I recognize you addressed Don and not me, but I don’t believe that denouncing means name-calling or imprecatory statements. Don’t you see that as kind of a jump? There is something between a whisper and a scream. I see the Scriptural pattern is to confront as sin or false doctrine and practice and then wait for repentance. We can still treat them civilly, but Jesus came to separate people, even family members. I don’t usually get the confrontation myself, so I would be glad to get this treatment. Something else is confusion, like I think Don is at least nuancing above. ;-)

I don’t believe that we have a pattern in Scripture of taking the bad and the good. We confront the bad. The good doesn’t justify the bad. This isn’t a shot, but I don’t believe people that compromise are more humble. I know CJ Mahaney has written a lot on humility and when I’ve seen him on tape he’s got what looks like a humble way of acting. Ultimately, humility relates to God more than us, and we aren’t humble when we go ahead and let Godspell happen.

If you think that is what I am pointing at, then you have totally misread what I am saying… or asking, as it were.

I think you know enough about my views of Mahaney et al to know that I don’t think they should be used or recommended to our people. I don’t think we should communicate that opposition in a belligerent or ungodly way, but we should clearly oppose what needs opposing.

When trumpets give uncertain sounds, what are the people to do?

Regards
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

What’s to discuss? It’s plainly sinful. They can excuse it and will, and we should have nothing to do with them. If they were truly humble, they would never do this.

A perfect preservation of Scripture position based on biblical presuppositions will get savagely denounced, mocked, and laughed at by fundamantalists, but Charismatic, CCM CJ Mahaney and his troupe get coddled.

Have I been clear?

I think Chris was clear enough on his point [especially initially] – but I am wondering about the overall point. I read about ten blogs by men who hold a fundamentalist label to one extent or another. Many of them tout the works of men like this, encouraging people to read them, use them as guides, etc.

My questions are probing whether this is legitimate or not.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Perhaps because Chris used his oxgoad to push “oxen” rather than wallop them means in your mind that the average believer would not get Chris’s point?

But please don’t misunderstand my questions. I realize that the evangelical raised the “d” word. I don’t think Chris is engaging in dialogue as defined. But I don’t think anyone reading the discussion would really know the answers to my questions either.

As I said, Chris started strong. But the ensuing discussion leaves unanswered the questions I ask. What really should be the average believer’s attitude to charismatics that produce Godspell and Joseph and claim to be faithful followers of the Word?

Can you see in the discussion where that question has been answered at all? And if it has, is the answer edifying for the believer?

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Chris’s comments in response to Dave sounded nothing like your definition of dialogue–there was no thesis-antithesis-synthesis that occurred, which is the process and result of the dialogue you described.

Maybe the problem is Chris didn’t express his sentiments in a manner that you would have?

As for your assessment of the comments, I think that if you read Chris’s responses he expresses clear disagreement with the problem he addressed.

Last, regarding the questions left unanswered in your mind, particularly the last three, was that the purpose of the the post in question? Again, maybe the problem lies with the fact that Chris is being Chris, not Don Johnson.

I really didn’t see much progress towards any kind of definitive understanding. I thought you started strong, but the subsequent … discussion? commentary? … seemed to fizzle a bit.

Would anyone have a definitive idea how a fundamentalist should react to a Christian producing such a show? Or having produced similar shows in the past?

Should a Bible believing Christian admire such ministries or not? Should they stay away from them entirely? Should they recommend them to others? Should they warn others?

None of these questions were clearly answered by the subsequent discussion as far as I can tell.

Regards
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3