Dead Theologians' Society: Topical Ointment

Showing posts with label Topical Ointment. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Stealth Mysticism

There is a widely-accepted rule in hermeneutics called the Law of (or the Principle of) First Mention. I remember hearing about it in church when I was growing up, indeed hearing entire sermons based on a "truth" derived by the First-Mention Principle. I don't remember hearing it taught in the first Bible college I attended because they, somewhat tellingly, did not even OFFER hermeneutics (the last thing a hireling needs is someone being taught shepherding skills!). I was, however, taught this principle in a hermeneutics class in the second Bible college I attended.

But the more I reflected on it, this Principle of First Mention is a serious fallacy. Think about it: if the key to interpreting any person, place, thing, or idea in Scripture is to be found in its first appearance, this is the opposite of progressive revelation. The key to understanding redemption, for example, is not Genesis 3:15; it is the full exposition in Paul's writings. If the key to understanding lions is the first mention of a lion in the Bible, what exactly are we to learn from Genesis 49:9

“Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He couches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?"

Are we to, upon later learning that Christ is the lion of Judah, teach that He had made sin and death His prey, and, let's see . . . He crouches, He lies down, so that refers to His resting after completing His work . . .

Oh, the sermons we could write. Oh, the ears we could tickle. The only problem is that NONE of that is in the Text! And the Principle is shown to be a quiet, stealthy infiltration, an unguarded back-door through which allegorizing and spiritualizing creeps in.

I'd be interested to learn the provenance of this First-Mention Principle. Who came up with this idea? Were they prone to spiritualizing the Text in other ways?

And are there other fallacies lurking in the methods we employ to prepare the weekly meal for His flock?

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Why We Must Preach Repentance

Came across an illustration of why we MUST abandon the ear-tickling topical preaching that is so popular.

Some years ago a fearful railroad wreck took a dreadful toll of life and limb in an eastern state. A train, loaded with young people returning from school, was stalled on a suburban track because of what is known as a "hot-box." The limited was soon due, but a flagman was sent back to warn the engineer in order to avert a rear-end collision. Thinking all was well, the crowd laughed and chatted while the train-hands worked on in fancied security. Suddenly the whistle of the limited was heard and on came the heavy train and crashed into the local, with horrible effect.

The engineer of the limited saved his own life by jumping, and some days afterwards was hailed into court to account for his part in the calamity. And now a curious discrepancy in testimony occurred. He was asked, "Did you not see the flagman warning you to stop?"

He replied, "I saw him, but he waved a yellow flag. I took it for granted all was well, and so went on, though slowing down."

The flagman was called, "What flag did you wave?"

"A red flag, but he went by me like a shot."

"Are you sure it was red?"

"Absolutely."

Both insisted on the correctness of their testimony, and it was demonstrated that neither was color-blind. Finally the man was asked to produce the flag itself as evidence. After some delay he was able to do so, and then the mystery was explained. It had been red, but it had been exposed to the weather so long that all the red was bleached out, and it was but a dirty yellow!

Oh, the lives eternally wrecked by the yellow gospels of the day -- the bloodless theories of unregenerate men that send their hearers to their doom instead of stopping them on their downward road!

H.A. Ironside, Illustrations of Bible Truth, Moody Press, 1945, Page 62-63.