Three parables: parable 2
A conservative and a liberal minister had been hotly at odds for several years over the doctrine of inerrancy, particularly in the area of scientific and historical matters. One afternoon, the conservative minister stopped by the office of the liberal minister and asked to see him.
"Sir, I have an apology to make," said the conservative.
"Oh?"
"Yes. I have been wrong. All these years I have been condemning your stance against inerrancy as heterodox. I have finally awakened to the fact that I was terribly sinful."
"What's that?" asked the liberal.
The conservative answered, "Well, I tried to find a chapter and verse that said the Scriptures were inerrant at all, let alone with regard to where it addresses historical and scientific matters. I couldn't find one. If there is no verse, then I was merely preaching opinions."
"So you finally saw the light that your extra-Biblical doctrines cannot be as authoritative as the Bible itself?" the liberal asked.
The conservative looked up in sorrow. "Essentially, yes. And it was wrong for me to make this extra-Biblical doctrine so important that it dissolved the unity we could have had together. Will you ever forgive me?"
"Sir, I have an apology to make," said the conservative.
"Oh?"
"Yes. I have been wrong. All these years I have been condemning your stance against inerrancy as heterodox. I have finally awakened to the fact that I was terribly sinful."
"What's that?" asked the liberal.
The conservative answered, "Well, I tried to find a chapter and verse that said the Scriptures were inerrant at all, let alone with regard to where it addresses historical and scientific matters. I couldn't find one. If there is no verse, then I was merely preaching opinions."
"So you finally saw the light that your extra-Biblical doctrines cannot be as authoritative as the Bible itself?" the liberal asked.
The conservative looked up in sorrow. "Essentially, yes. And it was wrong for me to make this extra-Biblical doctrine so important that it dissolved the unity we could have had together. Will you ever forgive me?"
posted by Ryan Martin at 3/15/2006 07:28:00 AM
7 Comments:
In addition to your other logical fallacies, you continue to hold to a false dichotomy. There are more degrees of certainty than merely baseless opinion and clear biblical mandate. For baseless opinion, it is best to keep your ideas to yourself. For clear biblical mandates, there must be a chapter and verse.
But there is also a lot more room on the continuum of certainty. As you go from opinion to mandate, the level of required proof increases, the seriousness of the offence increases and the level of continued fellowship decreases.
You give your position on worship music a high degree of seriousness (not as high as biblical mandate, though). But you only provide a level of evidence as if it were opinion.
Another Parable:
A mother brought her daughter to the pastor's wife. She was clearly upset.
"Look at her!" the mother wailed. "She's dressed like a harlot."
Confused, the pastor's wife scanned the teen girl from head to toe trying to discern to what the mother could possibly be referring.
"The shoes," the mom blurted out, "don't you see the shoes? HIGH HEELS! I never wore a set of high heels until I was married! Tell her! Tell my daughter she is in sin!!!"
The pastor's wife stared blankly at the mom. Finally she said, "Well...I'm not sure I would call it sinful to wear high heels."
"Liberal. Compromiser. Is nothing sacred? Pseudofundamentalist. I'm going to Ryan's chuch where truth is truth!"
Allan
BB: "But you only provide a level of evidence as if it were opinion."
My intent is not to provide evidence.
Allan: I actually heard a pretty good sermon on modesty by C. J. Mahaney. He had a lot of extra-Biblical conclusions, just the way I like them.
He did? Well I'm sure I will never listen to him again!
Allan
Interesting Tidbit: I have a preview copy of Not Even a Hint by Joshua Harris that I recieved for review before it was printed. It originally contained a modesty checklist (compiled by Harris's wife and CJ Mahaney's wife and daughters) that was positively Fundamentalistic!
That checklist is available on the Sovereign Grace Ministries website (sovgracemin.org), or it least it was for a very long time.
Allan
The "modesty heart check" list may be found here.
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