OK, I need to take a break.
I really can’t take any more of this right now….
OK, context! Yes, dear reader, you need context to such a statement.
Very well.
I am planning on taking a class at a local church about faith in everyday life. Part of the class involves reading a book, an introduction to systematic theology, by a very conservative theologian by the name of John M. Frame. It is called Salvation belongs to the Lord. and I have been reading it in preparation for the class.
Why am I taking this class? Well, partly because I am interested in learning about theology from an insider’s perspective. But I also want to sit in and hear discussions among Christians and hear what they have to say, so that I am better informed about what people think about such things.
I intend to say little, and I will not lie about my views but will not offer them, at least at first. If I am asked directly, I have decided not to hide who I am and why I am there, but otherwise I intend to listen a lot.
So, why am I so frustrated? Because this book proposes a literalitic and conservative view of the Bible that is so absurd, so constraining, and so repressive that I can only take it small bits at a time.
We must, argues Frame, submit our will, intellect, and emotions to God’s will. There is no ability to think for ourselves, especially if we are to question anything the Bible says.
We did not evolve. He spent about 3/4 of a page discussing evolution and merely dismissed it on the basis that it is not in accordance with Scripture.
I could go on. I won’t. In the coming weeks I will discuss this class, our discussions within, and perhaps sections of the book. for now, I just wanted to rant for a moment before I tore the book in half and ran screaming into the night.
Salvation Belongs to not reading this crap anymore…
Yet I will persevere.
Skepticism, Properly Applied 