An open letter to all who treasured monty12/13/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() The class sat for a while in panicked silence. Floyd explained that our best is perfection, because God allows us to suffer no temptations that we are unable to resist (1 Cor 10:13). He drew the same chart on the wall, and he asked us how good we had to be for God to reach down and lift us the rest of the way? Some said “Doing our best.” Dr. Not knowing what I must do to remain saved was just not good enough.Īnd so I attended Lipscomb and learned very little new about the Bible until I took Harvey Floyd’s class on Romans. I asked where the line is? How good must we be? What degree of obedience is enough? And the teacher admitted that he did not know. And if we attain to that level, God will make up the difference! (draws arrow up to 100%). We have to accomplish a certain level of righteous living (draws line at around 30%). One reason I chose to attend Lipscomb was a Bible class I’d had at church where the teacher explained grace this way. (Ironically, the requirement of daily chapel kept me from taking many of the Bible and Greek courses I went to Lipscomb to take!) The schedule wouldn’t let me double major in Bible - which is what I really wanted to do. Using several translations, especially cross-referencing Bibles, and a paper concordance, I sorted through the texts, searching for a better, truer understanding of grace and the Holy Spirit. The students came to my classes to gain the right “positions” on the “issues.” “I don’t know” was just not good enough!Īnd so I turned to a very diligent study of grace. Only later did I realize that we had been teaching a form of grace that insisted that you must know the answer to be saved. And that actually made some students angry. And sometimes, I had to admit in class that despite all my study and prayer, I did not know the answer. I learned early on that my students felt a deep-seated necessity to know the answers to the questions. ![]() I’ve taught Bible class since I was 21 nearly every week - often two and three times a week - except these last few months when my health has kept me out of the classroom. (And I tried out as many theories as I could find for many years.) That also left me uncertain as to how to reconcile the verses, but I felt better admitting not knowing the answer than imposing one. In trying to reconcile the “everyone with faith is saved” passages with the “baptism saves” passages, I also considered the argument that “faith” = “plan of salvation.” But I pulled out an old-fashioned paper concordance and looked up “faith” to see whether “plan of salvation” fits where “faith” is used, and it just doesn’t. I just considered it an open or unresolved question. But I was not convinced that there is a personal indwelling until much later. I never bought the “gift of the Holy Spirit” = “eternal life” argument. I did wonder, though, about the Holy Spirit. Had we crossed paths when I was 18, we would have had much of our belief systems in common. I’m 59, nearly 60.Īnd I grew up believing a great deal of what you teach in Muscle & Shovel. And I am a life-long member of the Churches of Christ, having been baptized at age 8. I’m a third-generation elder, and growing up, my best friends were the sons of local Church of Christ preachers, “liberal” or otherwise. We even made a point to have the opening prayer after the announcements because the announcements are not one of the Five Acts of Worship. But by today’s standards, my home church was very conservative. In my home county, my church was the “liberal” one because we believed the church treasury could be used to support orphanages. I grew up in North Alabama, famous for having a large concentration of Churches of Christ, most of which are very conservative. ![]() I want you to know that my roots are similar in several respects. I know that you studied at Southern Christian University (now Amridge University), which was founded by Rex Turner, Sr., and which at one point represented a very conservative brand of Church of Christ thought as well. I know you grew up Baptist, evidently in a church with roots in the Landmark Baptist tradition, and that you were converted to an extremely conservative version of the Church of Christ. You might not agree me, but I’m confident that your writing skills are a gift from God. I think you are a well-intended, good hearted, intelligent man with a gift for narrative writing. What can I say? But this really, really is the end.) We are considering Michael Shank’s book Muscle and a Shovel. ![]()
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