Soteriology 101 w/ Dr. Leighton Flowers

Dr. Leighton Flowers goes through the biblical uses of the word "dead" in the NT to clearly demonstrate that not once is it used to connote the idea of total innate moral inability to respond willingly to God Himself.  To support this ministry with a one-time gift or to become a regular contributor please visit OUR SUPPORT PAGE. To purchase Dr. Flower’s book, The Potter's Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology, CLICK HERE. For more articles and resources from Dr. Leighton Flowers please visit www.soteriology101.com

Dr. Leighton Flowers responds to an article by Dr. Tom Nettles of the Founders calling churches to "get a Calvinist Pastor." Dr. Flowers addresses the concern of church splits in the Southern Baptist Convention because Pastor Search Committees are often unaware of what some applicants believe about soteriology and God's genuine self-sacrificial love for all people. To support this ministry with a one-time gift or to become a regular contributor please visit OUR SUPPORT PAGE.   To purchase Dr. Flower’s book, The Potter's Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology, CLICK HERE.   For more articles and resources from Dr. Leighton Flowers please visit www.soteriology101.com

Dr. Eric Hankins, pastor of FBC Fairhope, AL and author the Traditionalist Statement, threw down the gauntlet at the SBC Annual meeting with a challenge for Traditionalists of the SBC to get involved! Dr. Hankins joins Dr. Flowers on the program to talk about the importance of "loyal opposition" within the SBC over the soteriological divide already present. What is next for Traditionalism? We can't lead in neutral. Dr. Hankins challenges all Traditionalists everywhere to get involved by (1) knowing what you believe and speaking out with kindness, courage and confidence, (2) Insist the the SBC leaders engage with the confessional conversation about the imbalance within the seminaries, and (3) show up to the conventions to vote and make your voice heard. Hankins said, "We are in the driver’s seat in terms of theological scholarship, and we need to start acting like it, speaking like it, and writing like it. Positively, we need to develop our soteriological convictions into a coherent system that is no longer beholden to the mistakes of Augustinian-Calvinist synthesis." For more on this topic please visit www.soteriology101.com To learn more about Rick Patrick and Connect 316 please visit: www.connect316.net

Dr. Leighton Flowers contrasts moderate or "lower" forms of Calvinism, as expressed by Packer, with the "higher" forms of Calvinism more prevalent today (Sproul/Piper). "Higher Calvinism" is more logically consistent with itself than the lower form expressed by Packer, which is clearly resting on a blatant contradiction (A = notA). Let's explore... To support this ministry with a one-time gift or to become a regular contributor please visit OUR SUPPORT PAGE.   To purchase Dr. Flower’s book, The Potter's Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology, CLICK HERE.   For more articles and resources from Dr. Leighton Flowers please visit www.soteriology101.com

Dr. Leighton Flowers goes point by point through RC Sproul's well known arguments for Unconditional Election in Romans 9. To support this ministry with a one-time gift or to become a regular contributor please visit OUR SUPPORT PAGE.   To purchase Dr. Flower’s book, The Potter's Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology, CLICK HERE.   For more articles and resources from Dr. Leighton Flowers please visit www.soteriology101.com

Dr. Flowers confronts an audio clip from an "Ask John Piper" podcast about whether or not God is ever surprised. Piper answers the question by going FAR beyond the scope of the scripture and undermining the biblical concept of foreknowledge by equating it with predetermination. Piper even goes so far to say, "God knows it (all future happenings) because He does it." Is this biblical or just the logical implications of a highly systematized Calvinistic worldview of meticulous divine determinism? Let's explore... You can listen to the full audio broadcast of Dr. Piper here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvpSkwUPnyk&t=464s

Why the label "Traditionalists?" What is soteriological traditionalism exactly? Dr. Leighton Flowers, Director of Apologetics for Texas Baptists, answers critics who oppose the label "Traditionalism" by explaining its intention. He also welcomes non-Southern Baptists to join Traditionalists by adopting this label as well, after all that the earliest tradition of the church did in fact affirm the libertarian freedom of the will. For more please visit www.connect316.net or www.soteriology101.com To support this ministry with a one-time gift or to become a regular contributor please visit OUR SUPPORT PAGE. To purchase Dr. Flower’s book, The Potter's Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology, CLICK HERE. For more articles and resources from Dr. Leighton Flowers please visit www.soteriology101.com

Dr. Leighton Flowers deals with the logical implications of the claims of Theistic Fatalism and Calvinism by responding to a clip from Dr. John Piper. Is Calvinism logically consistent with Fatalism but not the Bible? To support this ministry with a one-time gift or to become a regular contributor please visit OUR SUPPORT PAGE. To purchase Dr. Flower’s book, The Potter's Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology, CLICK HERE. For more articles and resources from Dr. Leighton Flowers please visit www.soteriology101.com

Drs. Leighton Flowers and Johnathan Pritchett (along with a video from NT Wright) discuss the first century tribal or collectivist culture as it relates to our hermeneutic in approaching controversial passages regarding soteriology. Dr. James Leo Garrett, an esteemed Southern Baptist scholar, wrote of a “Westernized hyper individualization” of certain biblical doctrines: "From Augustine of Hippo to the twentieth century, Western Christianity has tended to interpret the doctrine of election from the perspective of and with regard to individual human beings. During those same centuries the doctrine has been far less emphasized and seldom ever controversial in Eastern Orthodoxy. Is it possible that Augustine and later Calvin, with the help of many others, contributed to a hyper individualization of this doctrine that was hardly warranted …?" Let’s just be honest. We, as American Westerners, do tend to think everything is about us, the individual. We tend to read the text with an ego-centric bent. If someone tells the story of David slaying the giant, we see ourselves as the hero in that story and feel as if it is a lesson is about how we can slay the “giants” in our lives too. However, it’s much more likely that we are better represented by the Israelites hiding in fear while Christ, the actual hero of the story, slays our “giants.” And when we read of God setting certain people apart for noble tasks, we can tend toward a self aggrandizing interpretation of those text by assuming God must have set us, as individuals, apart in a similar manner. For instance, how often have you heard someone quote, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit” (Jn. 15:16) to prove that they were individually chosen to be effectually saved?   To support this ministry with a one-time gift or to become a regular contributor please visit OUR SUPPORT PAGE.   To purchase Dr. Flower’s book, The Potter's Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology, CLICK HERE.   For more articles and resources from Dr. Leighton Flowers please visit www.soteriology101.com  

Dr. Leighton Flowers and Dr. Braxton Hunter, President of Trinity Theological Seminary (www.trinitysem.edu), responds to the Doctrine and Devotion Podcast's on Reprobation (double predestination). For more on Dr. Hunter's work visit www.braxtonhunter.com To support this ministry with a one-time gift or to become a regular contributor please visit OUR SUPPORT PAGE.   To purchase Dr. Flower’s book, The Potter's Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology, CLICK HERE.   For more articles and resources from Dr. Leighton Flowers please visit www.soteriology101.com