Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Anti-intellectualism: Uneducated C.J. Mahaney & Joshua Harris

Ignorant and uneducated people are really easy to deceive

http://thewartburgwatch.com/2010/02/18/the-growing-scandal-of-uneducated-christians/
Posted on Thu Feb 18, 2010 by dee
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What do you get when sheep get a PhD? … Just stupid sheep with a PhD! Incredibly, J.D. Greear, a rising star in the SBC, included this question and answer in his sermon the day my husband and I visited The Summit. It appears this comment has been edited out of the sermon archive at the church web site.
C.J. Mahaney never got any degrees beyond high school. Joshua Harris was homeschooled and didn’t earn any further degrees. The Duggars have homeschooled their kids and the two oldest children, who are now college age, run a used car lot. Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis calls himself a creation “scientist”; yet he has never earned more than a bachelor’s degree. In case a reader might like to proclaim that Mahaney and Harris have created “The Pastor’s College” and by this are now educated, we at the TWW are not impressed. A nine-month education is not serious study in any field. This is only magnified by the fact that said attendees of the PC do not need a college education in order to enroll.
So what’s the problem? Quite simply, Mahaney, Harris, and others have not been tested in an objective manner. Mahaney calls himself a “pastor/athlete.” Just as Mr. Humility has named himself as head of SGM’s “apostolic team”, he has also named himself an athlete. To the best of our knowledge, his athleticism has not been tested. Did he play collegiate level sports in which he was part of a recognized team? Did he every try out for the Olympics? Mahaney simply declares himself an athlete. A real athlete moves up the ladder within sports. For example, my son who plays soccer has moved from recreational level soccer to what is called “Classic” soccer, which is achieved by both experience and tryouts. He now plays varsity high school soccer. To get to that level, he had to try out and advance through junior varsity soccer. He has elected not to try out for soccer in college. He has decided that it is neither his passion nor is he playing well enough for a college level team. He would laugh if you called him an “athlete.” He would claim to enjoy sports; he would claim to “mess around” with soccer; but he would never have the hubris to call himself a soccer athlete. He knows his limitations. He has played the sport and has been judged by his peers and his coaches.
Mahaney also regularly declares himself as one who studies Spurgeon, Calvin, the early church fathers, etc. He loves to quote such individuals and, as such, gives himself the cachet of understanding these vaunted individuals; however, he has never placed himself in a position to study under those who have made theology their life’s work. Those professors have gone through the Masters and Doctoral programs in which their very thoughts are closely judged by the tests they take and the papers they write. They must defend their thoughts during dissertations. And most have had to write and rewrite and revise their thoughts over years until they finally hold that degree that authenticates their years of study and hard work.
I have absolutely no idea just how deeply Mahaney has studied these theologians. It is far too easy to Google any of these guys and throw in a quote which Mahaney is famous for doing, especially in his books. Most folks take you at your word and far too impressed with those who quote “smart sounding” guys.
Ken Ham is able to give the appearance of being a “scientist.” The average person has no idea how difficult it is to obtain such a title in the real world. One must first earn a PhD. Then, one sets up a postdoctoral experience in which he/she conducts independent research. This research is turned into articles that are then published in journals such as Science and Nature. These journals have rigorous peer review to make sure that the data and conclusions stand up to scrutiny. Then, one has his/her own lab and his/her own grant money. Once again, Ham is guilty of (at the minimum) arrogance to include himself in these ranks. In the event there are members of the Young Earth (YE) crowd who are scanning for bias, Dr Kurt Wise, in the YE group, comes closest to matching this description. This is NOT a discussion on creationism.
The value of academic training is that it forces an individual to consider opposing views, to defend one’s point of view, and to prove that one understands what one is reading. Papers and debates give professors the ability to judge, challenge, or congratulate the budding student.
Mahaney has close contact with the likes of Al Mohler and John Piper. Shouldn’t that keep him on track? Our answer is a resounding, “No.” There is a good reason for this. Take, for example, Mahaney’s aversion to foreign missions. Approximately ten years ago, John Piper subtly chastised him for his lack of concern for missions. Funny thing about that, however. Nothing has changed whatsoever in Mahaney’s abysmal lack of appreciation for missions in the last ten years. In fact, this “apostle” considers his own churches “missions.” These are the ones he plants or “adopts” in areas with wealthy people and well established churches.
Why hasn’t Mahaney responded to Piper’s challenge to be more missional? Perhaps it’s because they speak at the same conferences and endorse each other’s books which points to the question of MONEY. Also, pastors appear to loathe criticizing other pastors which causes us to theorize that the ‘old boys’ clubs (women rarely allowed) is alive and well within Christendom.
When people become dependent on each other for income and notoriety, it is quite easy to overlook minor issues such as “calling each other on the carpet”. Mahaney is friends with Al Mohler, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, John MacArthur, Ligon Duncan, and the members of The Gospel Coalition and the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals — organizations to which he belongs. What amazes me is that Mahaney is quite cozy with the seminaries in the SBC, especially Southern Seminary. Heck, Mahaney makes graduates of SBTS, where his buddy Mohler is president, go through his nine month “Bible light” Pastors’ College (PC) since he obviously believes his college’s training trumps that of a real seminary. But, guess what? The PC gets people like Wayne Grudem to teach there (obviously, very part-time) so it must be OK, right? Hmmm, how much does he pay these guys to do this? Better yet, we would love to see how much money Mahaney has made Piper over the years to get him to shut up on the lack of missions and the allegations of abuse within Sovereign Grace Ministries.
In fact, it is most disconcerting to see that J.D. Greear recommends Mahaney’s books, Humility and Living the Cross Centered Life, on his blog. The latter illuminates Mahaney’s view on sin. In fact, it is his view of sin that deeply troubles us. We believe that Mahaney’s lack of education may have led to his conclusions. We also believe that Mahaney’s method of control of the people in his churches stems from his limited view of atonement. We also might suspect that it is Mahaney’s conclusions that cause folks like Greear to approve of Living the Cross Centered Life.
Here is what we mean. Mahaney stops the Christian walk at the cross. He meditates on our sin and how we are so sinful, yet he rarely understands the depths of our sin. He points to the need for the cross as his proof. Yet, he forgoes mentioning what actually happened on the cross. Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. But, He also said that “It is finished.” Mahaney gives short shrift to the resurrection and the fact that we are now, “Free, free, indeed.”
“Free, indeed” means that Jesus calls us all into the priesthood of the believers. This is a scary thing to control freaks like Mahaney. Don’t believe that he is? Just read the myriad of survivors’ sites that tell tale after tale of control and pain. So many blogs, so much smoke, so there must be fire! (Try just one – sgmsurvivors.com).
We believe that Greear may be cut from the same cloth. Let’s revisit the quote at the top of this post. Greear preaches in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, which is home to Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State and other colleges and universities as well as the home to great high tech and pharmaceutical companies such as SAS and Glaxo. It is also home to the greatest college basketball on the planet and, may we say, C.J., you ain’t no Michael Jordan. The Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) has the highest concentration of PhDs in the country! The great Francis Collins (Christian, head of the National Institite of Health, and leader of the Human Genome Project) trained here, Duke and UNC conduct world class, cutting edge research in many areas such as oncology and cardiology.
Greear is letting all of us know that we are nothing more than a bunch of sinful sheep, and it doesn’t matter how smart we are. How very sad! It is worth noting that The Summit is a “young” church in more ways than one. The congregation has a large constituency of college students who love to hear their “shepherd” put their professors in their place! It’s highly unlikely that many professor types attend his church.
God gave us our intellects to explore this world that we have been given. Greear, however, wants to put us in our place. We are just dumb sheep. But, he is the pastor and he somehow gets a pass on this “dumb” issue. Therefore, he can let all of us know just how sinful we, the sheep, are so we better shut up and listen to him. Oh, and don’t try and tell him how to run his church.
J.D., there is a better way to say this, but perhaps it is more threatening to you. Yes, we are all sinful; but so are you. God has given each one of us the following: a mind, reasoning ability, compassionate hearts, the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, and love. Together, as the community of the forgiven, we all bear the mark of God, and believe it or not He speaks through ALL of us.
So, instead of denigrating the calling that God has given to those who have been called to higher learning, why don’t you rejoice in the blessing that God has brought such gifted people into your midst and figure out how to use their gifts to further the kingdom? Did you know that there is a science professor at UNC-CH who has formed a student/faculty Christian fellowship that meets once a month for encouragement and evangelism. Also, the next time, include yourself, front and center, in the dumb sheep with a PhD. Or, do you believe that you are just a bit better or have been given a secret gift that eludes the rest of us sheep?
TWW highly recommends Mark Noll’s seminal book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Noll published this book in 1994, and his words resonate in 2010. In fact, was he a prophet exhorting us to a great calling? He says that Christians have dumbed down the Gospel, have entered a holy huddle, and have eschewed the universities and the arts, leaving education to those who do not follow the One Who created our minds. We reap the consequences of this in a society that increasingly forgets the role of faith in the public square. Why not? Christians have deserted rigorous study and have settled for silly little sermons like Ed Young, Jr.’s sermon on “Sex for Seven Days.” EGADS, no wonder the world looks down on our intelligence. Then Christians complain that atheists run the universities. Well, who among them studied enough to stop this from happening? This public square will not listen to uneducated men like Ken Ham and C.J. Mahaney. They respect those who have done the work to achieve higher education. Folks like Francis Collins and Dr. John Lennox of Oxford have done the work and have earned the right to be heard.
Christians such as Francis Collins, Michael Card (who writes a Christian music and is working on a PhD in Classical Literature) , Walt Kaiser (PhD from Brandeis University and President of Gordon Conwell), and many, many others have studied hard and opened themselves up to peer review and criticism. We admire those within Christian circles who have had the courage to submit their views and thinking to objective scrutiny within the institutes of higher learning where they know they will be challenged.
We join with Dr. Noll and others to implore Christians in positions of prominence not to denigrate higher learning. In fact, we believe that folks like Mahaney should be encouraging higher education. We also believe that Christians need to enter into all aspects of our society and show the world that are not afraid to enter the debate on any level. Richard Dawkins might think Christians are delusional, but he must admire Francis Collins who has achieved more in the world of science than most any other scientist alive. And this has earned him the right to be heard.
Just to show how easy it is to pretend like we know all about Spurgeon and Galileo, we leave you with some Googled quotes. Are you impressed, yet?
“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is knowledge of our own ignorance”.
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
(http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/quotes.html)

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