#1 – Coherence & Calling
- 22 May 2018
I’m 57 years of age. I grew up a nominal Roman Catholic in West Yorkshire. After four years at Keele University I emerged an evangelical Christian with considerable passion to serve Jesus Christ over the course of my life. My doctrinal convictions have undergone several adjustments, some of them tumultuous. Today, few of my fellow ‘evangelical’ brethren understand my adopted worldview and tragically, most of them would prefer to disengage with the reasons I have felt constrained to move away from that broad constituency of ‘contemporary evangelicalism’. I wish to set out as clearly and transparently as possible my rationale for doing so and, more particularly, for advocating a ‘better’ way.
I am grateful to almighty God for bringing safely through to this point with the understanding I now have about life & my own contribution to the greater scheme of things. In a future piece I’ll address the question of ‘ultimate commitment’. Suffice to say at this stage, my ultimate commitment is ‘Sola Scriptura’. God has revealed Himself to me existentially and has established within my heart a profound trust in His written Word – the Bible. Scripture governs and constrains everything I think & hopefully everything I do. That God has bequeathed to us His Word behoves us to read it & study it carefully. Jesus said, ‘Let the reader understand’ (Mk 13:14). Again, He says, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear’ (Matt 13:9-11). Over many years I’ve pressed & pushed various doors. I’ve wrestled over important questions & come to believe that form of doctrine espoused by the best Reformed scholars. In particular, I’ve come to recognise as ‘Biblical’
- – Special (Young Earth) Creation
- – Covenantal Soteriology
- – Postmillennial Eschatology
- – Presuppositional Apologetics &….
- – Theonomic Ethics
These various strands of my worldview crystallised over many years with some elements preceding others. The point I wish to stress now, however, is that these five elements COHERE beautifully confirming their essential unity & correctness in the general scheme of things.
God commands us to ‘study to show yourself approved to God… rightly dividing the Word of truth’ (2Tim 2:15). Throughout Scripture, God invites us to humbly seek Him and reach out for the Truth. He is ‘faithful & just’ (1Jn 1:9) and so will honour that individual who, with true repentance & integrity’ searches after life & reconciliation with his Maker. Covenantal (saving) faith in Jesus Christ is the key. But life is a pilgrimage to greater & greater fidelity on our part & greater conscious involvement in the advancement of God’s purpose for the earth – the redemption of ALL THINGS!
If you are a real Christian, be exhorted: God wants you to KNOW FOR CERTAIN what you believe is true (2Tim 1:12); that your EVERY THOUGHT comports with God’s Word (Is 8:20); and that you are fruitful & productive in advancing the great cause of God’s kingdom HERE AND NOW!
‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt 6: 10)
