Humanity and Sin (Session 1)

Well, my H&S class begins next week through Reclaiming the Mind Ministries. I got a jump start today by looking at the first lesson.

Why Did God Create Man?
Session one covers a question that has been asked for a very long time. Why did God create man? It’s funny, before I went to study session one this afternoon, I posted this question on Facebook asking if anybody had any ideas as to why God created us. No one responded. No ideas! In this lesson the importance of the doctrine of humanity is discussed. What you believe about humanity affects your views in so many areas. Your theology, politics, sociology and how you view yourself are all areas that are affected.

Willing to Believe (Part 2)

In Chapters one and two of Willing to Believe we looked at the opposing views of Pelagius and Augustine. Pelagius believed that we are capable of obedience while Augustine said we were not. It all seemed to center around this issue of original sin and it’s affects on humanity.

The New Birth

The new birth is not salvation? This was the troubling question on my heart as we covered the doctrine of regeneration one evening in Bible Doctrine III class. I had always thought that being born again was the same as being saved or justified and was a result of faith? The Reformed understanding of the Ordo Salutis (order of salvation) was about to challenge me to re-examine my belief. The purpose of this paper will be to briefly examine the Ordo Salutis in relation to which comes first, regeneration or faith?

Willing to Believe (Part 1)

In preparation for my upcoming Humanity and Sin class, I have started reading a book called “Willing to Believe: The Controversy over Free Will” by R.C. Sproul. The book is an attempt to cover the free-will controversy from its beginning in the fifth century to the present. The book will look at the questions of what is the role of the will in believing the gospel and why has there been so much controversy over free-will in church history?

I personally can’t wait until we get into this in class! There is so much riding on this issue. How you answer the question about Original sin and free-will ultimately will shape so much of your theology. The book begins with a quote from J.I Packer and O.R. Johnston, “Here was the crucial issue: whether God is the author, not merely of justification, but also of faith”.

Pelagius and Augustine

“We, who have been instructed through the grace of Christ and born again to a better manhood…ought to be better than those who were before the law, and better also than those who were under the law.” (Pelagius)