The reason I mention this much is that this minister’s reaction was very much like my own. My own interest was Robbins’ appeal to logic’s good and necessary consequences on behalf of Truth, and the Christian’s obligation to witness to the Truth. If Truth, not merely the search for Truth, but Revealed Truth Study as premises requires the good and necessary consequence of a conclusion that names a well-known theologian a liar when he contradicts the plain teaching of the Scriptures, then according to Robbins, it is not wrong or a sin to call such person a liar or a fool. Robbins supports "name-calling" with numerous passages of Scripture that show it to be a sound practice, even a virtue, to label someone with an unpleasant but appropriate name when an examination of that person’s theology contradicts the Scripture’s truths.
In this Review, Robbins provided his readers with the biblical truth (evidence) that fully persuades by the application of logic that name-calling is a virtue.
In that chapter alone [Matthew 23], Christ calls the scribes and Pharisees names 16 times. The names are "hypocrites" (7 times), "son of Hell" (once),"blind guides" (twice), "fools and blind" (3 times), "whited sepulchres" (once), "serpents" (once), and "offspring of vipers" (once). Since Christ was without sin, we may deduce by good and necessary consequence that name-calling as such is not a sin. Since everything Christ did was righteous and virtuous, we may deduce by good and necessary consequence that accurate name-calling is a virtue. (p.1)
The interested reader is encouraged to read Robbins' Review for a more complete account of believing, speaking, writing, and thereby faithfully witnessing to the truths of Scripture in private or public discourse. Anything less cheapens the Gospel message and Jesus Christ, Our God and Savior.
At the end of this Review, John Robbins introduced me (and other readers) to Gordon H. Clark. In a small box at the end of the original Trinity Review, he wrote in part:
The Trinity Papers |
Your contributions are needed now to finance the publication of two Trinity Papers this year, Language and the Bible and The Bible is Truth, both by Dr. Gordon H. Clark. [The Trinity Review, Number 8, The Trinity Foundation, October 1979, p. 2] |
Scripturalism is the logically consistent application of Christian - that is, Scriptural - ideas to all fields of thought." Sola Scriptura means "an uncompromising devotion to Scripture: All our thoughts - there are no exceptions – are to be brought into conformity with Scripture, for all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are contained in Scripture. (John W. Robbins, An Introduction to Gordon H. Clark, Part I, No. 101, Jul. 93; Part II, No. 241, Mar. 05.)
Gordon Clark's Christian Dogmatism (Scripturalism) manifests a devotion to Scriptural Truth and logical, valid, sound reasoning deduced from biblical premises.
Christian dogmatism … must be realistic. The real object of knowledge is itself present to the mind. … These objects of knowledge are not trivialities such as blues and sweets. They are truths or propositions. An example, … is the proposition that God justifies sinners on the basis of Christ's imputed righteousness. … There are of course other thoughts, objects, or realities. Every Biblical proposition is one. These never change nor go out of existence, for they are constituents of God's mind. Knowing them, we know God. … We know God directly, for in him we live and move and have our being. (Gordon H. Clark, Three Types of Religious Philosophy, The Trinity Foundation, © 1989, Jefferson, Maryland, p. 123)
Scripturalism is epistemological philosophy about God and reality. God reveals knowledge of Himself and His Creation in Jesus Christ and in the Scripture's true propositions. In Scripture, God's plan of redemption reveals the way of salvation leading to ultimate glorification. The Bible declares the basis for moral obligations and duty to God, others, and society. The Bible Alone is the axiom of Scripturalism as a world and life view. Jesus witnessed to the truth when he declared, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me." (John 14:6)
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