Good word here Ike. Your comments on plausibility structure help explain what seems a deeply illogical decision to cease believing because of abuse. Abuse is a sin issue...not a doctrine or truth claim issue...yet, as you point out the visible livability of the faith is weakened by abusers. As Paul warns, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Rom 2:24
Except that there are theologies that, by their nature, lead to abuse. Churches that hold to those theologies have structures that reinforce the abuse, creating a systemic problem (i.e., SBC). As much as we must cut out the abuse, we must also cut out the root cause (bad theology), that creates a plausibility structure that says "this is ok... This is godly," despite every protective mechanism we have saying "nope."
Hi Jeremy, while it's possible that you have a point here, I'd be interested to hear you (1) identify the "bad" SBC theology and (2) how that bad theology is linked in some intrinsic way to systemic abuse.
Hi Andrew Shepardson... just a small oops in an otherwise fine article. It’s Diane Langberg rather than Diane Langsburg. Thanks... kudos.
Thanks for catching that!
Good word here Ike. Your comments on plausibility structure help explain what seems a deeply illogical decision to cease believing because of abuse. Abuse is a sin issue...not a doctrine or truth claim issue...yet, as you point out the visible livability of the faith is weakened by abusers. As Paul warns, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Rom 2:24
Except that there are theologies that, by their nature, lead to abuse. Churches that hold to those theologies have structures that reinforce the abuse, creating a systemic problem (i.e., SBC). As much as we must cut out the abuse, we must also cut out the root cause (bad theology), that creates a plausibility structure that says "this is ok... This is godly," despite every protective mechanism we have saying "nope."
Hi Jeremy, while it's possible that you have a point here, I'd be interested to hear you (1) identify the "bad" SBC theology and (2) how that bad theology is linked in some intrinsic way to systemic abuse.
The holidays got the better of me. My response is long, but you can read it here: https://jeremyahrens.substack.com/p/reformed-theology-and-the-nature?sd=pf
Thanks, Darrell. I hadn't thought about the further implications of what you point out in Rom. 2.