2006-07-27

Fide-o is no longer "Truly Reformed"

There are three Christian bloggers I have had issues with over the past year - Tim Challies, Frank Turk and the boys at Fide-o.

Although I have been annoyed by the shortfalls of Internet Monk Michael Spencer and the gang at the Borg's Head, I sort of began to side with them when they were being pilliored by people like Turk and Fide-o. For various reasons, I decided that I would no longer visit Challies or Frank Turk, but I kept on with Fide-o.

Fide-o are "Truly Reformed" (a Borg's head perjorative) because they were aligned closely with John MacArthur's brand of theology - American Baptist, Calvinist and Dispensationalist (ABCD for short).

I don't know why I kept visiting Fide-o but I did. I had a bad attitude towards them and occasionally vented steam at them in comments theads.

But now they are one of my "Bloggers I respect", why?

Simple - Jason Robertson, one of the Fide-o crew, has jettisoned Dispensationalism and embraced Covenant Theology.

It's a big move. Jason wrote an article in 2005 arguing for a pre-trib eschatological viewpoint, and has now changed completely.

I should've realised a month or two back when I read about Jason's rejection of abstinence that things were up - if he was a Macarthur fanboy he would've parroted Macarthur's anti-alcohol stance. He didn't. Now he has embraced Covenant Theology (with an obvious Baptist disclaimer) and rejected a theological system that had a major influence on his Christian faith and teaching.

Why? Because he discovered that Covenant Theology is scriptural, while Dispensationalism is not.

In the past, when I felt annoyed at them, I would taunt the Fide-o guys by thanking them for defending the six solas - an obviously narky response that accused them of majoring on the minors and not even living up to the stated aim of their blog's name.

Jason, like me, believes in Sola Scriptura - that the bible is sufficient. I'm fairly certain that it was Jason who coined the phrase "In the 20th century, the battle was over the Bible's inerrancy. In the 21st century, the battle will be over the Bible's sufficiency." It's an adage that I think will be borne out as the evangelical church continues to fragment and mutate in the coming years.

And, by adhering to the sufficiency of scripture, Jason Robertson has been changed. It's obviously a radical change (and one which probably goes too far since he says he believes in Postmillenialism, but I'm waiting for a detailed explanation of what he means by it).

Does this mean that Jason and the others at Fide-o are no longer "Truly Reformed"? I don't think Michael Spencer and the Borg's head guys are suddenly going to kiss and make up - although the Frank Turk / Michael Spencer joint article a while back indicates that anything could happen.

As for me, I don't regret letting the Fide-o guys know what I think. I believe they probably went too far in being too doctrine-anal and that my "six solas" taunts were justified. Nevertheless I now realise what a blessing Fide-o has become, and reminds me yet again that God often surprises us when he works.

4 comments:

Craig Schwarze said...

Heya, this is good news.

Infant baptism often follows on the heels of covenantalism too... ;-)

Jason Robertson said...

Keep your hands off my babies! No, Craigs, I am a Baptist, and I understand and respect my paedobaptist brothers.

BTW, concerning my Postmil label. I used that in reference to my new view of the Second Coming as opposed to my old Dispy view. I wasn't actually speaking of my eschatology -- and I know I should have worded that better.

That post was specifically about my departure from Dispy to CT. I have a follow-up post on my eschatology. I do not believe in a "Golden Age" or Theonomy like the Postmillers, so that leaves me only one place to go - Amil.

Stay tuned for the post. And thanks for the encouragment. For those who have always been CT and such they probably do not realize the joy that comes to a theologian when he makes major shifts like this. I really have been having a good time!

Ultimately it was a hermeneutical thing. Theologically I have always believed much of this. But from a Biblical (hermeneutically speaking) position I tried to unite what I believed with what I was taught. Now the battle is over!!

Come Fail Away said...

I've bounced around a bit as well, from Dispy to Pre-Mil Post Trib, but I am becoming more and more intrigued by the Amil stance.

But what of the tribulation? Could it be that seven years is not necessarily seven years, but a time period used to signify the completion of time God allows sin to reign in the world? Is there room for a tribulation within the Amil position?

Hmm...

Anonymous said...

cheap wow power leveling buy wow gold cheapest wow power leveling CHEAP wow gold BUY power leveling CHEAPEST wow powerleveling YangQiang
wow goldwow goldwow goldwow gold