart...
• Deut. 82

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• Beware of Ockhamistic Nominalism
• the fact that some evangelicals have bought
  into this alien view reveals the need to beware
  of philosophy.

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• Beware of Platonic Allegorism
• Beware of Aristotelianism
• Beware of the Philosophy of Anthropological
  Monism

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How to Beware of Philosophy

• My first piece of advice is this
• Avoid the Desire to Become a Famous Scholar
• There seems to be an almost irresistible
  temptation among many scholars, particularly
  younger ones, to make a name for themselves. In
  biblical terms this is the sin of pride of which
  Holy Scripture warns us.

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Avoid the Temptation to Be Unique

• by its very nature a doctoral dissertation is
  usually supposed to be an original contribution
  to knowledge. But if the scholar is to make a
  discovery that no one else has ever made, then it
  is an almost irresistible temptation to
  congratulate oneself for being the originator of
  this new truth.

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Do Not Dance on the Edges

• Do not see how far the borders of evangelicalism
  can be stretched to accommodate the latest
  scholarly fad. Do not flirt with the latest
  critical methodology.

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Steer Right to Go Straight

• The only way to keep on the straight orthodox
  path is to keep turning to the right. Churches,
  schools, and even evangelical scholarship will
  naturally go left, unless they are deliberately
  turned to the right. The prevailing winds of
  doctrine blow against us. And if we are to resist
  them we must have a firm grip on the wheel of the
  Good Ship Evangelism and steer it to the right.

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Do Not Trade Orthodoxy for Academic Respectability

• As evangelical scholars we must learn to bear,
  if necessary, the offense of being called
  fundamentalists, obscurantists, and
  theologically dinosauric, along with the
  offense of the Gospel.

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Reject any Methodology Inconsistent with the
Bible or Good Reason.
one philosophy after another led those who
embrace the wrong method into undesirable and
even disastrous cul-de-sacs.
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Always Choose Lordship Over Scholarship

• If Jesus was the Son of God which the New
  Testament confirms that He was, then whatever He
  affirmed about the Old Testament, is absolutely
  true. Indeed, Jesus claimed divine authority for
  His teaching (Matt. 2818-20). Since every true
  evangelical believes this, there should be no
  hesitation, whenever there is a conflict to
  choose ancient Lordship over modern scholarship.

Circular reasoning a use of reason in which the
premises depends on or is equivalent to the
conclusion, a method of false logic by which
"this is used to prove that, and that is used to
prove this" also called circular logic
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Do Not Allow Morality to Determine Methodology

Herein stands the great challenge of the
Christian scholar not only to live
Christocentrically but to think
Christocentrically.
Goosestep n. a special way of marching with the
legs lifted high and straight
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Conclusion

• In the final analysis, preserving orthodoxy is
  not a purely intellectual matter. It is spiritual
  warfare.
• The enemy of our soul wants also to deceive
  our minds. He desires to destroy good teaching
  which leads to good living.
• To use a medical analogy, the person most
  likely to catch a disease is one who does not
  understand it and thus takes no precautions
  against it. After all, doctors do not wear gloves
  and masks to hide warts and moles.

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• William Craig deserves special mention, since he
  not only did master's and doctoral work in
  philosophy but also in New Testament and
  theological studies. Younger scholars like this,
  with their orthodox theological commitment and
  philosophical sophistication, are in a position
  to avoid the theological errors into which
  philosophically untrained biblical scholars too
  often fall.

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Is W. L. Craig interested in wisdom and truth?

• "The Bible says all men are without excuse. Even
  those who are given no good reason to believe and
  many persuasive reasons to disbelieve have no
  excuse, because the ultimate reason they do not
  believe is that they have deliberately rejected
  God's Holy Spirit."
• William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith Christian
  Truth and Apologetics, (Revised edition),
  Wheaton, IL Crossway, 1994, p. 37.

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• "Should a conflict arise between the witness of
  the Holy Spirit to the fundamental truth of the
  Christian faith and beliefs based on argument and
  evidence, then it is the former which must take
  precedence over the latter, not vice versa."
• William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith Christian
  Truth and Apologetics, (Revised edition),
  Wheaton, IL Crossway, 1994, p. 36.

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• "...the role of rational argument in knowing
  Christianity to be true is the role of a servant.
  A person knows Christianity is true because the
  Holy Spirit tells him it is true, and while
  argument and evidence can be used to support this
  conclusion, they cannot legitimately overrule
  it. W.L. Craig, Ibid., p. 37-8

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• Some people... say that reason can at least be
  used... at least by the unbeliever. They ask how
  else could we determine which is true, the Bible,
  the Koran, or the Baghavad-Gita, unless we use
  argument and evidence to judge them? Now I've
  already answered that question the Holy Spirit
  teaches us directly which teaching is really from
  God...
• Reasonable Faith Christian Truth and Apologetics
  William Lane Craig (Wheaton, Ill Moody Press,
  1994), p. 37

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• The ministerial use of reason occurs when reason
  submits to and serves the gospel. Only the
  ministerial use of reason can be allowed. Reason
  is a tool to help us better understand and defend
  our faith."
• Reasonable Faith Christian Truth and Apologetics
  William Lane Craig, Crossway Books, Wheaton, Ill,
  1984, pg. 37

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When these evangelical scholars are cornered.

• GEISLER HOWEs favorite circular argument
• Because,"the Bible clearly declares itself to be
  theWord of God."And since,"It the Bible
  also informs us that Godcannot err."We are to
  believe,"The conclusion, then, is inevitable.
  TheBible cannot err."

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• Your complete inability to think critically
  renders your responses laughable. Your prejudice
  is the only thing you have, and you will cling to
  it to the bitter end. I am not interested in the
  least in debating or conversing with you. Contact
  me when you actually learn something about Greek,
  Hebrew, and logical thinking.
•   Tom Howe

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"There are Bible scholars, and there are
fundamentalists." Nick Cardell, Unitarian
Minister