Last night, after getting off work later than I thought, I was still in the mood to cook. For some strange reason, it relaxes me. What is even more astounding is that I was also in the mood for pizza. Given that I deliver pizzas for Pizza Hut, you would think that I would be sick of pizza, but I am not. I eat it even more that I used to. I decided on flat bread pizzas.

My journey for food started me out at Save-A-Lot where I picked up a back of Mozzarella Cheese, a bag of Pepperoni, and a bag of Sharp Cheddar Cheese that I thought I would use with some salad items I had back at the apartment. But Save-A-Lot is Save-A-Lot and they did not have A-Lot of what I needed. I trekked up to the nearest grocery store and picked up some flat bread, pizza sauce and some ranch dressing. I came back home, baked up three small flat bread pizzas and ate two of them with a really good salad before them. I was happy and relaxed.

This morning, my friend Josh invited me out to CiCi's Pizza with him tonight after praise and worship practice. I decided that it probably would pizza me out if I had flat bread pizzas again for lunch and then pizza for dinner too. I remembered I had some bacon in the freezer and some eggs, so for lunch I decided I would have breakfast. I got the skillet nice and hot ready for the bacon. Three strips down and they sizzled and smelled great. The burned a little on one side, but that made them nice and crispy so I did not mind. After pulling out the three strips, I had three left, so I decided I might as well fry them up to. Here's is where the fun begins.

I forgot to drain the grease from the first three strips. Thus, when I dropped the first raw bacon strip down into the pan, the grease splashed up and burned the snot out of my middle finger on my right hand. (I can't wait to show people.) After immediately getting my finger under cold water, I went ahead and placed the other two strips in and went back to nursing my finger. All of a sudden, I noticed a great deal of smoke building up in my apartment and then realized that I had got the second batch of bacon very crispy. I pulled the skillet off the burner just in time for the smoke alarm to go off. The smoke alarm in my building is hard-wired to the rest fo the fire system. Any other smoke alarm would have allowed me to simply remove the batteries and wait for the smoke to clear and then hook it back up. Not this one. Since it is hard-wired to an apartment wide system, it usually means that the alarm goes off for the entire apartment and it means that security for the university is notified. I was lucky that the whole apartment system did not go off. I thought that if I got a fan going and opened the windows that the smoke would clear and the alarm would go off. Not so. A security guard shows up at my door wanting to know if everything is ok. Seeing the smoke, she asked, "What happened?"
"I burned some bacon," I explained.
"Well, can you unplug the smoke detector?"
"No, it is hard-wired," I explained. She needed to see it, which meant that she needed to come into my apartment and wade through all my messy stuff. (Since Kandice is not here, I do not spend a lot of time cleaning.) After inspecting the hardware, she decided to reset that alarm and that did the trick. The alarm went off and I was left, unburned, but embarassed.

But wait, I'm not done. I still had to eat lunch somehow and I still did not want pizza. I still had some eggs and I figured that I could use some diced ham I had bought and the cheeses and make a mean omelet. I get my eggs whipped and I put them in the skillet, carelful not to have the skillet too hot or the eggs would burn. After I was convinced that the eggs were cooking at the right temperature, I put the diced ham in with a generous portion of each of the cheeses because I love cheese. I made a mean omelet alright. And a big one. So big I couldn't close it. I got it almost closed, but it was much too big to use a spatula to put it on a plate so I had to use two spatulas. After getting it in the plate, I realized that part of the omelet was not done. I decided to put in back in the skillet and scramble it. So, I made the first scrambled ham and cheese omelet.

It wasn't bad, but after all the work I had put into a this meal, I was too tired to enjoy it. I ate about half the omelet and gave up.

Moral of the story: One good meal does not make another.

Perhaps I will stick with cereal.

Kandice come home soon. :)

My Thesis Proposal

Luther and Inerrancy: Is There A Connection?

David G. McDowell



Description of Topic

I have chosen for my topic to look at the theology of Martin Luther, specifically his doctrine of biblical authority and how that may compare to the current doctrine of biblical inerrancy as expressed by the signers and adherers of the Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy (CSBI). I will look at Luther’s thoughts and doctrines on the authority of Scripture and see how it may have affected current thoughts on Biblical Inerrancy. I will seek to answer the question, “How does Luther's view of the authority of Scripture compare to the modern evangelical view of inerrancy as expressed by the signers of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy?"

Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this project is to compare Lutheran thought and doctrine to the theology of the signers and adherers to the CSBI and to see if the two are compatible. To accomplish this, I will examine Luther’s doctrines and thoughts on Scripture in depth, his approaches to Scripture, and to some extent, his methodology. I will then take this and compare it to current doctrines and thoughts from signers and adherents to the Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy as well as to the document itself.

Significance of the Study
The International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) is spurned from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It was the ICBI that produced the Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy (CSBI) in 1978-79. In addition to this document, they have also produced the Chicago Statement of Biblical Hermeneutics, which was produced in 1982. The ICBI original members were some of the leading Reformed theologians of the day, including R.C. Sproul, J.I. Packer, Greg Bahnsen and Norman Geisler, among others. Current members include John Piper, John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, and C.J. Mahaney. All of these men are leading Reformed theologians.
Reformed theology traces its roots back to Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. Other reformed thinkers of the 16th century include John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli, but it is Martin Luther who holds the distinction of being the author of the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, meaning “Scripture Alone.” This is one of the major tenets of Reformed theology, one of the “five solas,” the others being Sola Fide (Faith Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Solus Christus (Christ Alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone).
Since Reformation Theology seems to be the basis of some of the foundational beliefs of the doctrine of Inerrancy, then there must be a line of thought that connects the doctrine of Inerrancy, directly or indirectly, back to Martin Luther and his doctrines and thoughts regarding the place of Scripture. It is this line of thought that I wish to research and thus attempt to place the doctrine of Inerrancy in its historical place. By looking at one end of the spectrum, Martin Luther’s 16th century doctrine of biblical authority, and the other end of the spectrum, the 20th century doctrine of the Inerrancy of Scripture, it is my belief that the comparison will show a line of thought or thinking that lead, directly or indirectly, to late 20th century thought on Scripture and may even show us the direction Christian thought will take further into the 21st century.

Description of Methodology
I will examine in depth Martin Luther’s thoughts and doctrines regarding Scripture up to and including his doctrine of Sola Scriptura and what affect that may have had on the CSBI. This will include examining his very own writings and examining the claims that those who have written about him have made. I will also examine the CSBI document itself, examine the claims that it makes, tracing back Scriptural references, and compare the articles of the documents to Luther’s doctrine and thought. In the event that the CSBI draws from a creed or confession of faith, I will also seek to understand Luther’s understanding of that creed or confession of faith, if possible.

Preunderstanding and Limitations
I am presupposing a direct or indirect line of thought between Luther and the signers and adherents to the CSBI. I am doing this because I believe that the signers and adherers to the CSBI claim that they hold to several Reformed confessions of faith including, but not limited to, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Westminster Confession of Faith, among others.
I will also try to focus specifically on the work of Luther and only include works of the other Reformers when they are appropriate or show influence on Luther or on the CSBI. In other words, I will do my best not to draw lines of thought or conclusions when they do not flow directly or indirectly from the works of Luther unless they are appropriate and fall within the parameters of the comparison.


Selected Bibliography

Althaus, Paul. The Theology of Martin Luther. Translated by Robert C. Shultz. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966.

Lienhard, Marc. Luther: Witness to Jesus Christ. Translated by Edwin H. Robertson. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1982.

Lohse, Bernhard. Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Work. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986.

Luther, Martin. Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings. ed. Timothy F. Lull. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989.

Mathison, Keith A. The Shape of Sola Scriptura. Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 2001.

I am writing this from my New Testament class on the Pauline epistles. I'm very tired...beat down is more of the word for it. Although I have not shared a great deal of this on my blog, the last six months have been extremely difficult. On June 22, my wife had her colon removed...all of it. She has been struggling with Ulcerative Colitis for over four years and finally reached her pinnacle in her struggle. After a week stay in the hosptital, she was re-hospitalized for infection. She was finally able to return to work on the Tuesday after Labor Day. On February 1st, she has a second surgery that reversed her "ostomy." Since that date, she has been hospitalized four times in three different hospitals. I am physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. Specifically, in the past two weeks, my spirit has struggled. I have been reminded that the hardest lessons that we learn are often through pain.

I am not a perfect man. If you think your pastor is, then look again. The same goes for seminary students. I do not have all the answers. As of matter of fact, I have more questions and I tend to be very suspicious of anyone who thinks that they do have all the answers. I have had to admit to some mistakes that I have made in the past year and a half. Last night, I had a "talk" with my father-in-law about finances. It was more of him talking to me than me talking and, with all due respect to my father-in-law, I was left defending myself, decisions I have made, and some of my theological positions that he does not agree with. It is very hard to argue with a fundamentalist.

My father-in-law has some very legitimate concerns with our position. We are struggling financially. As of right now, I have a COBRA payment and rent due on April 1 and I do not know how I am going to pay for it. (This is not a commercial for money.) As I said, I know that I have made mistakes. I am not perfect. I made the best decisions that I knew how to make at the time that I made them. I stepped out on faith to go to seminary and I accepted loan money to do it. I have put myself in a very precarious financial situation that is not getting better. I know that I have to deal with it.

On my drive home from Massillon to Ashland, about an hour, I did not listen to music. I talked out loud to myself, vented a bit, cried a bit, and prayed a bit. To try and balance the grace of God with your own failures is exhausting. I cannot account for the grace of God and I cannot look back and second guess many decisions because I know I made them with as much knowledge and wisdom as I had at that time.

I am now faced with many decisions. The one decision that I have made is that I do need financial accountability. I need to do or redo my budget. It is time for a realtiy check, even a gut check. While I admit that I need financial help, I am not convinced that my father-in-law is the person to give me that help. I will admit that he is probably the best person I know at managing money. However, and to be upfront, I felt very judged and condemned last night. My calling was called into question, whether intentially or not. In other words, maybe I shouldn't have gone to seminary when I did. Maybe I'm not ready to be a pastor yet (I will admit this), and...guess what?...I have a temper. I struggle. Maybe this means that I should not be a pastor.

Excrement.

I am human. I hurt. I cry. I love. I have been loved. I have hated and I am probably hated by someone. I make money. I spend money. I probably do not spend money on what I should. Maybe I sinned when I bought that copy of HM magazine the other day. Maybe. But I'm human.

Whether or not it was anyone's intention or not, I feel very judged. Last night, my calling was called into question. My position as a singer in a praise and worship group was called into question. (What this had to do with my financial position, I do not know.)

So which is worse? Being judged or being judged by someone you love?

Growing up, I was made fun of. I was an awkward kid, and did not really come into my own until my sophmore or junior year in high school where I hid and expressed my teen angst in music. I sat under judgement from fundamentalists who did not like my music, my long(er) hair, my earing, or my attitude. It was this judgement that held me back from fully embracing Christ until I was in college and was in a place that I could close the door on judgement on open the door to grace. Legalism is truly a suffocating belief. I could have let it snuff out my hope, but I did not. Since I have become a Christian, for the past thirteen years of my life, there have been moments that I have felt judged by my mother, my stepfather, my church, and even some of my friends. Unfortunately, I have also judged others. I am so incredibly sorry for this. I was reminded last night how it felt.

So where do I go from here? Financial accountablity is a must, but I do not think it will come from someone who sits in judgement over me. As I wrote before, I love my father-in-law. He is a very intelligent and wise man. However, I am wounded by the Spirit, shot down a bit in my pride and reminded of whose I am and of my calling. I really do not be kicked when I am down, even it is in the context of trying to help me. I do not need my calling being called into question and really do not need to be having ludicrous thelogical debates regarding music.

I have learned the hard way before that just because someone loves you, that does not give them the right to judge you or hurt you.

Even if you love them.