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    Theological Persuasions
    Theological Persuasions
    Theological Persuasions
    Ebook241 pages3 hours

    Theological Persuasions

    By Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

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    In every perfect religious system there are three departments which are a part of the success of its theological persuasion and must be represented: Criticism, Dogmatism, and Evangelism. Without Criticism, there is no guarantee of truth. Without dogmatism, no defense of truth. Without evangelism, no propagation of truth.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDr. Martin G Tharp PhD
    Release dateFeb 27, 2013
    ISBN9781301837502
    Theological Persuasions
    Author

    Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

    Dr. Martin Tharp has been an avid student of the Bible for many years and holds a Bachelor, Master and eight Doctorates, one honorary and seven earned, including a Doctor. of Literature and two PhDs. He has been in full time ministry for over fifty-seven years and has authored forty-nine books to date, many of which are being used as curriculum in Bible colleges around the United States and abroad. He has also penned a number of gospel songs and recorded thirty-three albums as well as being actively involved in a school ministry to Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom for the past thirty-eight years, and Dr. Tharp has been honored twice by members of parliament in Ireland for their work in the Protestant and Catholic schools. He and his wife, Sharon, along with Maranda Howells, travel extensively across the USA and the whole of the British Isles holding evangelistic crusades in the churches of both countries.

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      Book preview

      Theological Persuasions - Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

      Theological

      Persuasions

      By Martin G. Tharp, Ph.D.

      Copyright 2013 Martin Tharp Ph.D.

      Smashwords edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes; This ebook is licensed for your own personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.. Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, King James Version. Copyright 1984, 1991 by AMG International, INC and the Living Bible Copyright 1971, 1986 by Tyndale House Publishers INC

      Acknowledgments

      It is with a grateful heart that I sincerely acknowledge the tremendous input and encouragement we receive each year from the Tabernacle in Gadsden, Alabama. The Pastor, Dr. Don Arnold and wife Jeannie have placed the full support of the Church behind our missionary endeavors, undergirding our ministry in the British Isles each year, making it possible for us to continue when others have chosen to leave us to fend for ourselves. Thank you seems totally inadequate, but thank you anyway!

      Also, I deeply appreciate the encouragement which I have received from so many Churches and Ministers, both here and in the British Isles, who have embraced our ministry over the years, allowing me to expound on the Biblical revelations which seem to consume me before they become words on a page and published into a book.

      Last but not least, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Southern Bible Institute and Seminary for their acceptance and use of my books as curriculum in many of the extension colleges stretched across twenty-one countries and ten states. I serve at Southern Bible in the position as Dean of External Studies.

      My long standing friendship with Dr. Ron Drawdy, the founder and President of Southern Bible, has not been based on our doctrinal compatibility for we share a few minor differences of opinion on areas of the Bible which effectively separate many in religious circles who demand a dogmatic adherence to cross every T and dot every I theologically in exactly the same manner in order to have fellowship. Dr. Drawdy has no such inhibitions. He is secure in his beliefs, and his Biblical knowledge and spiritual acumen is unsurpassed, therefore he feels no qualms about accepting others with differences of opinion that lesser men cannot abide. We share a philosophy that every man should know what he believes, and live by it, and is not afraid to die by it! But by the same token to allow others the same freedom!

      Table of Contents

      1. Propositional Theology Versus the Acquisition of a Living Faith

      2. Can Law Survive Without the Lawgiver

      3. In Pursuit of Proper Theology

      4. Retribution Theology

      5. Allegorical Theology

      6. The Theology of Grace

      7. The Theology of Election

      8. Resurrection Theology

      9. The Theology of the Ascension

      10. The Theology of The Return of Christ

      11. The Theology of Work

      12. Apostolic Theology

      Question

      Bibliography

      Introduction

      I have no doubt that any avid student of the Bible is capable of amassing a list of Theological Persuasions which would far surpass those which I have addressed in this manuscript. Simply because I have chosen twelve particular aspects of Biblical theology is by no means meant to assume that I have adequately covered the subject.

      As I have stated in the very first chapter of this book, the term theology is derived from the Greek word theos, meaning God, and logos, meaning word or discourse, hence, A discourse about God. For someone to embark on a theological pilgrimage, it is generally prompted by a desire to acquire the ability to present a coherent flow of information in regard to their particular religious persuasion.

      For me, it was a comment made by one of my dearest friends who did not intend for it to be a challenge, he simply made a suggestion that perhaps I should consider writing a book on Theology, and offering it for use as curriculum in the Bible colleges which have already adopted other titles which I have penned.

      The idiosyncrasies of our doctrinal differences have been the most potent force in the church, serving as an effective divider of the Christian Faith. There has been a multitudinous splintering of the body from the times of Jesus right into the twenty first century. Each faction is certain that their particular brand of Theological Persuasions is correct!

      The purpose of this book is not to prove a point to anyone! But rather to stimulate the creative juices which flows through the veins of every child of God who is an honest seeker of truth as they study the Bible. Perhaps as you peruse the pages of this book, you will be able to conjure up in your mind a list of Theological Persuasions which will cause mine to pale in significance. If so, then this effort will have been a resounding success!

      Chapter One

      Propositional Theology

      Versus;

      The Acquisition Of A

      Living Faith

      The term theology is derived from the Greek word theos, meaning God, and logos, meaning word or discourse, hence, A discourse about God. For someone to embark on a theological pilgrimage, it is generally prompted by a desire to acquire the ability to present a coherent flow of information in regard to their particular religious persuasion.

      The Bible is universally accepted as the written word of the Living God. It has never failed to give us proper order in regard to that which is nearest and dearest to His own heart; the Church! If in describing in minute detail, the order of events which would put man into a position to enter into His presence behind the veil in the Tabernacle, how could we fail to see the significance of that same divine order as the Apostle Paul succinctly clarifies it for us. In his first letter to the Church at Corinth, he deals with an area which was at the forefront of the problems which faced this fledgling band of Christians. Primarily, a failure to understand the manifestation of that which they had received on the day of Pentecost, and the operation of it.

      The theology of those early church participants was fragmented by the appearance of a vibrant, living faith, delivered on the day of Pentecost via the arrival of the Holy Ghost, a promise which was prophesied in the Old Testament in Joel 2, and verified as an established fact by Jesus, who encouraged them to go to Jerusalem to wait for this prophesied promise of the Father.

      The religious order of the day was no match for the overpowering euphoria of an indwelling manifestation of that which had been experienced in part by those men of God whose calling in the Old Testament economy was largely unquestioned by the recipients of their particular gift. Although they spoke as an oracle of God, their dependance on the manifestation of the power of God was not derived from the standpoint of an inner possession, but rather from the constant intrusion of either a heavenly vision or a personal word, a Dhavar from the mouth of God. The essential content of God’s revelation is described by the phrase; The word (Dhavar) of God came.

      The word (Dhavar)of the Lord, was a technical expression for a prophetic revelation. The Old Testament carries the term two hundred and twenty five times in which it is given in singular form. For example, look at an occasion when David has decided to build God a house. While sitting comfortably in his own residence, David begins to lament over the Ark of the Covenant, the dwelling place of God which rested behind curtains, prompting him to make this statement;

      "Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains. Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee" (1 Chron. 17:1b-2).

      Nathan, the recognized voice of God in the kingdom, has given David carte blanche to proceed with the urgings of his heart. Yet later in that same evening, Nathan is given a Dhavar of God, and returns to countermand the prophetic vote of approval from the previous day!

      "And it came to pass the same night, that the word (Dhavar) of God came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in" (1 Chron. 17:3-4).

      The point which must be made in regard to the illustration which has just been given is this; it was not the inner urging of the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost which changed Nathan’s proclamation to David in response to what would seem to be an admirable endeavor, but a word (Dhavar) from God which came, to him with a divine commission to Go and tell David no!

      Sometimes this same expression is personified as in this passage in Psalms;

      "He sent his word,(Dhavar) and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions" (Psalms 107:20).

      The lack of understanding concerning the spiritual gifts was a direct result of the lifelong ingestion of the recognized theology of the day, which precipitated the idea that some of the operations of those manifestations would place them into a category, which would give them an immanently more important position. It was a misnomer which prompted a response from Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter twelve, on these two issues.

      1. Spiritual gifts,

      2. Proper position in the body.

      After eleven verses which deal exclusively with the operational order of the nine gifts of the Spirit, Paul then turns in verse twelve to deal with the proper position of the members in the body. By doing so, he dispelled the idea that those portions of the body whose functions may go unnoticed, are less valuable to the Kingdom than those whom God has given a higher profile and placed at the forefront. In light of that background, we must take careful note of the following statement;

      "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him" (1 Corinthians 12:18).

      He further clarifies the reason for this teaching on the proper order of the body is to avoid a Schisma in the body (the church).

      "For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: That there should be no *schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another" (1 Corinthians 12:24-25).

      The word translated schism in the King James, is very close to the original Greek rendering of Schisma; meaning ; to split, to tear, a division in the mind, sentiment, and so into factions. The translation of the same word in 1 Corinthians 1:10, is;

      "That there be no divisions among you."

      Paul recognized that the church at Corinth had a propensity for embroiling themselves in controversy which was fueled by self willed egotists whose theology matched that of the selfish and arrogant Scribes and Pharisees. Men who had no qualms about using the new found power provided by the arrival and manifestation of the living faith embodied in the Spiritual gifts, to enhance their own importance.

      Since those days so long ago the modern day New Testament Christendom has evolved into an entity which has that same self serving propensity for controversy which has succeeded in splintering the church into multitudinous branches or denominations. They are divided by a myriad of doctrinal issues which are often as egotistically motivated as anything the Apostle Paul faced in the Corinthian Church.

      The tendency to demand adherence to, and belief in, the accepted dogma or theology adhered to in each of these factions does an injustice to the spiritual growth of its adherents. Man cannot be categorized and systematized by the spurious imitation of a living organism! The transforming power of God encapsulated in the possession of a living faith, which is essential to the life of a Biblical Church, is not a commodity which can be bought and sold. It’s inherent benefits cannot be recreated, duplicated, manufactured or patented, then offered for general consumption in the market place!

      In every perfect religious system there are three great departments which are part and parcel to the success of its theological persuasion and must be represented.

      1. Criticism

      2. Dogmatism

      3. Evangelism

      Without criticism, there is no guarantee of truth.

      Without dogmatism, no defense of truth.

      Without evangelism, no propagation of truth.

      When these departments become mixed up, or their separate functions are forgotten, when one is made to do duty for another, or where either is developed by the church or the individual at the expense of the rest, the result is fatal.

      The particular abuse, however, of which we must now speak, concerns the tendency in the orthodox church communities, first to exalt orthodoxy above all other elements in religion, and secondly to make the possession of what is accepted as sound theological or doctrinal beliefs equivalent to the possession of truth.

      Please allow me to pose this question to you. What is theology but a compressed form of the truth, systematized by able and holy men whose views have been sanctioned by the imprimaturs of the church? If the greatest minds of the church’s past, having exercised themselves profoundly in studying the problems of religion, then having formulated as if with one voice a system of doctrine which the masses have conformed to, why should the humble inquirer not gratefully accept it without question?

      Why should we go over the same overworked ground again? Why should the believer who has a rather dim spiritual acumen, attempt to seek for fresh truth, when so many have previously amassed and compiled such a great body of divinity? Why should he presume himself to still be a seeker after truth? Doesn’t the accepted theology give him Bible truth in reliable, convenient, and moreover, in logical propositions?

      If theology already lies available in minute detail, searched for and received by the fathers, abridged in a hundred different compilations, ready made to be used by the believer, all cut and dried, guaranteed to be sound and wholesome fodder for the spiritually discerning, the question before us is; then why not use it?

      The answer is not as complex as you may be led to believe! Just because it is cut and dried and readily available, lying there in reliable, convenient and logical propositions, does not mean that it is equivalent to the personal acquisition of truth! In order to accept truth delivered in a convenient medium which requires no effort on our part, we must be prepared to embrace an accepted form. But herein lies the problem, you cannot cut and dry truth! You cannot accept truth which is ready made without it ceasing to nourish the soul as truth. You cannot live on theological forms without becoming a parasite, and therefore ceasing to be a man!

      There is no worse enemy to the future life of a Church than a propositional or bargain basement theology, with the latter controlling the former by means of traditional authority. Which simply means, if we are not willing to expend the necessary energy to lay hold on the truth for ourselves, then we must simply accept it without question.

      To begin the Christian life set up by the Church with a stock-in-trade theology which has cost us nothing, though it may serve us our entire lives, it becomes worth exactly as much as our belief in the Church. The possession of truth, lightly won and given to the individual as infallible, is nothing more than a system, which to question is, in some cases, to do so at your own peril!

      There is a vast difference in beginning a Christian walk which is based on an acquired faith, and being caught in a system which degrades the senses, demanding that the adherent work from the truth which has been delivered to them, rather than working toward it! An infallible standard is a temptation to settle into a mechanical faith. But herein lies another problem; infallibility paralyzes! It gives rest, but it is the debilitating rest of stagnation.

      The fact that the Church undoubtably possesses an indispensable function to discharge to the individual is undeniable. But taking into consideration the universal tendency to parasitism in the human soul, it is a grave question indeed whether or not in some cases, it actually does more harm than good. A dead Church, is certainly one which has no relevance to the community, therefore they also get no reaction from that community!

      A Church without propagative powers in the world, can be nothing less than a calamity to all within its borders. Such a Church is an institution, first and foremost for the purpose of making, then screening parasites. Instead of successfully representing to the world the Kingdom of God on the earth, it is despised alike by the godly as well as the godless element, and regarded as a refuge for fear and formalism, giving an unmistakable aura of being the nursery of superstition.

      At first glance it may appear to you that I am taking the Church in general to task, yet that is not my intention at all. However, it probably will become painfully apparent that I am appalled at the frequency in which the children of Church-going parents break away in direct proportion to their failure to attain the acquisition of knowledge. As they grow in intelligence, they not only break their Church connection, but withdraw from the entire system of family religion!

      I am keenly aware that in some cases, it is simply due to a natural, unchecked perversity, which is prevalent in virtually every area of human existence, suggesting to the carnal side of their nature that it is the norm, rather then that which they have been reared in. In others, it certainly gives us food for thought, for their response to the

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