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WHAT IS THE VAN TIL TOOL ??
2009-05-22 16:41:00
What Is The "Van Til Tool " ?? By Forrest Wayne Schultz I was recently asked this question by someone interested in this blog. Here is my answer.I believe that the best way to answer the question is by providing an example of one of the most recent times I have used it (which you will find here in my entry entitled "A Critique Of The So-Called Emerging Church").I recently wrote a book review of efforts by a group of scholars to combat ideas that are being propounded by people who are called by such names as "emerging church" or "postmodernists". These scholars, though well intentioned, failed to realize that their opponents were misdefining various terms such as foundation and context, and were consequently imagining a conflict between foundation and context. This is because neither they nor their opponents were starting with God and allowing God to define these terms. When you start with God and allow Him to define the terms, it is clear that God is His own foundati...

THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY
2009-05-13 19:58:00
Below is what I regard as:THE DEFINITIVE STATEMENT OF SCRIPTUAL INERRANCYPlease read and meditate on this. A lot of people today do not know about this because it was adopted 30 years ago. It is more relevant now than it was then because of the confusion in so many churches today, including those regarding themselves as "Reformed".ForrestTHE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCYBible Research > Interpretation > Chicago Statement on Biblical InerrancyChicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy with ExpositionBackgroundThe "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy" was produced at an international Summit Conference of evangelical leaders, held at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago in the fall of 1978. This congress was sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement was signed by nearly 300 noted evangelical scholars, including James Boice, Norman L. Geisler, John Gerstner, Carl F. H. Henry, Kenneth Kantzer, Harold Lindsell, John Warw...

VEITH ON WHAT OBAMA IS DOING: THE SOCIAL DEMOCRAT AGENDA
2009-05-06 19:06:00
GENE EDWARD VEITH TELLS ON THE "SOCIAL DEMOCRATS"THIS IS WHAT OBAMA IS DOING !!Veith is one of my favorite thinkers. Here is his latest.ForrestA kinder, gentler Marxism The worldview of the "Social Democracy" America is heading towardby Gene Edward VeithBarack Obama is not a socialist, explained Eric Etheredge of The New York Times. He is a "social democrat." The administration' s attempt to control private companies and the free market should not alarm us, according to Etheredge and other pundits. European nations do this all the time. It is simply an application of the European political and economic theory known as "social democracy."If social democracy is America's new governmental principle, we should know a little about it. To avoid biased spins and inflammatory rhetoric, let us consult basic, objective sources such as dictionaries and encyclopedias.Here is the definition of "social democracy" from Merriam-Webster' s online dictionary: "1 : a political movement...
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FALSE CONCEPTIONS OF SCRIPTURAL INERRANCY IN CONTEMPORARY EVANGELICA
2009-04-25 05:06:00
False Conceptions Of Scriptural Inerrancy In Contemporary Evangelicalism By Forrest Wayne Schultz A Review of G. K. Beale, The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008)ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-0203-3 300 pp $20.00 The book under review is not a study of the entire picture of the many departures from inerrancy in evangelicalism; it is limited to an in depth study of only a few cases. It is of especial use for those readers interested in these particular cases and for those who wish to read a few detailed studies rather than shorter analyses of many different cases or broad generalizations. The cases examined here do involve the erosion of inerrancy, as the book's title indicates. BUT, these men do not attack inerrancy as such or divine inspiration as such, at least not in the usual ways. Rather their views involve false conceptions of inerrancy and of inspiration. They do not attack i...

CALVIN'S CENTRAL CONCERN WAS THE MAJESTY OF GOD
2009-04-13 18:05:00
Calvin's Central Concern: The Majesty Of GodA Review of John Piper, John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2009)ISBN: 978-1-4335-0182-1 59 pp. $7.99Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz There have been many well-meaning Calvinists who have given an enormous emphasis to the sovereignty of God with apparently little thought to the question of "What kind of God is it Who is sovereign?". They very often propound the doctrine of election in such a way as to make it appear that God is foolish or malevolent or unrighteous or irrational (or some combination of these). They make it appear that they are only concerned with the sovereignty of God and have no concern for the character of God. Such a man may think that he is following Calvin in regarding the sovereignty of God as the central fact about God. Is such a man correct?In a recently published book John Piper propounds the thesis that John Calvin's chief concern was the glory and majesty of God. ...

A CRITIQUE OF THE SO-CALLED "EMERGING" CHURCH
2009-04-12 05:29:00
A CRITIQUE OF THE SO-CALLED "EMERGING" CHURCH By Forrest W. Schultz I have been wanting to read up on the so-called "Emerging" church for a LONG time. I finally got the opportunity via reading the book below. My critique is in the form of a review of this book. Reading about this stuff is sad, but, as always, it is loads of fun to critique when you are a Van Tillian. I can do this not because I am brilliant, because I got the right tool from the thinking of Cornelius Van Til. And, of course, it is God Himself Who deserves to be praised, because without His providence, I would not have encountered the Van Til Perspective and without His providence Van Til would not have seen the principles of the VTP.Sincerely,ForrestAN EXAMINATION OF THE "EMERGING CHURCH":THE POST-CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL COMPROMISE WITH POSTMODERNISMA Review of G.L.W. Johnson & R.N. Gleason, eds. Reforming or Conforming?: Post-Conservative Evangelicals andthe Emerging Church ((Wheaton, IL: C...
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AN EXPOSE' OF THE NATURE OF ISLAM: PETER HAMMOND'S LATEST BOOK
2009-03-23 22:04:00
An Expose ' Of The Nature of Islam A Review of Peter Hammond Slavery, Terrorism, & Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat (Cape Town, South Africa: Christian Liberty Book s, 2008) ISBN: 978-0-9802639-1-6 182 pp Price R58 Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz The book under review here is one of the latest in a series of recently published books which have been bringing to light many hitherto unknown and horrifying facts about Islam. The author, Dr. Peter Hammond, bases his portrayal of Islam on history, on his own experiences in Africa, and on the Islamic authoritative writings, the Quran and the Hadith. This book should be recommended not only to those who know little about Islam but also for those who have become fairly well acquainted with it, for two reasons. First, the book not only includes the fact that the African slave trade was started by the Arabs, but it also details the horrific mistr...

PERSONAL EVANGELISM 101: A REFRESHER COURSE. A REVIEW OF MARK DEVE
2009-03-21 21:12:00
PERSONAL EVANGELISM 101 -- A REFRESHER COURSEA Review of Mark Dever The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007)ISBN 978-1-58134-846-0 $9.99 125 pp.By Forrest Wayne SchultzIf you are looking for a short, newly written, easy to read re-statement of the basic principles of personal evangelism, I would recommend the book under review here. The style and theology is that of the solid, moderate Calvinism characterizing such great Britishers as Flavel, Spurgeon, J. C. Ryle, C. S. Lewis, J. I. Packer, John R. W. Stott, and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, all of whom are either quoted and/or mentioned as sources or corroborations of the author's views. These are the same men who were often quoted and recommended in the teachings I received as a new Christian in Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, so that the reading of Dever's book has, for me, brought back memories of that exciting time. (Stott, by the way, was the Bible teacher ...

ANNOUNCING A VANTILLIAN FANTASY NOVEL: THE WORDSMITH, THE KID, AND
2009-03-15 23:45:00
ANNNOUCING A VANTILLIAN FANTASY NOVEL THE WORDSMITH, THE KID, AND THE ELECTROLUX By Forrest Schultz Let me begin by saying that I am not kidding. I just finished reading a Vantillian fantasy novel. I really did. And the title of it really is The Wordsmith, The Kid, and The Electrolux.I know it sounds strange because when you think of Van Til and something being Vantillian, you think of philosophy and theology and world-view. You do not think of literature, and you certainly do not think of fantasy literature! Now you might think of the Vantillian method of analyzing the thought in a work of literature (including fantasy). But you do not think of a work of literature itself, esp. not a work of fantasy, as itself BEING Vantillian!! Yet, here we have an example, the one I just noted. Now because this is indeed a work of literature, i.e. because it tells a story, I cannot proceed to conduct the kind of analysis you expect by a Vantillian on a work o...
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THEOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF THE SHACK
2009-02-22 19:43:00
THEOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF THE SHACK By Forrest Wayne Schultz I guess that by now everyone has heard of The Shack and how great it is supposed to be and how it has supposedly helped so many people, how William Young might be the new John Bunyan, etc. Well, I finally got around to reading it and what a gross disppointment that was! It is so full of theological errors -- and all of them elementary ones -- that is is highly doubtful anyone can be helped by it. Rather it is far more likely that one will be either confused or led astray by it. Perhaps the word "Shack" is an appropriate title for it because its theology is composed of rotten timbers, and, as C. S. Lewis said in days of yore, "You cannot construct a sound building using rotten timbers!". The fact that something this theologically bad is so popular is indicative of the shallowness of today's christians. As I say the errors here are so elementary that one does not need to be a Van Tillian to discern them...
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THE HEALTH CARE MESS: UPDATE AND CURE
2009-01-23 04:11:00
THE HEALTH CARE MESS: UPDATE AND CURE by Forrest Wayne Schultz A review of William C. Waters III, 2 Days That Ruined Your Health Care (Newnan, GA: Logikon, 2008) ISBN 9780977128839 105 pp The book under review here is well-written, easy to read, and gets right to the point. Its value is two-fold. First, it provides a good summary of the health industry malaise and brings it up to date and shows clearly what the problem is. Secondly, it proposes what sounds like a realistic cure. Most of the information on the problem has already been known for some time, but the author points out some things that most of us have probably never heard of: for example, that almost none of the members of all these health care study commissions are practicing physicians!! The author, now in his seventies, has devoted a lifetime to the practice of medicine and to teaching i...
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HOW ARE DISCIPLES MADE ???
2009-01-21 07:20:00
HOW ARE DISCIPLES MADE ??By Forrest Wayne SchultzA Review of Ken Adams Conversations About Disciple Making (Newnan, GA: Jawbone Pub., 2008)ISBN 1-59094-163-2 186 pp Although there have been many books written and sermons preached about the qualities which characterize the disciples of Jesus Christ and about how prayer and Scripture and involvement in church can be of assistance in attaining these qualities, there are nonetheless large numbers of men and women who have been christians for a long time who have failed to attain these qualities, even among those who have made serious attempts to do so. The book under review here diagnoses this problem as due to an omission in our disciple-making methodology. Actually, that is putting it mildly: modern christianity has missed the main feature in the disciple making process so that at present there are few real disciples in our churches at all. The Biblical disciple-making methodology, as the author rightly points out, is disciple...
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THE NATURE OF GOD AS CREATIVE AND GOD AS SOCIAL WAS TAUGHT BY
2008-12-14 01:06:00
THE NATURE OF GOD AS SOCIAL AND AS CREATIVE WAS TAUGHT BY ATHANASIUS by Forrest Wayne Schultz If you think that the only contribution made by Athanasius was defeating the Arian heresy, think again! I just learned by reading a very interesting scholarly work that Athanasius taught two very important truths which somehow have been since overlooked in spite of the fact that they are extremely vital for our understanding of God, namely that God is social and that God is creative. Athanasius discusses how both of these divine attributes are derived from the interrelationship between God The Father and God The Son, which is designated by theologians as the eternal generation of the Son -- a doctrine which today is usually regarded as irrelevant, if it is even known at all. Athanasius maintained that the very being of God consisted in the personal relationship between the Father and the Son. This (plus the personal interrelations between the Father and the Holy...
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THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLE OF WORSHIP: WELL INTENDED BUT BADLY BUNGL
2008-12-04 04:25:00
THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLE OF WORSHIP: WELL INTENDED BUT BADLY BUNGLED By Forrest Wayne SchultzI am not going to say much about the Regulative Principle of Worship (The RPW) beyond what I just said in the Title. The RPW has an excellent motivation behind it -- to worship God the right way, in a way which honors God and is well-pleasing to Him and is a good testimony before the watching world. Unfortunately, that is not the whole story. Instead the RPW has led to acrimonious debates, the sundering of fellowships, and a poor testimony before the watching world, and has brought dishonor upon the Name of God.Let me say that I am all in favor of church worship services which use only the best music. I am appalled at the degenerate stuff now found in many churches, such as so-called "Christian Rock", for example. But I am also appalled at the exclusive psalmody dogma. How dare any church forbid Haydn's Creation or Handel's Messiah or Bach's Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring or...

AMERICA'S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE CLEARLY SEEN IN FRANK WILDHORN'S "THE
2008-11-16 20:52:00
AMERICA'S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE CLEARLY SEEN IN FRANK WILDHORN'S THE CIVIL WAR DRAMABy Forrest Wayne Schultz On Friday night I saw a performance of The Civil War oratorio, whose composition was based on a careful study of historical documents, so that what is presented to the audience is authentic, by allowing the persons involved to speak for themselves. Among the many striking features of this performance was how how much of the conversations, songs, speeches, letters, and writings was infused with christian ideas and attitudes. And this, by the way, is not a "christian" play! It is because it is so historically authentic that you hear and see all of these christian ideas and principles in the songs and actions on the stage. (This is not to say that every single idea in it is christian -- there is one scene where the soldiers are getting drunk and praising their whiskey!) The ending of it, though, is difficult to assess. The final scene is Heaven where thr...
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FRACTALS AND BIBLICAL ECCLESIOLOGY
2008-11-03 17:28:00
FRACTALS AND BIBLICAL ECCLESIOLOGYbyForrest W. SchultzFractals are structures in which a part of the structure resembles the whole structure. Thisfeature is referred to as "self-similarity across scale". For instance, in a fractal branchingnetwork each branch resembles the branch from which it branched because all the branchesare formed in accord with the same recurring pattern. In fractal geometry the resemblance isexact. In the fractal structures in nature the self-similarities are approximate.In Biblical theology there are two fractals which immediately come to mind, each of whichpertains to the communion of the saints. The communion of the saints is most frequentlydesignated by Scripture as the Church of Christ and as the Family of God, whose membersare brothers and sisters in Christ under the Fatherhood of God.It is interesting to observe that Scripture uses the same term "church" either to referto a local church or to the universal church. The universal church is composed of a...

BIBLICAL ONTOLOGY AND TIME TRAVEL
2008-11-02 15:50:00
A TRANSCENDENTAL ANALYSIS OF TIME TRAVEL:WHAT REALITY MUST BE LIKE FOR TIME TRAVEL TO BE POSSIBLEBy Forrest Wayne Schultz I have been a science fiction fan for a very long time, I was the President of a local science fiction club for a while, and I have spoken at many science fiction conventions. One of my favorite kinds of science fiction is time travel stories. I do not know if time travel by means of a chrononautical device has ever happened, ever will happen, or if it is even possible for man to be able to do so. One thing I am sure of, however, is the main feature reality must have for time travel to be possible. Most theoretical discussions of time travel have focussed on the technological factors and the "paradoxes". I shall discuss neither of these here. I shall be discussing the relevant features of that branch of philosophy known as ontology, which means the most fundamental nature of things. One of the most interesting of all topics about a thing is a study of wh...
More About: Travel , Time , Time Travel , Biblical , Ontology

JOHN M. FRAME ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND GOSPEL
2008-10-28 23:48:00
LAW AND GOSPELBy John M. Frame It has become increasingly common in Reformed circles, as it has long been in Lutheran circles, to say that the distinction between law and gospel is the key to sound theology, even to say that to differ with certain traditional formulations of this distinction is to deny the gospel itself.Sometimes this argument employs Scripture passages like Rom. 3:21-31, emphasizing that we are saved by God's grace, through faith alone, apart from the works of the law. In my judgment, however, none of the parties to the debate questions that justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. But it is one thing to distinguish between faith and works, a different thing to distinguish law and gospel.1. The Traditional DistinctionThe distinction between law and gospel is not a distinction between a false and a true way of salvation. Rather, it is a distinction between two messages, one that supposedly consists exclusive...
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THE MEANING OF REFORMED AND VANTILLIAN AND RECONSTRUCTIONIST
2008-10-26 21:04:00
THE MEANING OF REFORMED AND VANTILLIAN AND RECONSTRUCTIONIST By Forrest Wayne SchultzI am Reformed and VanTillian and Reconstructionist. Actually, I am a bit hesitant to call myself by any of those names because there are misunderstandings about all of them.For instance, until fairly recently, there were few Reformed who had a concern for the arts. And it is no wonder when you look at the typical traditional Reformed systematic theology books, e.g. Hodge, Shedd, Berkhof. When you look under the doctrine of God there is NO mention, let alone discussion or emphasis, of God being beautiful and caring about beauty, of God having a great imagination, of God being creative, of God having a sense of humor, and of God being interesting. But I do not interpret this lack the way many people do by saying that we need to ADD to the Reformed theology a concern for the arts. NO! We need, rather, to say that traditionally Reformed theol...
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BRIAN GODAWA, CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTIONIST FILMMAKER, SPEAKS TO WORLD
2008-10-25 21:12:00
BRIAN GODAWA, CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTIONIST FILMMAKER, SPEAKS TO WORLDVIEW CONFERENCE AT DISPE BIBLE COLLEGE By Forrest W. Schultz Here is another example of a Dispe bible college moving toward Christian Reconstruction. This is the same one I mentioned in previous posts, Philadelphia College of Bible (One of the nation's top Dispe bible colleges; C. I. Scofield was one of founders, etc.) now called Philadelphia Biblical University, the same one where Dr. Nancy Pearcey recently became Prof. of World View Studies. This concerns their upcoming PBU Worldview Conference. The conference is entitled "Beauty, Art, & The Church". One of the speakers is none other than Brian Godawa, who has often been referred to as an example of Christian Reconstruction in Filmmaking. His books and movies have been reviewed favorably in the Chalcedon Report and he was spoken about and written articles about the CR of films. To end this on a humorous note, in one of his films th...

ROBERT L. REYMOND ATTACKS THE NOTION OF BIBLICAL ANTINOMIES
2008-06-23 18:58:00
ROBERT L. REYMOND ATTACKS THE NOTION OF BIBLICAL ANTINOMIESBy Forrest Wayne Schultz In my Epistemology Position Paper I make it clear that I repudiate Van Til's notion of Biblical antinomies because it is out of accord with the Van Til Perspective itself. I am not the only Vantillian to do so. I was still wrestling with this when I read Robert L. Reymond's epistemologicl masterpiece The Justification of Knowledge. This helped solidify my position. In this great work Reymond begins by giving Van Til well deserved credit for developing what we now call the Van Til Perspective. Having done so, Reymond then goes on to criticize Van Til for holding to the Biblical antinomies notion. The sections quoted below are written for that purpose. I would ask everyone reading this to pay very careful attention to what Reymond says, because this is a very important matter. Here is a direct quotation from Robert L. Reymond's The Justification of Knowledge (Presbyterian &...
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MISSION FRONTIERS ATTACKS ANTI-INTELLECTUAL FAITH
2008-06-12 20:13:00
MISSION FRONTIERS ATTACKS ANTI-INTELLECTUAL FAITH AND OTHER PERVERSIONS OF CHRISTIANITY The March-April 2008 issue of Mission Frontiers magazine contains an article by Jonathan Rice discussing the tragic consequences of the anti-intellectual conception of faith in 19th century British Christianity (pp. 11-14) and an article by Vishal Mangalwadi advocating a Christianity with a strong emphasis on knowledge and truth (pp. 15 - 18) and an article by Rick Wood lamenting our proclamation of a defective Gospel (pp. 9 - 10). One of the results of today?s perverted, sub-standard Christianity is noted on page 4 by the Editor Ralph Winter: ?Kenya, with over 400 denominations and almost as many Evangelicals as in all of Europe, has exploded before our eyes -- into nasty and unprecedented intertribal warfare -- despite being 80% Christian, just like the USA. Nearby, the Central African Republic is considered by some to be one of the most dangerous and corrupt countries of the...
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BEST BOOKS ATTACKING MODERNISM -- OLD, NEW, AND POST-
2008-06-12 19:58:00
BEST BOOKS ATTACKING MODERNISM -- OLD, NEW, AND POST-One of the best books showing the incompatibility of real christianity with the old liberalism was J. Gresham Machen's very fine work Christianity and Liberalism.One of the best books showing the incompatibility of christianity with what used to be called the new liberalism, i.e. existentialism, was Cornelius Van Til's brilliant work Christianity and Barthianism.One of the best showing the incompatibility of christianity with the latest liberalism (today) is Gene Edward Veith, Jr.'s Post modern Times.Another way of naming the three phases is old modernism, new modernism, and postmodernism.Machen and Van Til were conservative Presbyterians. Veith is a conservative Lutheran. Machen was the founder of Westminster Seminary and Van Til was one of the profs there. Veith in 2006 became the Academic Dean (or Provost) at Patrick Henry College.John Frame noted that the "and" in the title of Machen's and Van Til's books is the di...
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THE NEW BISHOP ROBINSON (GENE, NOT JOHN) IS AT IT AGAIN
2008-06-12 19:44:00
THE NEW BISHOP ROBINSON (GENE, NOT JOHN) IS AT IT AGAIN !!!! When I was a young man, shortly after my conversion, in the early 1960s, a young British ultraliberal Anglican Bishop named John A. T. Robinson caused an uproar with his best-selling book Honest To God, which in no way taught anything new, but merely repeated the heretical notions found in such liberals as Paul Tillich and Rudolf Bultmann, who were very popular with liberal Protestants back then. What was new was a BISHOP saying these things which were clearly contrary to the official doctrinal stance of the Church of England. Now there had been plenty of Anglican clergy who thought as he did but at least they did not come out and say it in front of the servants! (You should not come out and say such things publicly; they should stay "in the closet", don't you know.) There was such a firestorm ignited by this (then young, but now old) Bishop Robinson that a new book soon appeared entitled The Honest To God Debat...
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NANCY PEARCEY INSTALLED AS PROFESSOR AT DISPE BIBLE COLLEGE
2008-06-07 18:03:00
IS DISPE CHANGING ?? (PART TWO)NANCY PEARCEY INSTALLED AS PROFESSOR OF WORLDVIEWSTUDIES AT LEADING DISPE BIBLE COLLEGE OK, guys, I have already shocked you by my post in which I quoted from Nancy Pearcey's Commencement Address in which she advocated christian reconstruction at a prominent dispe bible college. Now prepare yourself for another -- she now is the professor of worldview studies at that same institution! This school (now called PBU --Philadelphia Biblical University) was formerly called PCB -- the Philadelphia College of Bible , one of the staunchest of all dispe bible colleges, which not only uses the Scofield Bible in all their courses, but of which Scofield himself was one of the FOUNDERS !! My source for her address was impeccable, PBU's own magazine. And my source for her appointment as Prof there is also impeccable, it is found in the Pearcey Report, which gives a bio of Nancy. Here it is:NANCY PEARCEY Nancy R. Pearcey is editor-at-large o...

IS WORLD-VIEW OF DISPES CHANGING?? NANCY PEARCEY ADDRESSES DISPE B
2008-06-07 17:17:00
NANCY PEARCEY ADDRESSES DISPE BIBLE COLLEGE From time to time I have been noting significant changes in the outlook of dispes today. Now let me tell you of one of the most interesting of these because it is occurring at a dispe Bible College with impeccable dispe credentials -- this is Philadelphia College of Bible (PCB), which was formed by the union of two dispe schools, one of which had as one of its founders none other than C. I Scofield !! When I was living in Philly, during the 60s and early 70s and was in very close touch with PCB, they used the Scofield Reference Bible for all classes, they had a very close relationship with Dallas Seminary (the premier dispe seminary), PCB was regarded as either the top or one of the top dispe Bible Colleges in the USA, there was no concern for a Biblical world-view and their ?secular? courses were taught no differently than at Humanist colleges, and their Academic Dean (Clarence E, Mason, Jr.) made it crystal clear in his Sylla...
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WHAT IT MEANS TO STUDY THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE
2008-06-07 17:09:00
WHAT IT MEANS TO STUDY THE BIBLE AS LITERATUREA Review of Leland Ryken & Philip Ryken (Editors), The Literary Study Bible , English Standard Version (ESV) (Wheaton, IL: Good News Pubs. [Crossway], 2007) ISBN: 978-1-58134-808-8 1913 pp. $49.99By Forrest Wayne Schultz I first encountered Leland Ryken as an excellent commentator on C. S. Lewis, one of my favorite writers and thinkers. With the passing of Clyde Kilby, Ryken assumed the mantle of the leading American authority on Lewis, and, indeed, quite appropriately, Ryken, is now the Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English at Wheaton College. I learned of Phil Ryken after he became the senior pastor of "Tenth Pres" (The Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, PA), which I discovered by means of a visit to the Tenth Pres website. Tenth Pres was the...
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DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN A COPY AND THE ORIGINAL
2008-06-07 16:39:00
DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN A COPY AND THE ORIGINAL In his allegory The Pilgrim?s Regress, C. S. Lewis shows that the way to defeat the Freudian notion that God (as Father) is a psychological projection of one?s (human) father is by the ability to distinguish between a copy and the original. Freud wrongly regarded the human father as the original and God as the copy. The Bible rightly shows that God is the Original and that humans are ?copies? of God, created in the image of God. In fact, the Biblical definition of man is the creaturely image of God. Van Til placed a great stress not only upon the Creator/creature distinction but also upon the all important point that this distinction consists in man?s being a finite analogue of God. Van Til went so far as to state that man is a finite replica of the being of God insofar as this is possible for a creature. That is, man is as much like God as it is possible for a creature to be. In short, God is the Original, man is the creaturely cop...
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LEGAL (AND SPIRITUAL) SUSPENSE "WITH A TWIST"
2008-06-07 16:28:00
Legal (and Spiritual ) Suspense ?With A Twist ?A Review of James Scott Bell The Whole Truth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008)ISBN 13: 978-0-310-26903-8 337 pp $14.99 The literary phrase ?with a twist? is an understatement because it refers to tales which actually have a number of ?twists?, not just one. A good example is provided by the novel under review here. I really cannot elaborate without ?giving away the story? so I will say no more than to encourage you to read Bell?s latest legal thriller to find out what I mean by these multiple twists. Let me also say that if you liked his Presumed Guilty, you will like this one too. The story focuses upon a recovering drug-and-alcohol-addict, Lawyer Steve Conroy, who is barely staying afloat and is hardly in any shape to undertake the untying of any Gordian twists. To the contrary, his inept efforts result in his own body being tied up -- literally. One of his methods of coping, which makes reading this book such a delight, is hi...
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ANNUIT COEPTIS: Where It Comes From and What It Means
2008-06-07 09:58:00
Annuit Coeptis: Where It Comes From And What It Means Well, after all these years I finally found out where this famous Latin sentence comes from and what it means. (This is the motto found on the top of the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States.) My source is the fascinating newly published book Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin by the excellent writer and scholar Nicholas Ostler (NY: Walker & Co., 2007), where the following is found on pages 287 - 289. Since the time I was a boy I was told that ?Annuit Coeptis? meant ?He has favored our undertakings?. This turns out to be close but not exact. According to Ostler the verb literally means ? nodded to?, as when a person who is asked a question nods his head ?Yes?. The source for this famous Latin sentence is that very important epic of ancient Roman literature, Aeneid (ix, 625) penned by the great poet Virgil. It is recounting a famous episode in the life of Aeneas?s son Ascantius, who asks Jupiter for his ...