Dave Doran, pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church and president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, recently made this statement over at his blog.As an example, if someone wants to preach a message on women never wearing pants, then the burden on me would be to evaluate the arguments that are made and, if I disagree, show where I believe the preacher is incorrect.
I applaud that statement and am always hopeful for this to be the case on issues. Often it is not. Sometimes Dr. Doran and I might disagree on certain doctrines and practice, so I wanted to make notice of a hearty agreement with this point he made.
As a bit of a side note, I've never preached a message on women never wearing pants. I have preached sermons on Deuteronomy 22:5 and 1 Corinthians 11:3-16. I like to have the discussion surround the text itself. It is often a dodge when the direction turns first to the application in the culture, instead of the text from which the practice comes. With any issue, we start with the study of Scripture. We also look for historical interpretation. And then we look at the application of the text and the history of its application among believers. This is what I would hope from Dr. Doran as well on an issue such as he uses as an illustration in his blog post.
2 comments:
As an example, if someone wants to preach a message on women never wearing pants, then the burden on me would be to evaluate the arguments that are made and, if I disagree, show where I believe the preacher is incorrect.
According to some others, the burden on them is to throw a little ad hominem invective at the offending preacher, right prior to banning him from their blog.
That is the common technique used by those "secure exegetes" in fundamentalism, Titus. Those secure in the meaning of scripture aren't bothered by the challenge, unless any challenge is characterized as coming from a "crank" worth ignoring.
Post a Comment