T4G Day One, Part Two

Next to speak was R.C. Sproul. Dr. Sproul's health did not allow him to travel to Louisville but he presented his talk live via video feed. Dr. Sproul was asked to reflect on his 50 years in the ministry and reveal what he has learned about the defense and confirmation of the gospel. His text was 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1. He said that this passages underscores the two principle problems in the church.

The first problem he identified is syncretism or synthesis. He argued that this has been a problem throughout the history of the church, reaching all the way back to Israel as they sought to synthesize the pagan religion of Canaan with Judaism. Dr. Sproul argued that the modern problem can be linked the 18th century and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant who sought to synthesize Christianity and naturalism. He then outlined how this started a pattern of syncretism that resulted in the loss of orthodox Christianity in some corners of the Christian church. Dr. Sproul argued that the church must embrace antithesis. The truth of Christianity cannot be synthesized; it is radical and the church must declare the unvarnished word of God.

The second problem, according to Dr. Sproul, is the loss of the essential gospel message. He points to a number of different manifestations of this. The first is the lordship salvation controversy that erupted in the 1980’s. He identified this dispute as an intramural debate within dispensational theology but said that what was disturbing was that any evangelical would argue that it was possible for one to embrace Jesus as Savior but not Lord; Dr. Sproul pointed to this as evidence that the gospel itself was under attack. He then pointed to the recent agreement know as “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.” Dr. Sproul pointed out that while no essential doctrinal gospel agreement exists between evangelicals and Catholics, a number of prominent evangelicals signed this document which claims that there is in fact essential agreement. Dr. Sproul sees this false unity as a degradation of the gospel. Finally he argued that in recent times a number of evangelicals have sought to improve the gospel by claiming that God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our life or by arguing that the gospel is given to give us purpose that with drive us. According to Dr. Sproul this shows that the gospel itself has been lost to much of evangelicalism.

Dr. Sproul gave two recommendations. He said that we must remember that the gospel has definite objective content. The gospel is about Jesus: who He is, what He has done and how His work is appropriated to sinners (grace alone, faith alone). He concluded by reminding us that if we seek to please men we are no longer a servant of Christ and that we cannot improve the gospel.

After a break for dinner we returned to listen to Dr. Albert Mohler. He looked at the numerous cultural force that press in on the church and, if not rejected, adjust the gospel message. Dr. Mohler identified 8 different trajectories that can produce theological disaster.

1. Modern trajectory - in this it is argued that what is presented in Scripture does not fit with what we know in the modern world. Those who embrace this believe that the church must demythologize itself if it is to be successful in this world. The modern mind thinks in terms of true and false and so must find a way to embrace Scripture without embracing what the believe to be untrue, such as the miracles of Jesus.
2. Postmodern trajectory - the postmodern mind argues that truth doesn't matter and that truth can be whatever you want it to be. They see doctrine as relevant for a community but not absolute.
3. Moral trajectory - those in this category believe that since the morality of the Bible does not fit our modern ethic that it must be abandoned. To the moral mind things like hell, depravity, wrath and judgment are untenable and must be rejected.
4. Aesthetic trajectory - these argue that many of the images in the Bible are ugly and must be rejected or modified (the cross is and example of ugly truth). Dr. Mohler argued that because of the fall man has lost the ability to truly understand what is beautiful and more often than not settles for what is pretty or gaudy. Thus much of Scripture does not measure up to their aesthetic ethic and is rejected.
5. Therapeutic trajectory - those who embrace therapy redefine sin as sickness and believe man needs treatment not redemption. For those one the therapeutic trajectory the Bible is turned into a self help manual.
6. Pragmatic trajectory - the pragmatic theologian judges doctrine by what works.
7. Emotional trajectory - there are many who judge doctrine on the emotional satisfaction it gives. Thus only those parts of Scripture that are emotionally uplifting are preached while those doctrines that might be deemed negative are ignored.
8. Materialist trajectory - this system uses Scripture and doctrine as a guidebook for achieving material fulfillment.

With all of these trajectories it would be easy to point to extreme examples, but Dr. Mohler warned that over time it is possible for all of us to experience "theological fatigue" (growing weary at having to preach the same truth over and over again with seemingly no affect) or simple embarrassment. One experiencing fatigue or embarrassment might give in to these trajectories. Dr. Mohler concluded by reminding us that it is not our task to convince the secular world of the reliability of the gospel, we are commanded to simply preach the word.