Thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear of the changes you report. I lived in CA up to the mid-80s and I always enjoyed Chuck Smith's sermons. We could certainly benefit from more pastors with that kind of oratory skill. Calvary Chapel always had good energy but, as you say, their grounding in the historic faith was a little shallow an…
Thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear of the changes you report. I lived in CA up to the mid-80s and I always enjoyed Chuck Smith's sermons. We could certainly benefit from more pastors with that kind of oratory skill. Calvary Chapel always had good energy but, as you say, their grounding in the historic faith was a little shallow and the dispensational theology was always suspect to me even when I was just learning about these subjects. But, then again, I find that most of the American church today is lacking in sound understanding of Biblical theology. For me, the watershed came when I determined I was going to ask God for understanding by intensely reading the Gospels with a blank mind or without ANY preconceived ideas and placed my mind in that setting with His disciples as if I was there listening with them rather than 2000 years in the future. In that frame of mind, I found the truths that Jesus was teaching came through loud and clear. I then found that covenant theology filled in many blank areas that most of the church fills in with pure speculation, dispensationalism being most prominent. I am not surprised that the good people in Calvary Chapel churches are maturing in understanding.
I was going to make a similar comment as yours also. Dispensationalism views Israel as having a license from God to kill whoever they want because... the "end times". When the horrible things that are happening in the ME are pointed out, it is excused by the refrain, "This was all prophesied in the Bible." It is a huge contradiction that thinking people are beginning to see through.
Scipio just published a substack that addresses some of this, "The Judeo-Christian Paradox" that you may find of interest.
"...The term “Judeo-Christian” is one of the most insidious linguistic constructs to emerge in the lexicon of modern religious discourse.
It purports to bind two wholly incompatible systems — the Law and the Gospel, Sinai and Calvary, the synagogue and the Church — under a single banner. To the casual observer, it serves as a lexical bridge uniting two faiths that allegedly share the same moral foundation and historical continuity. But to the discerning mind, it is an oxymoron — a paradox that obscures the profound incompatibilities between Judaism and Christianity.
...The myth of a harmonious "Judeo-Christian" tradition must be dismantled to preserve the purity of the Gospel and the Church’s witness..."
Thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear of the changes you report. I lived in CA up to the mid-80s and I always enjoyed Chuck Smith's sermons. We could certainly benefit from more pastors with that kind of oratory skill. Calvary Chapel always had good energy but, as you say, their grounding in the historic faith was a little shallow and the dispensational theology was always suspect to me even when I was just learning about these subjects. But, then again, I find that most of the American church today is lacking in sound understanding of Biblical theology. For me, the watershed came when I determined I was going to ask God for understanding by intensely reading the Gospels with a blank mind or without ANY preconceived ideas and placed my mind in that setting with His disciples as if I was there listening with them rather than 2000 years in the future. In that frame of mind, I found the truths that Jesus was teaching came through loud and clear. I then found that covenant theology filled in many blank areas that most of the church fills in with pure speculation, dispensationalism being most prominent. I am not surprised that the good people in Calvary Chapel churches are maturing in understanding.
I was going to make a similar comment as yours also. Dispensationalism views Israel as having a license from God to kill whoever they want because... the "end times". When the horrible things that are happening in the ME are pointed out, it is excused by the refrain, "This was all prophesied in the Bible." It is a huge contradiction that thinking people are beginning to see through.
Scipio just published a substack that addresses some of this, "The Judeo-Christian Paradox" that you may find of interest.
https://dfreality.substack.com/p/the-judeo-christian-paradox-part
"...The term “Judeo-Christian” is one of the most insidious linguistic constructs to emerge in the lexicon of modern religious discourse.
It purports to bind two wholly incompatible systems — the Law and the Gospel, Sinai and Calvary, the synagogue and the Church — under a single banner. To the casual observer, it serves as a lexical bridge uniting two faiths that allegedly share the same moral foundation and historical continuity. But to the discerning mind, it is an oxymoron — a paradox that obscures the profound incompatibilities between Judaism and Christianity.
...The myth of a harmonious "Judeo-Christian" tradition must be dismantled to preserve the purity of the Gospel and the Church’s witness..."