Pete's Blog

I was listening to a panel discussion with Dever, Ligon Duncan, John MacArthur, Mahaney and Mohler, when I heard an amazing quote by Dever that started at about the 1:16 point. It goes: "I'm encouraged in my evangelism because I know that when I'm preaching to corpses I don't have to figure out how to make them believe." I would reference this to Ephesians 2:1.

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Ligon Duncan is probably the man I know the least about who will fall under the category of "Characters". The only way I know him is 1) through the ministry of the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and 2) through the ministry of the Together For the Gospel friendship (which runs the conference that had the panel discussion that I listed above). He's a paedobaptist, so I probably won't reference him too much. This is not to say that I think that misunderstandings of baptism are Gospel issues, but I do think that it makes evangelism more difficult, it makes the Roman Catholic Controversy more difficult to talk about than it needs to be, and it makes talking about ecclesiology, the study of all things related to the local church, more difficult. So, while I'm sure that I would respect him, as I do John Calvin or Tim Keller, I would simply prefer to refer you to a credobaptist than a paedobaptist.

I think that John MacArthur is the best contemporary Bible preacher - yes, better than Dever. He is so good at getting his congregation into the context that you feel confident that you know what the text means. Praise God that Mac (what I'll colloquially call Dr. MacArthur, typically) was blessed with such gifts of bringing clarity! Now, for full disclosure, MacArthur subscribes to, what I would call, some peculiar doctrines that I think are unnecessary and very weakly supported, and some that have larger significance, that he is very firm on, but that I still think that he's wrong on. I respect him, and thank God for him primarily for his ability to exposit the Scriptures.

Labels: Bible, Characters, Ministry, Resources