Restitutio

Have you ever been on a long drive in the summer when you wore sunglasses for hours and hours?  It’s getting dark and then suddenly you realize you’re still wearing sunglasses.  You take them off and the whole world brightens and  you realize it’s not nearly as dark as you thought?  This is the nature of looking through a lens–it colors your perception of reality.  Today, we are beginning a two part series to talk about lenses through which we read scripture.  What’s your hermeneutic or interpretation strategy? Today we’ll focus on the view known as dispensationalism, championed by Dallas Theological Seminary, the Way International, many Baptists, Charismatics, and non-denominational churches as well as theologians like Charles Ryrie, C. I. Scofield, and E. W. Bullinger.  We’ll get into what this system entails in just a moment, but let me first introduce my guest. John Truitt grew up in California and Texas converting to Christianity as a Methodist at 14. After a few years of not attending church, at 21 he converted to biblical unitarianism in the shadow of the Way International through an ex-Way group and learned to read the bible in line with classic dispensationalism.  Later on he joined Spirit and Truth Fellowship and even served on the board for a number of years.  After this, Truitt co-founded Allegiance to the King, a web-based ministry with over 150 video teachings, regular virtual church video-conferencing meetings, and an annual young adult event in Kentucky.  Truitt is also the founder and owner of Kalleo Technologies, a managed IT service provider company, based out of Paducah, Kentucky. Today he’s going to talk to us about dispensationalism.  Whether that’s where you’re coming from or not, this interview should broaden your understanding of the topic. —— Books —— Progressive Dispensationalism by Craig Alan Blaising Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants by Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum (also see God’s Kingdom through Covenant: A Concise Biblical Theology) Progressive Covenantalism by Stephen Wellum and Brent Parker Dispensationalism and the History of Redemption by Jeffrey Bingham and Glenn Kreider The Last Days of Dispensationalism: A Scholarly Critique of Popular Misconceptions by Alistair Donaldson Three Central Issues in Contemporary Dispensationalism: A Comparison of Traditional & Progressive Views by Darrell Bock, Elliott Johnson, Herbert Bateman, e

Are spiritual gifts available today or did they cease after the original apostles died?  In this interview, I talk to Dr. Sam Storms about his own personal experience with speaking in tongues, his biblical case for why gifts are available today, and how he makes room for them in his church services.  Before delving in, I want to just clarify some quick vocabulary.  You are going to hear two terms a lot, and I want to be sure you know what they mean.  The first is cessationist.  This is someone who believes spiritual gifts ceased with the death of the apostles.  The other term is continuationist, which is someone who believes these manifestations continue right down to our own day. Dr. Sam Storms has a Ph. D. from the University of Texas and has pastored for about forty-five years in Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.  He taught at Wheaton College for four years and now serves as the lead pastor of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  He’s the founder of Enjoying God Ministries and serves on the boards of Desiring God Ministries, Bethlehem College and Seminary, and Acts 29 Network.  He’s the author of numerous published books and articles (see below).  He describes himself as “an Amillennial, Calvinistic, charismatic, credo-baptistic, complementarian, Christian Hedonist who loves his wife of 47 years, his two daughters, his four grandchildren, books, baseball, movies, and all things Oklahoma University.” —— Books —— Language of Heaven: Crucial Questions about Speaking in Tongues by Sam Storms Understanding Spiritual Gifts: A Comprehensive Guide by Sam Storms (not yet released) Practicing the Power: Welcoming the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Your Life by Sam Storms Simply Spirit Filled by Andrew Gabriel —— Links —— Find out more about Enjoying God Ministries and Sam Storms at samstorms.org Check out the Bridgeway Church website Listen to David Bercot’s lecture, “What the Early Christians Believed about the Gifts of the Spirit“ See more Restitutio resources on the holy spirit Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Today, we are publicly announcing the launch of a new para-church organization called the UCA or the Unitarian Christian Alliance.  This is a new ministry that I’ve been working on with Dale Tuggy, Kegan Chandler, and Mark Cain for months and I believe it will help all of us, but especially those who don’t live near a church that allows for biblical unitarian members.  Currently the UCA is a website and a conference, though we are hoping it will grow to be much more.  The site is unitarianchristianalliance.org and it’s where you can register to be found by others looking for fellowship with one-God believers.  The conference is slated for the Fall of 2020 in the Nashville, TN area.  I’ll get you more details about that once we settle on a venue and a date. I hope that if you are a unitarian Christian–someone who believes the Father of Jesus is the only true God–you’ll sign up.  It’s free and raising your hand to be counted will help others find you so that our scattered movement can coalesce into more home fellowships as well as brick-and-mortar churches.

This is part 6 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  Last time Dr. Sean Cole introduced the Calvinist understanding of God’s foreknowledge and the limitations on our freedom as a result of our fallen nature.  This time I ask Cole about unconditional election and how that compares to a lottery.  After all, if God has no conditions by which he decides whom he elects to salvation, then isn’t randomness all we have left?  Also, I ask Cole to respond to a number of texts including John 3.16, 1 Timothy 2.4, 2 Peter 3.9, and Luke 7.30. —— Books —— Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility by D. A. Carson Excusing Sinners and Blaming God: A Calvinist Assessment of Determinism, Moral Responsibility, and Divine Involvement in Evil by Guillaume Bignon The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Loraine Boettner Whomever He Wills by Matthew Barrett and Thomas Nettles No Place for Sovereignty: Whats Wrong with Freewill Theism by R. K. McGregor Wright Chosen for Life: The Case of Divine Election by Sam Storms The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Understanding Christianity Podcast See more about Dr. Cole at seancole.net

This is part 5 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  We’ve considered Open Theism and Arminianism and now we are going to begin thinking about Calvinism. This way of conceiving of God’s foreknowledge argues for both exhaustive foreknowledge and meticulous providence. Thus, no one comes to Christ apart from God’s predestination since our natures are so corrupted that we do not have the ability to choose God. I’m happy to have Dr. Sean Cole as my guest today.  He is the lead pastor at Emanuel Baptist Church in Sterling, Colorado.  He is the host of a podcast called “Understanding Christianity” and he teaches Old Testament and New Testament theology as well as biblical interpretation as an adjunct instructor at Colorado Christian University.  He has a Doctor of Ministry degree in expository preaching from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He is the author of Your Identity in the Trinity: Discovering God’s Grace in the Gospel, which came out last April. In this episode I ask Cole to share about his background and lay out a positive case for his view of foreknowledge and free will. —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Understanding Christianity Podcast Check out Cole’s recent debate with Tuggy on the Trinity See more about Dr. Cole at seancole.net

This is part 4 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  Last time Dr. Leighton Flowers of the Soteriology101 podcast laid out his commitment to both God’s complete knowledge of all future events as well as humanity’s ability to freely choose.  Rather than explaining philosophically how that is possible, he suggested that we do not need to know “how” God does something in order to believe “that” he does it. In this episode, I ask him about one more Calvinistic text, Romans 9, before delving into a number of Open Theism texts to get his exegesis of these interesting passages, including Genesis 6.5; Isaiah 5.3-7; Jeremiah 7.31; and Psalm 106.23.   —— Books —— Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius on internet archive  and on amazon Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis The Potter’s Promise by Leighton Flowers God’s Provision for All by Leighton Flowers —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Soteriology101 Podcast: YouTube, RSS, Apple, Stitcher YouTube debate: Romans 9, James White vs. Leighton Flowers Purchase Flowers’ class, “Tiptoeing through TULIP,” a six-week study on the doctrines of human responsibility and God’s saving grace ($39) Check out the affirmations and denials about the provisionalist soteriology

We are now in part 3 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  We’ve considered Open Theism–the idea that God’s foreknowledge is limited to what he plans to do as well as what he can ascertain from past and present conditions.  In a couple of weeks we’ll examine Calvinism, which holds that God not only foreknows but also predestines all who will be saved.  But, for today, our focus is on the Arminian position. Today, I’m happy to have Dr. Leighton Flowers the host of the Soteriology101 a podcast that puts forward an Arminian understanding of salvation as well as responds to prominent Calvinist thinkers. Flowers is also the Director of Evangelism and Apologetics for Texas Baptists.  He has authored two books, including The Potter’s Promise, which rebuffed the theology found in James White’s The Potters Freedom.  More recently, he came out with God’s Provision for All, which sets out a positive case for provisionalism, an understanding of salvation that teaches everyone is free to choose to believe the gospel.  Flowers earned his PhD from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where his dissertation focused on the rise of Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention. In this episode, I ask Flowers to share about his background in Calvinism and how he changed his mind about it.  We discuss his middle position that both affirms God’s exhaustive foreknowledge and our free will.  Then we take a look at a couple of texts like Ephesians 1 and Romans 8 to hear his exegesis of them. —— Books —— The Potter’s Promise by Leighton Flowers God’s Provision for All by Leighton Flowers —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Soteriology101 Podcast: YouTube, RSS, Apple, Stitcher YouTube debate: Romans 9, James White vs. Leighton Flowers Purchase Flowers’ class, “Tiptoeing through TULIP,” a six-week study on the doctrines of human responsibility and God’s saving grace ($39) Check out the affirmations and denials about the provisionalist soteriology

Last week we began our Foreknowledge and Freewill series with Dr. Dale Tuggy who gave us an overview of the various positions.  He also commended Open Theism as a view that triumphs where others suffer from logical contradictions.  Now, today in part two, Tuggy will further explore and defend Open Theism against a number of common critiques including: If God doesn’t know the future, how can there be prophecy?  Specifically, how could Jesus predict that Peter would deny him? Why do evangelicals generally look down on Open Theism? Isn’t Open Theism just Process Theology dressed up with some bible references? Doesn’t open theism posit a small God with limited knowledge? Additionally, we delve into how Open Theism deals with prayer, especially in light of Hezekiah’s prayer for healing. Now, I realize some of you listening are ardent Open Theists and some of you are not.  Keep in mind that next week we are going to hear from Dr. Leighton Flowers on the Ariminian view and then Dr. Sean Cole is going to lay out the case for Calvinist compatabilism.  My goal here is to expose you to multiple views so you can see all of the options laid out side by side. —— Books —— The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God by Clark Pinnock, Richard Rice, John Sanders, William Hasker, and David Basinger God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God by Gregory Boyd The God Who Risks: A Theology of Divine Providence by John Sanders Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness by Clark Pinnock God, Time, and Knowledge by William Hasker —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will More about Dale Tuggy at Trinties.org Get his book, What Is the Trinity?, or read his article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy about Trinity theories Listen to previous Restitutio podcasts with Tuggy here Check out

Today we are beginning an exciting new series on one of the most interesting ongoing controversies within Christian theology.  Does God have exhaustive foreknowledge of the future?  Does he know everything that is going to happen before it happens?  If so, what does that mean for human free will?  What are the various options within Christian theology and philosophy that well-meaning bible students have taken over the years? Now, I’ve been working hard on getting competent representatives from various backgrounds so that you can hear the major options to chose from.  As such, I’ve got interviews with an Open Theist, an Arminian, and a Calvinist, resulting in a six-part series on foreknowledge and freewill. To begin with Dr. Dale Tuggy will give us a lay of the land, going through seven different ways that Christian philosophers have understood divine foreknowledge and human free will.  He makes the case that the notion of exhaustive foreknowledge makes libertarian free will impossible.  After all, if we are unable to do other than what God knows we are going to do, then we don’t really have the freedom to chose, right?  See what you think. Dr. Dale Tuggy served as Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia for 18 years. He has taught courses in analytic theology, philosophy of religion, religious studies, and the history of philosophy. Tuggy has a PhD from Brown University. He has authored about two dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters relating to the Trinity and other topics in analytic theology and philosophy of religion. —— Notes —— Options for Foreknowledge and Freewill God’s foreknowledge does not cause you to act, rather he foreknows something because you are going to do it (Origen) Divine Timelessness: God is timeless.  He timelessly exists.  Any kind of change is impossible for God.  God is outside of time.  His knowledge is timeless as well (Boethius, Thomas Aquinas) Middle knowledge.  God knows all necessary truths (like 2 + 2 = 4).  He also knows all contingent truths b/c he knows what people will freely choose in any circumstances.   (Luis de Molina, William Lane Craig) Determinism, no libertarian free will (Calvinism) Your free will changes past facts and changes God’s knowledge.  Causation occurs from the future to the past or from the present to eternity It’s a mystery. God knows what I’m going to do and yet in the moment, I could have chosen otherwise and have free will.  (Arminianism) The future does not yet exist. God knows everything that can happen and everything in the past and present, and everyone’s inclinations, and everything that he has planned to do. (Open Theism) —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Check out the 6 part Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate between Blake Cortright and Jacob Rohrer More about Dale Tuggy at Trinties.org Also check out these six episodes from the Trinities podcast about God and time: podcast 206 – Florian Fischer – A Slightly Opinionated Introduction to Philosophy of Time

Gratitude is a key to spiritually healthy living.  We have so many reasons to be thankful, but in this message, I’d like to focus on just five: Thankful because God Commanded It Thankful for the Basics Thankful for the Family of God Thankful for God’s Attention Thankful for the Cross As God’s people, our lives should not look just the same as the world.  Rather, they should be marked by an enduring sense of gratitude. —— Links —— For more sermons from the team at Living Hope International Ministries, visit this YouTube channel Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library