THEOparadox - The Biblical Paradox Blog: PARADOX FILES, Vol. 5

Sunday, April 12, 2009

PARADOX FILES, Vol. 5 - Ted Christman

The Sermon of the Century!

All hyperbole aside . . . this is a message that epitomizes the THEOparadox concept about as perfectly as it can be done. It was recently delivered by Ted Christman at Heritage Baptist Church in Owensboro, Kentucky. Christman offers some great advice for dealing with Biblical paradoxes. He also discusses antinomy and mytery, and exhorts us to respond to Biblical "tensions" in the most God-honoring way: with silent awe and worshipful adoration of the divine, glorious and perfect Being.

Here's a little quote from the sermon, which I've been meditating upon:

"God does what He does because He thinks what He thinks. And God thinks what He thinks because he is Who He IS!"

Great stuff. And there's a lot more where that came from.

Click the Picture to Hear the Message

After you've heard the sermon, you'll know why he qualifies for this stylish t-shirt . . .

The shirts aren't too flattering, but looking good isn't the point.

HT: Jonathan Christman

3 comments:

AnonymousApril 14, 2009 at 3:16 PM
That's a pretty high recommendation, brother. I'm downloading it right now. I'll try to load it to my iPod and listen some time in the next couple weeks. Thanks!
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JonathanApril 17, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Derek, you linked me with an HT - send me a quick e-mail if you get a chance. Dad just wanted to say hi.
Blessings,
Jonathan
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THEOparadoxApril 17, 2009 at 7:12 PM
Barry:

I believe you will be blessed by the message.

Jonathan:

You and your Dad are a real blessing and encouragement to me! Great to make your acquaintance.

Thanks,
Derek
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THEOparadox MISSION Statement:

~To honor God by upholding the authority, inerrancy and sufficiency of His Word, the Bible.
~To help students of the Word to interpret Biblical paradoxes in a way that faithfully reflects God's heart.
~To ignite a devotional flame that will help believers to warm up their theology and burn up their pride.
~To encourage Christian faith by resolving or explaining apparent contradictions in the Scriptures.
~To explore the nature and extent of paradoxes in historically orthodox, Reformed, Biblical theology.

~To provide Biblical resources for those who desire to know God and His Word better.

~To glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, the Friend of sinners and the Savior of the lost.

What is a PARADOX?

A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion, or seemingly absurd, yet true in fact.

Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 Edition

"... it is synonymous with apparent contradiction. A 'paradox' thus amounts to a set of claims which taken in conjunction appear to be logically inconsistent. Note that according to this definition, paradoxicality does not entail logical inconsistency per se, but merely the appearance of logical inconsistency."

James Anderson, Paradox in Christian Theology

Wise Words . . .

"By advocating paradox I don't want to give the impression that I'm giving a carte blanche to not think philosophically, to not think deeply, about these doctrines. Quite the opposite. . . . My position is that with each of these doctrines we reflect on them as hard as we can, we penetrate them as best we can based on the Scriptural data that we do have, but we also recognize that there are going to be limits, and that those limits are actually a positive thing and not a reflection of some inherent problem in the doctrines or in the process of theological reflection. . . . I think we can make progress, we can make

considerable progress, in understanding these doctrines and resolving some of the . . . initial difficulties that we have with them, but at the same time recognizing that we're always only going to get so far and when we bump up against the limits of our capacity to formulate them in certain ways or to resolve certain difficulties in them, we

shouldn't be too concerned about that. We certainly shouldn't say, 'Okay, we need to admit that Christians are ultimately irrationalists.' No. We don't need to say that at all. . . . It's a Biblically constrained rationality. It's a middle way between rationalism, of which I think [Gordon H.] Clark was a representative, and irrationalism, of which, to take an example I think the Neo-Orthodox - Karl Barth - would be an example, where you're saying that there are actual contradictions in there. So I think it's navigating a Biblical middle way between these two extremes: having too high a view of the human intellect, and perhaps too low a view of the intellect, of our ability to know the things

of God."

~Dr. James Anderson

Theological Paradoxes

Below I have listed some of the classic theological paradoxes (and a few interesting ironies, too) . . .

~The Trinity - God is One being revealed in three distinct persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)
~God is transcendent (separate from His creation) yet immanent (in His creation)
~Omnipresence - God is always present everywhere, yet He sometimes speaks of Himself as "present" in a special way
~The Incarnation - God became a man
~The Virgin Birth - A Jewish virgin gave birth to the Son of God
~The Two Natures of Christ - Jesus is fully (100%) God and fully (100%) man

~The Atonement is sufficient to save every person, but efficient only for those who believe
~God is completely sovereign (in control of everything, everywhere, all the time) yet He is not the author of sin and he uses human choice to accomplish His purposes
~Inspiration of Scripture - The Bible was written by sinful human beings yet it is the inerrant and flawless Word of God
~Divine Revelation - Sinful man cannot comprehend God, yet God reveals Himself to sinful man
~Sanctification - Christians are sinners by nature, but saints by grace
~Suffering - God brings His joy and comfort into our lives through our experiences of pain, disappointment and suffering

There are many others. Paradox is everywhere when we attempt to understand God's ways in a genuinely Biblical way.

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Sunday, April 12, 2009

PARADOX FILES, Vol. 5 - Ted Christman

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