T4G Day 2, Session 1

We’re not the only show in town. Thought I came to the wrong conference from Canada.

I debated which conference to attend. The machinery at the snow conference looked impressive, but I still like books better.

This morning we sang.

We listened to John MacArthur talk about total depravity.

MacArthur talked about the contextualization debate that’s been going on at Team Pyro and TSK. By contextualization, I think MacArthur means changing the message. That’s not what everyone means when they use the term. For instance, Keller says, “Contextualization is not giving people what they want. It is giving God’s answers (which they probably do not want) to the questions they are asking and in forms they can comprehend.” I wish we could establish definitions before engaging in debates.

At Boars Head Tavern, Michael Spencer is calling this “Together for Calvinism.” On a related topic, Trevin Wax has a good couple of posts on the new book Young, Restless, and Reformed, including this one:

If we can learn from those who disagree with the Abstract on a doctrine as important as baptism, surely we can learn from someone who disagrees with unconditional election. There’s a double standard at work here. The Calvinists welcome paedobaptists…overlooking that ecclesiological difference. Yet they protest fellow Baptists who do not toe the line on Calvinism. Personally, I am thankful that Southern Seminary administrators have chosen to welcome a variety of godly Christian men to the pulpit with whom we might strongly disagree on certain issues, but with whom we share a strong commitment to the gospel.

Both Spencer and Wax have a good point: if we are truly together for the Gospel, it has to be broader than just Calvinism. The people who need to say this the loudest are the Calvinists.

Challies continues to post summaries of each session.