Hi, Matt!

1. The foundations of the life of all beings and of the existence of any entity
other than God is God.

2. The foundation for the saving of sinners and the guidance of them in their
growth and preservation of them in their faith all the
way to Glory is God.

3. The ultimate author of the Scripture is God, down to the very words and the
syntax. He sovereignly provided a standard for the
world and especially His people in the world. So the foundation for all
finality of what God has spoken and what He expects of His
people is to be found in Scripture. Human understanding is fallible but the
Scripture written through fallible humans under the
guidance of the Infallible God is an infallible book! This si why there needs
to be hard work on our part in studying the Bible!

Modernism and postmodernism are fixated on secular foundationalism which is all
about secular epistemology, which is itself, hostile to
God. Attacks on the authority of Scripture are attacks made by those who are
coming from a point of being other than having their
hearts opened and renewed by the Holy Spirit of God who regenerates haters of
God into lovers of God and who brings them to see that
the words in Scripture, the sentences, the syntax come from Him. Calvin is
correct that the Holy Spirit, the ultimate author of the
Bible, internally witnesses in the hearts of the regenerate that He is the
author of the Scripture and the regenerated person receives
this as a matter both of his faith but also of his ongoing experience when he
finds as he does that the Bible is a main factor, and in
many different ways, in his interactive ongoing communication with God.

I went to seminary around the same time you did!

Welcome aboard and thanks for jumping into the conversation!

Blessings,

Jon

RecoveringOne@... wrote:

> Hello all,
> I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul from II Timothy 2:15-18
> & 3:16-17
>
> Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God
> not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the
> hearers.
> 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does
> not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
> 16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further
> ungodliness,
> 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus
> and Philetus,
> 18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection
> has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.
>
> the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
> 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for
> reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
> 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
>
> The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The
> Lockman Foundation) 1996.
>
> I have been a pastor in a holiness pentecostal church, despite the fact
> that my theological background is Reformed Calvinism. I was in Bible school
> and seminary, when the book, "The Battle for the Bible" was written. I was
> also very much aware of Francis Schaeffer's defense of Inerrancy/authority of
> Scriptures. I am aware of the theological tensions, and whom is to be
> labeled on what spectrum. However tolerant I am of such issues of many
> theological issues, such as who is saved, lost, damned; whom is to be
> baptized in what mode, etc., I totally would declare that anyone who feels
> that the Bible is not infalliable--I still like the word, inerrant, is not
> evangelical, no matter how many layers of sheepskin they put on! The last
> theological watershed was fought and lost over the infalliability of the
> Scriptures. Once the authority of Scripture is called into question,
> theology really becomes a free for all: a war of words! Then it does not
> matter, if I call you evangelical or neo-liberal, for if I have no basis to
> call you into error, then all I can do is to mumble, mumble, mumble, that
> perhaps, I am reading the wrong Bible and apologize for being politically
> incorrect.
>
> Matt
>
>
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