I got more written responses to the blog I wrote two days ago than any blog I have written in the last ten years, outside of the blogs I wrote during the COVID years, so it was obviously a topic that many have strong beliefs about. Thank you to all who responded. It was nice to get gracious responses despite differences in belief and opinion. I was a member of some Bible and theology groups on Facebook, where the discussions get very mean-spirited. I have bailed on most of those because of that. One of the reasons for my jaunt off into the theological areas where there are some significant differences in belief is that I am now Pastoring Jefferson Evangelical Church, a church that is Arminian in doctrine instead of Calvinist. I was raised in a Baptist Church, which was very Calvinistic in its teaching, and I went to College and Graduate School that were as well. I must admit that my knowledge of Wesleyan theology has been limited to what I heard as it was being held up as the theology that was the opposite of Calvinism, so it was mostly in a bad light. I decided that if I was going to Pastor an Arminian church, I should find out what they believe, so I have been reading the writings of John Wesley and others and enjoying learning from men who loved Jesus and wanted to please Him. In case some of you are worried that I am leaving my Baptist theology, one of my favorite writers is still John Piper, and one of my favorite preachers is still John MacArthur. But I am learning how to hold two teachings that seem to oppose each other, one in one hand and the other, in the other hand, in tension, without messing up either. A major bonus for me is that I can now talk with others with different views without thinking they are idiots and talk with them graciously, and learn from them.
As I have pastored over the last 50 years, I have encountered many people who struggled in their marriages, couldn’t seem to control their anger, had many people in their lives whom they held a great deal of bitterness toward, were in debt up to their eyebrows because worldliness had such a grip on their hearts, and had a host of other relational problems. Teaching them how to conquer sinful habits and to grow in character through their relationship with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit by faithfully practicing the basic disciplines of the Christian life has been the focus of my preaching and teaching. Over the years, I have run into many people who are doctrinal encyclopedias on their view of eternal security, eschatology, pneumatology, and other doctrines but are so obnoxious and rude in presenting and defending them. I am not sure that being correct in every detail of doctrine is that important if doing so makes you mean.

My new church believes that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, and that we should read it, study it, and memorize it so that we can live it. They believe in the gospel, in grace, and that Jesus is the only way to heaven. They believe in prayer, that we should seek the lost and make disciples of all men. I am good with that.