Christianity is Unique

                                   
                                            "In Christ is hidden all the treasures and wisdom"

                                                                                                 ~ Colossians 2:3

                                                "For what accord has Athens with Jerusalem?"
                                                                                                ~Tertullian

                                                               "I say no to natural theology!"
                                                                                             -Karl Barth


I have studied Christian apologetics for over twenty-five years. I have studied apologetics at some of the leading Evangelical academic institutions in America and have given the defense of the faith a lot of thought. While this does not make me an expert on anything, I have pondered the veracity of Christianity and how to best elucidate the truthfulness of Christianity to the Church and the world with some degree of intellectual rigor.

There was a time in my life where I would have claimed to be an "evidentialist apologist." That is, I was under the assumption that the evidentialist approach to Evangelical apologetics was the most accurate and Biblically congruent approach to defending the faith out there.

However, as I had the opportunity to reflect and probe the concept of Christianity and the truth further, I have modified my approach to Christian Apologetics considerably. After reading some of Karl Barth's work against natural theology and contemplating some ideas I have found in the writings of the Reformed Presuppostionalist apologists Van Til and Bahnsen, I have come to develop ideas that are entirely antithetical to my former evidential approach to Christian Apologetics.

I now believe that Christianity is "Sui Generis." That is, I believe Christianity is a self-contained and unique philosophical system that has no rivals or comparisons in reality. I believe Christianity and God's revelation and self-disclosure of Himself in Christ crucified has no analogies in human reality. Thus, I believe Christianity is a unique epistemological and existential system that is entirely self-contained, self-authenticating and self-attesting. There is really nothing like it and I believe it is incongruent with God's unique revelation in Christ to somehow attempt to synthesize Christianity with the thought of Aristotle, Plato and other secular philosophers.

 What I mean by "self-authenticating" and "self-attestation," is that I believe God will make the truth of His revelatory self-disclosure of Christ crucified, (the apex of Christian revelation) known to those whom He has chosen. My view of epistemological self-authentication and self-attestation is directly tied to my Calvinistic and Augustinian view of divine election wherein God makes Himself known to the elect through His eternal decree and sovereign will

From time to time I will be developing my views on the uniqueness of Christianity and Christian apologetics here on this blog.

           

(Pictures from my walks around the Princeton University campus in recent days)

"The Paradigm of Praise"

By Lee Edward Enochs

“But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified and I to this world” (Galatians 6:14).

In recent months I have been very forthright and diligent in electronically disseminating my aversion towards fundamentalist Evangelicalism through various modes of social media. I have also been very clear that I had a horrible time at a Southern Baptist school down in Texas. I think it is also clear that I see myself as a misfit and “Kurt Cobain type” alternative rebel within the context and confines of conservative American Evangelicalism.

Since last October, my blog has been read by over 10,000 people and have generated over 40,000 profile views on Google. In recent weeks close to a 1,000 people a week have been watching my iconoclastic videos I have posted on Facebook and elsewhere on the worldwide web. While these numbers are paltry in today’s social media obsessed world, I believe it is safe to say that I have established some sort of minor presence on the internet.

Yet, I am not satisfied with the strictly rebellious motif I have established for myself in certain circles. In fact, I am aghast that some people know me now as an incessant critic of American Evangelicalism and Southern Baptists. It actually pains me that I have positioned myself and am now characterized by some as merely a bitter critic.

This pains me because I believe I have so much more to give and so much more to say about Christianity and truth in American society.

While I do not want to be accused of formulating a form of Evangelical reductionism, wherein I truncate the majestic and vast themes of Scripture into a formulaic set of propositions, My locus classicus or primum argumentum scriptura (central doctrinal theme and primary argument from scripture), pertains to God’s self-disclosure and self-revelation of Himself in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I believe all of life pertains to Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Rather than continuing to foster a reputation as an “Evangelical Bad Boy,” I want to be seen as a person that makes God in Christ known to humanity in a relevant and Biblical manner. I also believe that God and His inerrant and infallible Word are self-attesting and self-authenticating and need no external verification. I believe authentic and Biblical Christianity is sui generis (unique unto itself) and there is nothing in reality quite like God’s disclosure of Himself in the person and salvific and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. I want to be like the Apostle Paul who was determined not to know anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

I want to somehow jettison and discard my bad boy reputation at times and promote a “paradigm of praise”(paradigma laudis). That is, I want to glorify God with every aspect of my being and make His kingdom and majestic glory known to all nations. I want to say with King Solomon of old, “That all the earth might know that the Lord is God there is no other” (1 Kings 8:60).

An Evangelical Appreciation of Karl Barth

I have had the opportunity to study at some of the leading Evangelical academic institutions in the United States. While most of my professors in these schools have been excellent practitioners of their theological craft, I find their knowledge of the propositional content of Karl Barth's teaching to be insufficient and lacking.

 My personal observation that many Evangelical Christians have been led to believe that Karl Barth was unequivocally a heretic and liberal theologian who led many people astray into false doctrine. However, the vast majority of Evangelicals have never read anything from Karl Barth himself. Most Evangelicals I have encountered have never read a book or even an excerpt of Barth's teachings, but merely parrot the widely disseminated and negative views about Barth and his theology they have heard in a piecemeal fashion from others.

Because of the massive impact that Karl Barth has made on Christian theology over the last hundred years, it is of paramount importance in the case of Karl Barth and his body of teaching, that we "examine everything carefully and hold fast to the truth" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

I personally want to encourage my Christian friends to actually study the works of Barth themselves and not merely repeat the negativity about Barth they have heard from others.
I for one have found Barth to be very Christ-centered and Christo-centric at his doctrinal core and agree with Barth about the supernatural transcendence of God. I have come to respect Karl Barth and found him and his theological writings to be essential reading at this juncture of my personal studies.

The God of Endless Days

   " Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God."

                                                       ~Psalm 90: 2

    

One of the most profound truths of the historic Christian faith is that God is eternal (Deuteronomy 33:27). That means that God has always existed and there has never been a time when God has not been. Contrary to some people, God has existed for eternity and is an uncreated being. I agree with the following creeds:

The Apostles Creed

I BELIEVE IN GOD the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth.

I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended into Hades. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

The Nicene Creed

WE BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

AND IN ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

AND WE BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets; and we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

The Chalcedon Creed

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.

The Athanasian Creed

Whoever wills to be in a state of salvation, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith, which except everyone shall have kept whole and undefiled without doubt he will perish eternally.

Now the catholic faith is that we worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding their Persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is One, the Glory equal, the Majesty Coeternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit; the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated; the father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet not three eternals but one eternal, as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one infinite. So, likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet not three almighties but one almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; and yet not three Gods but one God. So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three Gods or three Lords.

The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made nor created but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding. So there is one Father not three Fathers, one Son not three Sons, and one Holy Spirit not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less, but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal.

So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshiped. He therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think thus of the Trinity.

But it is necessary to eternal salvation that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The right faith therefore is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.

He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds, and He is man of the substance of His mother born in the world; perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning soul and human flesh; equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood.

Who although He be God and Man yet He is not two but one Christ; one however not by conversion of the Godhead in the flesh, but by taking of the Manhood in God; one altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person. For as the reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.

Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And that they have done good shall go into life eternal, and they who indeed have done evil into eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith, which except a man shall have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of salvation.      

Trinitarian

In recent months I have done much to make my views known. The unfortunate thing about this is that the vast majority of my writings of late have been about what I disagree with more than what I agree with Christians about. I have become known in certain circles as a critic of Evangelicalism and the Southern Baptist Convention, but as much as I want to see definite change occur throughout American Evangelicalism and the SBC, I want to know God and give an accurate representation of who God is to contemporary postmodern society.

Once and for all, for the record and for the utmost clarity; I am a devout Christian. I make no apologies for my Christian faith. I believe in Jesus Christ with all my heart and I believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired, infallible Word of God. I also believe that the Bible is our only authority, and while I strongly concur with the historic and ecumenical creeds of the Christian faith, my faith is predicated on God's Word alone.

I believe that salvation in Jesus Christ alone. I believe we are justified by God's grace alone, apart from human works or effort and I most definitely believe salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone and based exclusively on the Bible alone.

I also believe in the historic Christian doctrine of the Trinity that teaches that there is one God and in God exists three distinct persons who share the same spiritual essence, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I am very much a Trinitarian and believe in this aspect of Christian theology very much.

I am sorry if there is any confusion out there about what I believe. I need to do better at promoting my Christian faith to this lost world.

For the record and with boldness and agreement with the historic Christian Church, I believe in Jesus Christ.

On those 21 Coptic Christians Killed by ISIS

   I have very little time to write on this today. I am so busy with grad school and my job that I often do not have time to edit these blog posts and that bothers me.

 I had planned on writing some more on why I think Rob Bell is needed in American Evangelicalism today, but my conscience is very bothered and my heart is heavy about those 21 Coptic Christians who murdered by ISIS the other day.

You see as a Libertarian, I have major problems with American intervention in the affairs of a sovereign nation. I do not like government intrusion in my life or any other life for that matter. I do not believe the 2003 invasion of Iraq was morally justified. 

I recently read a peer reviewed report put out by John Hopkins University that states that over 900,000 Iraqi citizens were killed by America in that last campaign and it greatly outrages and sickens me. Because of this, I do not want to see us fight any more unjust and unnecessary wars for oil profit again.

Having said this, I am not a pacifist and do believe there will be times where the United States will have to defend herself and her allies. After much contemplation and internal dialog with myself over this issue. My conscience is bothered by what ISIS is doing and now believe we must go after them with everything we have. We must now crush ISIS to spare human lives. It is that simple. 

My heart is saddened by the great loss of life ISIS is causing in the Middle East and believe we have no other recourse but to end their reign of terror immediately. I now stand behind President Obama and the US Congress and pray that we go after ISIS will full force and bring them to justice at once.

I am writing this out of love for the 21 Coptic Christian brothers who were killed recently by ISIS and for the other people were murdered by this heinous group. It is time to light them up like the 4th of July. Let justice be swift.

Deconstructing Evangelicalism

"If anyone is in Christ, he (or she) is a new creature, old things have passed away, behold new things have come" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

In recent months I have been asked why I blog and post so many videos. I guess that is a fair question. Here is why.

I have been part of American Evangelicalism for almost three decades. I have attended some of the most prominent Evangelical megachurches and academic institutions in America. During my almost thirty year sojourn in American Evangelical Christianity, I have seen some grave weaknesses that threaten to make Evangelicalism irrelevant as a spiritual and theological force in America. Because of these weaknesses, I believe I am obligated to do all I can do to right my own ship and proclaim the gospel in a relevant and Biblical manner. My main goal is to clear the American cultural landscape of unnecessary baggage that women and men may hear the Gospel with clarity and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

An inherent presupposition of historic Christianity is that Christ has come to redeem humanity and set things right on this earth. While this has not happened yet in totality, we Christians concur with the Apostles Creed that Jesus will return to judge the living and dead and impart life everlasting to the redeemed. Through faith in Christ and His salvific work upon the cross we have the promise of our own salvation and the ultimate restoration of this fallen creation.

The world we live  is fallen. The evidence of this inherent fallen condition is all around us. There is much evil and suffering in this world. Our daily newspapers and news broadcasts report to us the radical nature of evil in everyday life on an instantaneous basis. As Christians who have been given the Gospel of life, we have a divine mandate and ethical obligation to proclaim the way out of this fallen situation. Because of the utmost seriousness and gravity of humanity’s predicament, I have chosen to post my thoughts on this blog. Christianity is of great importance to me. As the Apostle Paul said, “Christ is our life” (Colossians 3:4) and, “I am determined not to know anything among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Because of the seriousness of the current situation in this world, I have chosen to rebel against status quo Evangelicalism and the archaic fundamentalism and cultural backwardness inherent in the Southern Baptist Convention. I am now arguing for what I call, “Neo-Reformationalism,” a movement of historic and contemporary Protestant and Evangelical Christianity that respects the doctrinal verities of the past but jettisons all the cultural baggage and garbage so rampant in Fundamentalist Evangelicalism. I am calling for a new Reformation within American Evangelical Christianity. I am calling for the complete deconstruction and reconstruction of Evangelicalism. I want to see the old things pass away and new things come.

So, I guess I am doing all that this to rock and sinking ship of American Evangelicalism, that many may come to know Christ.