As I’m no longer writing (much) about CN, I’m archiving Christian Nationalism Notes and starting Post Truth Post, dedicated to essays on Protestant Christianity in 21st-century America.
Good stuff, Blake 👏 I saw that poster and had a similarly wide-eyed reaction to all the names that were being put together. What you note, though, is what I've felt for a while: a schism is brewing within Protestant Evangelicalism, broadly interpreted, that will prove burdensome to traverse.
I’m looking forward to your next posts. I somewhat unwillingly attended the Be Bold Conference a few weeks ago with my adult son. I went with the attitude that it would be loaded with fluff and weak if not completely off the wall doctrine. So I attended with my antennas up.
I was pleasantly surprised, actually, at the teaching we got there. Granted, Lee Arnold was the main speaker. He did an amazing job of presenting the plan of salvation and walking the audience through what it means to be a Christian, using Galatians 5 as a springboard. I came away challenged and encouraged, even convicted in my walk with Christ.
Some of the celebrity speakers were not so much there to teach doctrine but share their own walk with God and draw some lessons and encouragement out of that for the audience. Some were very good (Willie Robertson) while others were more fluff.
Some of the speakers, I got few notes on because there wasn’t a lot that struck me. Others, I wrote a lot of notes.
I realize Ben Carson is Seventh Day Adventist. I’m not even sure if their Jesus is the Jesus of the Bible. His speech was more about his journey from delinquency to neurosurgeon. He gives God credit for putting him on the right path. But knowing the doctrinal background of Seventh Day Adventism it made for some cognitive dissonance for me. His story is remarkable and I loved hearing it but in the context of a conference like that it rubbed me the wrong way.
So while I came away from the conference encouraged and challenged in my walk with Christ, I also felt conflicted knowing the religious background of some of the speakers isn’t exactly on target doctrinally. Thankfully none of them pushed doctrine that was unbiblical, but having them on stage makes people assume whatever church they go to is okay doctrinally when in fact it might be way off in not just secondary issues but the essential doctrine of Scripture and audience members may be in attendance who don’t know the difference and could be led off in the wrong direction.
Thanks for the context. One of the points I plan on making is how both "Evangelicals" and "Protestants" will give you fairly orthodox testimonies/gospel presentations (as can many RC and EO), but, once you start peeling back the layers of the onion, a diversion quickly emerges, not the least of which being a divergent view of sanctification.
Good stuff, Blake 👏 I saw that poster and had a similarly wide-eyed reaction to all the names that were being put together. What you note, though, is what I've felt for a while: a schism is brewing within Protestant Evangelicalism, broadly interpreted, that will prove burdensome to traverse.
I’m looking forward to your next posts. I somewhat unwillingly attended the Be Bold Conference a few weeks ago with my adult son. I went with the attitude that it would be loaded with fluff and weak if not completely off the wall doctrine. So I attended with my antennas up.
I was pleasantly surprised, actually, at the teaching we got there. Granted, Lee Arnold was the main speaker. He did an amazing job of presenting the plan of salvation and walking the audience through what it means to be a Christian, using Galatians 5 as a springboard. I came away challenged and encouraged, even convicted in my walk with Christ.
Some of the celebrity speakers were not so much there to teach doctrine but share their own walk with God and draw some lessons and encouragement out of that for the audience. Some were very good (Willie Robertson) while others were more fluff.
Some of the speakers, I got few notes on because there wasn’t a lot that struck me. Others, I wrote a lot of notes.
I realize Ben Carson is Seventh Day Adventist. I’m not even sure if their Jesus is the Jesus of the Bible. His speech was more about his journey from delinquency to neurosurgeon. He gives God credit for putting him on the right path. But knowing the doctrinal background of Seventh Day Adventism it made for some cognitive dissonance for me. His story is remarkable and I loved hearing it but in the context of a conference like that it rubbed me the wrong way.
So while I came away from the conference encouraged and challenged in my walk with Christ, I also felt conflicted knowing the religious background of some of the speakers isn’t exactly on target doctrinally. Thankfully none of them pushed doctrine that was unbiblical, but having them on stage makes people assume whatever church they go to is okay doctrinally when in fact it might be way off in not just secondary issues but the essential doctrine of Scripture and audience members may be in attendance who don’t know the difference and could be led off in the wrong direction.
Thanks for the context. One of the points I plan on making is how both "Evangelicals" and "Protestants" will give you fairly orthodox testimonies/gospel presentations (as can many RC and EO), but, once you start peeling back the layers of the onion, a diversion quickly emerges, not the least of which being a divergent view of sanctification.
If there is a way, I can send you the notes I took at the conference, would that be of any help to you in your research for your articles?
I doubt I'll be referencing this conference again for the series, but if I do, I'll hit you up beforehand. Thanks!