If you have ever been so lucky to have debate a secularist or atheist on the religion of the Founding Fathers, undoubtedly you have heard the retort, "All of the Founding Fathers were diests."
Likewise, from Christians--particularly evangelicals--you will hear that the all of the Founding Fathers were Christian...
Neither is true. The only Founding Father that could be labeled deist--actually believing something compatible with classic deism--is Thomas Paine, and Paine could be easily interpreted to have been atheist or agnostic as well. The rest were obviously theist. How do I know this?
Most of the prominent Founding Fathers that the secularists claim to be deists were George Washington, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and occasionally John Adams. However, when you read the consensus of all of these men, there is a theme and word that shows up in all of their writings: Providence.
Washington was not an evangelical. Frankin and Jefferson were not even orthodox to historic Christian beliefs. The secularist are right on this point. However, all of these men consistently use the word Providence (of God) in their personal writings. Mentioned also is God's favor towards the United States.
This poses a problem for the secularist: the concept of a provident God is incompatible with deism. One cannot be a deist and believe in the providence of God, for the former holds that God does not interact in the affairs of the world and the latter requires such action on God's part.
To read more: http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=878
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I'm sorry to have to do this in the middle of a thought but...
I have been searching through the world of internet trying to find someone in BR that will just preach the gospel or anyone that would know what that is, you know, without all the "latest" news. I can get that from the "daily paper", I just want to hear about Christ!
What in the world are you doing at IBC? How did you get there from seminary?
I am sorry for just going on it's just that I am so excited to know that there is someone else in this town who believes in the sovereignty of God, wow!
Does the preaching at IBC reflect the way you believe in any form or fashion?
We are starving for the pure,(and if it were possible but it's not) unadulterated preaching of the Word of God, Christ Jesus.
My husband has been in the ministry since 1987 and was a pastor in Slaughter from 1999-2003.
He stepped down when we found out that our daughter was with child,(my fabulous grandson).
Well,the short and/or the long of it is that we have been without a place to worship since then. We are pert-near dry bones by now and just need to hear the word of God preached.
Please forgive this intrusion and see this as an opportunity to pray for stragers.
Grace Fully,
Ann
o1ofthesheep@yahoo.com
Ann,
There are more people like that here in Baton Rouge than you think. My wife and I attend Foster Road Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. From what I have heard Friendship Baptist on Comite, Trinity Baptist on Woodale, and First Baptist Church in Clinton are all Reformed/Calvinist Baptist Churches. I’m sure Brent knows of a few more. You can find “Reformed/Calvinist-friendly” churches through some of the online directories here:
http://www.founders.org/misc/chlist.html
http://www.reformedreader.org/rbchurches.htm
http://carla_rolfe.blogspot.com/2006/12/get-listed.html
You are welcome to visit Foster Road Baptist anytime you wish. Sunday school is at 9:00AM and worship is at 10:15AM and 6:00PM every Sunday.
http://www.fosterroadbaptistchurch.org/
If you and your husband live in Slaughter, then Foster Road will likely be a closer fellowship for you two. Chris and I have talked on many occasions about Foster Road and it seems like a great place.
Istrouma is not Reformed in it's official positions. In fact, it is as vague as the Baptist Faith and Message in it's "official" stance on election and predestination. There are several (most members there have never even contemplated it) Reformed folk there, but most are not. In fact, I really wanted to get involved in the college group's apologetics class, and the person leading the class started the series with the problem of evil and stated a free-will defense for it.
I spoke with him about it after the class, and it was amicable, but I could tell from the conversation that my presence in that class will cause significant tensions, so I'm staying in the nearly-newly wed class with my wife--the reason we came to Istrouma in the first place.
There is no pastor at Istrouma at the moment. The previous pastor had Reformed leanings. We are getting guest preachers every week, and some have been great, others have been pretty shallow and trendy.
Here is what I love about Istrouma: the sense of community and service to it's members. I've yet seen a Baptist church do such a great job in serving its own. Albeit, this heavily depends on your Sunday School class.
What I don't like about Istrouma at the moment, is that it seems to get a little too caught up in trends for the sake of trends. One of the previous pastors was no-doubt a "seeker senstive" pastor. In fact, he got rid of invitationals, not because of "traditionalism" or biblical reasons, but because it might make people feel too uncomfortable. Most of the lay-leadership I know laugh about the foolishness of this now. The point is that sometimes the services can seem more about show and entertainment than worship and the imparting of truth.
Other services have been great.
Laura and I came to Istrouma primarily because we were starved for fellowship. The church where we served previously (as an interim youth minister) was so far away (and Foster Road is practically next door to it, and that is why we do not go there), that we really couldn't connect with the members outside of Sundays. There was also no pastor, and I was serving in the pulpit on occasion (which I loved), but in the end...Laura and I got burnt out. Service without genuine fellowship lead to feelings of isolation and fatigue.
The friendships we have gained at Istrouma--even though many of them are not Reformed or even contemplated the issue--have been extremely refreshing to us--and it has really nurtured our very young marriage.
As far as our future there, I am not sure. There are some circumstances, that I cannot go into at the moment, that may force us to leave. If the pastor that is called is hostile toward Calvinism, Laura and I will leave as well. If I take a teaching position and get my hand slapped for dicussing what Calvinism teaches, we will leave. As for this short moment, it is exactly what we need.
Before we joined, I spoke with the pastor of missions and membership, Pat Hand (a really great guy) about my Reformed convictions and asked him if I would be silenced if I ended up serving in a teaching role, and he said no. If would have said yes, Laura and I would not have joined.
BTW, I know some Reformed folks out in Slaugher: Rusty Bowser. I used to be great friends with his daughters Brittany and Laura. If you know them tell the hi. If you happen to be his wife, email me at
brent@brentrailey.com.
I will be praying for you and your family.
In Christ,
Brent
Well this is my first visit to this site. I can't express how proud I am of my nephew. Both he and his wife have large hearts and are great people. I will spare everyone of the stories of when he was young and those embarrassing pictures his mother, father, and I have around......... Well maybe to post someday ; }
Post a Comment