Posted on 10/30/2006 8:56:41 AM PST by Rightly Biased
Southwestern Seminarys theology dean, David Allen, doesnt expect any surprises from faculty when he sends them a memo soon about a new trustee statement regarding the neo-charismatic practice of private prayer language.
Prospective faculty members have been quizzed on the subject for years, Allen said.
If a current faculty member practices a private prayer language as one trustee alleges five of them do, then the pertinent question becomes whether that view is advocated in the classroom.
I would not bring that professor in and say, You cannot say that outside of class. Im not going to restrict anyone in that way.
The statement said we will not knowingly endorse private prayer language, Allen explained, taking that to mean advocating that practice.
The newly passed statement reads: As it concerns private practices of devotion, these practices, if genuinely private, remain unknown to the general public and are, therefore, beyond the purview of Southwestern Seminary. Southwestern will not knowingly endorse in any way, advertise, or commend the conclusions of the contemporary charismatic movement including private prayer language. Neither will Southwestern knowingly employ professors or administrators who promote such practices.
Allen draws a distinction between the statement by which a seminary operates and the freedom of an individual pastor.
A pastor at a local church is not an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention. They are by definition autonomous, as is their pastor. However, a seminary is a different animal, he said, because of the responsibility it has to its churches through elected trustees.
Prior to his election to the faculty and administration, Allen served as a trustee throughout the previous seminary presidents administration and takes issue with McKissics characterization that the newly passed statement represents a theological and philosophical shift that will exclude many practitioners of tongues.
During the entire Hemphill time, as a board member, if a person articulated to me that they had charismatic leanings and inclusive of that was a private prayer language, it would be very unlikely I would have been supportive of faculty status.
But a faculty member who privately discloses a sympathetic view toward the practice of a private prayer language wont be hauled into the deans office.
I would not bring that professor in and say you cannot say that outside of class. Its not going to restrict in that way. If we have people who do that here were certainly not going to try to move for their dismissal, Allen said.
Nor should the statement pose a problem for any of the students, he added.
We have lots of students who arent Southern Baptists and some are charismatic. We do not expect our students to affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Under no conditions would any such student be unwelcome here, Allen stated.
On the other side of the coin, we can be careful in whom we do hire. We will not hire anyone knowingly who affirms that which the vast majority of Southern Baptists disavow.
As long as it remains private, its not problematic to me because I dont know, agreed Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson. If it does become known to some people, but is not a matter that is advocated or advertised and the reputation of the school is not harmed thereby, then its not a problem.
While the focus of the statement was placed on the hiring process, Patterson said he questions whether theres even one professor who advocates the practice of a private prayer language.
Patterson disputes McKissics claim the school has abandoned its commitment to the inerrant Word of God by banning a practice the apostle Paul said should not be forbidden. He called their difference a disagreement with McKissics interpretation, not a denial of Gods Word.
We dont forbid tongues. We said what we are going to do in the seminary as a direction. He is confusing our disagreement with him as a disagreement with inerrancy.
Patterson said a variety of interpretations are held by Southwestern professors, including cessationists like Vice President Craig Blaising and those who would view some legitimacy to what was happening at Corinth while regarding it as implicitly dangerous.
I have never been a cessationist. I dont believe the sign gifts ceased with the coming of the New Testament. I do not think that the scriptural grounds for arguing that are persuasive, but I do believe that if it is an actual case of the gift of tongues, that it will be the experience of Acts 2 where people speak languages they have never formally studied in order to present the gospel.
Preaching from 1 Corinthians 14 in a chapel sermon last April, Patterson stated that Acts 2 portrays the legitimate gifts of tongues for gospel proclamation and that the Corinthian believers were merely imitating the Acts 2 manifestation in a manner similar to pagan prophets of the time.
Nevertheless, It would be a mistake for evangelicals to forbid others to speak in tongues ... That doesnt mean that a person who is building a major part of his faith on something that is so ... downplayed by Paul should be called to be your pastor, Patterson said.
He said 1 Corinthians 14 seems to give evidence of a private prayer language, but notes that Paul says such prayer leaves the mind out of prayer so that praying with the mind is preferred. Furthermore, Patterson said, it is not synonymous with the groanings mentioned in Romans 8:26a statement that contradicts one of McKissics examples of private prayer language.
While Patterson said he does not believe there is a lot of necessity for that type of situation anymore, nevertheless, God is God and it could happen, but if it happens, I believe it will be [an Acts 2 manifestation], he said, referring to speaking known languages previously unknown to the speaker and made available to preach the gospel.
Not sure about THE point but I got lots of good points!
Much appreciate your efforts.
Are you on my ping list? I forget. You might appreciate these threads:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1733999/posts
and:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1734008/posts
Not too sure about that, try a google of ÃÂÃÂ and see what comes up.
Are you using an Open Office editor for html?
Thank you, RB, for praying and for posting and for pinging me. That's ministry.
Outlook express has an editor.
I guess it needs an update.
oh well.
RB<><
On google I found almost a million sites that used the same coding as your post did, and they displayed correctly. It might be a freerepublic quirk.
And yet there are people I suspect who truly believe that the only way a person can be saved is by physically hearing the words of God, deaf persons notwithstanding:
But it is not the physical media that matters, but the voice of Christ Himself because He is the power of God, The Word of God (John 1, Rev 19):
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. - John 14:6
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. - I Cor 1:21
We live in a day when people of all ages, background and economy are seeking ecstasy and escapism through the outward stimuli of drugs and alcohol. Paul says that these things are cheap substitutes for real meaning in life. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a natural high and it is Gods Command!
4 Spiritual Lessons From This Verse:
2.) This vers is in the present tense, meaning that the filling of the Holy Spirit is an experience that is continual. Filling should take place daily or moment by moment.
3.) This verse is plural in number, which means that it applies to all Christians, not just a select few.
4.) This verse is passive in voice, stating that the filling of the Holy Spirit is something that God does to us and for us, not something we do for ourselves. This command is for every believer, not for an elite group.
1.) Lack of Information - many Christians are ignorant as to what the Bible promises concerning the Spirit filled life.
2.) Misinformation
b.) Some feel that unless the infilling of the Holy Spirit is accompanied by ecstatic utterances, or glossolilia (speaking in tongues), one has not received the Holy Spirit. This is absolutely and unbiblical teaching that Satan has used to divide the church. Many great Christians do not speak, and have never spoken in tongues. This gift was given for the expressed purpose of evangelism and those who teach differently are either unschooled on doctrinal interpretation or purposely deceptive.
c.) Some feel that the Holy Spirit is sent upon us and removed from us by God as He sees fit. This also, is not true. It was true in the Old Testament times, but after Pentecost, Gods Spirit comes into the life of everyone who is saved at the moment of their salvation, and Gods promise is that He will never leave us.
d.) Some say, if you dont feel Gods Spirit, He must not be present. This also is not true. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is not dependent upon our emotion, it is dependent upon Gods promises.
1.) Recognize That the Holy Spirit Lives Within You
2.) Realize That it Is Gods Will for You to Be Continually Filled with His Spirit.
3.) Confess Every Sin.
5.) Walk in Faith
Remember we are to walk in faith, and not by feelings.
You will never be the witness that God intends for you to be unless you are living a Spirit controlled life every day.
Regards RB
Thanks Alamo-Girl
I don't mind at all I have no idea what I did wrong.
God Bless you for your effort.
RB<><
God is not restricted and can reach us in many ways besides the Bible.
Regards
While I don't disagree that God is not restricted, the only way to salvation starts by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
That "Word of God", however, is not restricted to the Bible. Remember, Paul says that even the Gentiles possessed a law written on their hearts, even though they didn't have the written law. Thus, the Spirit is able to "speak" to even the pagans. However, this does not do away with the Church. This merely means that God can prepare man to receive the fullness of the Gospel, or He can give "enough" grace to the man whom He sees will not ever hear the formal Word of God as preached by a missionary - for example, those who live from faith to faith in God and were an Incan Indian living in 1200 AD - before Catholic missionaries ever reached them.
Regards
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