Blog Archive
for July, 2007
A Man, an Abortion, a Gospel
— Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 —
Last night, in the electronic piles of emails that buzz along on my computer, one message stood out, with a glory much older than electronic technology. The message read (edited to remove names and particulars):
“Dear Dean Moore,
“I just finished listening to a broadcast of a recent Albert Mohler radio show where you served as guest host for Dr. Mohler. The program had to do with the treatment of abortion by Hollywood, and the question you repeatedly raised was how we can stand up for the truth that abortion is a sin, yet have compassion for those who have ‘fallen’ to this sin.
“I was really touched by that because I am a 66 year old man who, 42 years ago before I was saved, helped a girl find an abortionist, paid for the abortion, and traveled with her to and from the abortionist. I thought I was the father, but later learned that I was not. At the time I was a doctoral candidate at an Ivy League school, and had a slew of incredible pressures on me: my father had recently died, cash was tight, and the Vietnam turmoil with its campus repercussions was going on.
Keep Reading...Back to the Future of Baptist Identity
— Thursday, July 19th, 2007 —
One of the most significant events of 2007 for Southern Baptists was, I think, the Baptist Identity Conference at Union University this past February. I was honored to give the Founders Day Address during this conference, largely because I think Union is the preeminent Baptist university in America under the leadership of President David Dockery. I must admit I was a little disappointed when I was given my topic, “Learning from the Life of T.T. Eaton.” Who even remembers Eaton, much less cares about his life and thought in the hyper-linked and hyper-active twenty-first century?
That disappointment was before I started spending time with Eaton. I don’t like everything about him, and I certainly don’t agree with everything about him. But the struggles of his day are eerily similar to the struggles of our own, and he did what he could to stand firm in the faith. He also had a sanctified pugnaciousness it is hard not to admire.
I have edited and posted a revised version of the paper on Eaton and the future of the Baptist past, which can be downloaded here in either PDF or Microsoft Word format.
A few things have changed since I delivered this paper.
Keep Reading...Jesus and Exodus
— Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 —
I just finished a series on Exodus, “Exit Strategy: The Gospel of Jesus in the Book of Exodus,” with “the Dean’s Class” at Ninth and O Baptist Church. The mp3s of the whole series are available here. I believe, as I do about the whole Bible, that the second Book of Moses is about Jesus of Nazareth, every syllable. The most striking thing about the Second Book of Moses, to me, as I moved through it every week is how it consistently reminds us that our God is personal.
The book is laid out between two arks and two fires. It starts with an ark in the water, carrying young Moses away from destruction, with God everywhere active but hidden. It ends with an Ark of the Covenant, carrying the Presence of Yahweh Himself, not vulnerable to attack but condescending to be with His people in their wandering. It begins with a fire speaking from a bush to the soon-to-be prophet/mediator, Moses. It ends with the fire of God’s glory over the Tabernacle, leading the people personally to the promise.
Sometimes I think that Christians of a more doctrinally-aware stripe (and, please Lord, increase the tribe!) are prone to a different kind of strategy from Screwtape and his ilk. We are often quite aware of the majesty and glory of God (to the degree that an Adamic sinner can be) that we can begin to think of God as an idea or, even worse, as a position that we hold. That’s why, I think, the most terrifying temptation for many of us is a sluggishness in prayer.
Keep Reading...Interracial Marriage and Emergent Truth
— Sunday, July 15th, 2007 —
On Friday, guest-hosting the Albert Mohler Program, I was able to have a conversation with Tony Jones, the national coordinator of Emergent Village. In defending his postmodernist vision of Christianity (truth is fluid; inerrancy is passe, and so forth), Tony argued that I actually was closer to his position than I realize, precisely because of my stance on interracial marriage.
On the previous Wednesday’s “Ask Anything Wednesday” show, a caller had asked about interracial marriage. I told the caller that the Scripture nowhere forbids interracial marriage, that the distinctions to worry about should be of the Spirit not the skin-color. Tony, rightly, observed that my great-grandfather would not have said that. My stance on interracial marriage ought to demonstrate to me, he argued, that truth is not “Platonically floating around somewhere” but is instead changing and growing.
My problem is that Tony’s understanding of truth as community-structured and located is exactly what was propping up the white supremacy of my ancestors, and it was something entirely different that knocked it down.
Keep Reading...The Church, the Kingdom, and Evangelical Theology
— Friday, July 13th, 2007 —
Seek first the Kingdom of God, yes. But what does this seeking have to do with your local church?
My assistant, Robbie Sagers, has written a thoughtful and persuasive paper on recent developments on this front in contemporary evangelical theology. Sagers argues that a renewed commitment to Kingdom ecclesiology can only strengthen the ongoing renaissance of Baptist ecclesiology, and can also address the very real challenges from some sectors of the “Emerging Church.”
Sagers and I are working on a couple of writing projects related to this issue, and this is a welcome contribution to the discussion, in my view, from one of the brightest up-and-coming theological minds in the Gen Y evangelical world.
Keep Reading...
