My Current Views on Theological Issues

 

My Current Views on 18 Theological Debates Discussed in the Book, “Across the Spectrum,” published by Baker Academic, 2002, by Gregory Boyd and Paul R. Eddy

1. Inspiration of Scripture: All Scripture is God-breathed–infallible and inerrant. Modern copies have variants.

2. Providence of God: God oversees all, allows good and evil, and will judge all sin and sinners. God has given free will agency to humans.

3. Foreknowledge of God: God knows all that will happen ~and~ all that could happen, but won’t. Nothing is a mystery to God or unknown regarding human choices–or anything.

4. Age of the Earth: According to the Bible’s genealogies, the Earth is about 6,000 years old.

5. Divine Image: man is made in God’s image: spirit, mind, emotion, free will, creativity, personality and more.

6. Human Constitution: Man is three parts (not two): spirit, soul (mind and emotion, personality, free will), and body.

7. Christology: Jesus often did not choose to use His divine powers.

8. Atonement: Substitutionary Sacrifice.

9. Salvation: Most people do not want God.

10. Sanctification: Positional ~and~ Progressive.

11. Eternal Security: Irrevocable preservation–believers are sealed in salvation forever by God.

12. The Destiny of the Unevangelized: Inclusivism. God has not left Himself without a witness. Dreams, visions, faith in non-explicit knowledge possible for salvation through Christ.

13. Lord’s Supper: Symbolism for Memorial of Jesus’ death on the cross.

14. Baptism: there are at least nine baptisms in the Bible. Water baptism is not part of salvation. Those who believe in Christ for even a moment are permanently and irrevocably and eternally baptized into His death and resurrection at the moment of belief.

15. Charismatic Gifts: God still does miracles, but not always in an apostolic way.

16. Women: Equal in value to men, but not the same in function. God says that women are biblically not allowed pastorship in the church, or leadership in the home over a man.

17. Millennium: The 1,000 years is symbolic of the reign of the Spirit of Christ in the church and in the world. There is no literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth coming in the future.

18. Hell: Eternal Conscious Torment, of the body and soul for sinners who reject belief in God and/or Christ, because of their sins, and the fact that they have rejected Jesus as their personal Savior from their sins and the consequences of the punishment for their sins.

–Curtis Smale