Mark Driscoll 'Crashes' John MacArthur's Strange Fire Conference?

Biblicist

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"Don't let anyone ever say Driscoll isn't an opportunist"

Then him and Mac should understand each other pretty well.
I wonder if Driscoll only gave them copies of his books that contained some printer errors or binding faults; he probably wondered what colour the books would be if they decided to quickly send his books into the heavens, would it be white smoke or grey smoke.
 
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tulipbee

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"Head-banging" is the term that I used to describe whatever it was you were describing in your post. That doesn't happen in my church bro.
I was describing emotional psychology and bodily movements together.

While I was at work, a guy made me look stupid cause I never heard of laying flat on the floor in his church. Its the same stupid appearance when a friend laughs at you for not knowing famous well, well, well known baseball players. Some news I’m not into.

I can see well one could easily read my posts to involve head banging. Lots of new terms I’m not familiar with in new denominations.
 
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Biblicist

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About a week ago I received an interesting email from pneumareview.com with two articles on MacArthurs odd ‘Strange fire Conference’ by Jon Ruthven and William De Arteaga and others. For those who would like some good material to help counter any concerns by their cessationist friends, links to the original articles have been provided.

John MacArthur’s Strange Fire as Parody of Jonathan Edwards’ Theology, by William De Arteaga
“In the public launch to Strange Fire, MacArthur made clear his utter disdain for the Charismatic Movement in particular:

Quoting MacArthur:
“Nothing coming from the Charismatic movement has provided recovery or strengthening of the biblical Gospel. Nothing has preserved truth and sound doctrine. It has only produced distortion, confusion, and error. Yes, there are people in the movement who know and love the truth, have an orthodox Gospel, but are heterodox on the Holy Spirit. Not all of them are heretics. But I say again the contribution of truth from the people in the movement doesn’t come from the movement, but in spite of it”.

John MacArthur’s Strange Fire, A Brief Biblical Response by Jon Ruthven
“As we shall see, John MacArthur’s abhorrence of “further revelation” via prophecy and related spiritual gifts derives, not from scripture, but from the frustration of Calvinists under Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) of watching so many of their members defect to the Quakers, the crazy charismatics of the time. People were falling down, making a lot of noise and encountering Jesus in visions, prophecies, and healings. Sound familiar? Calvinist scholastics responded to this outrage with the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF)—often now regarded as the gold standard of Calvinist theology”.

John MacArthur’s Strange Fire, Reviewed by Eddie L. Hyatt
“That being said, MacArthur’s latest book does not represent an honest search for truth. It is obvious that his mind was already made up when he began his research for Strange Fire, and he found what he was looking for. He presents a circular argument, beginning with a faulty premise and proceeding with selective anecdotal evidence that determines the outcome. He begins with a commitment to cessationism, the belief that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were withdrawn from the church after the death of the twelve apostles and the completion of the writings of the New Testament. Since that is the case for him, that means modern expressions of Spiritual gifts must be false. He then utilizes the selective anecdotal evidence to buttress his presupposition, which leads him back to his starting point of cessation”.
 
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Faulty

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About a week ago I received an interesting email from pneumareview.com with two articles on MacArthurs odd ‘Strange fire Conference’ by Jon Ruthven and William De Arteaga and others. For those who would like some good material to help counter any concerns by their cessationist friends, links to the original articles have been provided.

John MacArthur’s Strange Fire as Parody of Jonathan Edwards’ Theology, by William De Arteaga
“In the public launch to Strange Fire, MacArthur made clear his utter disdain for the Charismatic Movement in particular:

Quoting MacArthur:
“Nothing coming from the Charismatic movement has provided recovery or strengthening of the biblical Gospel. Nothing has preserved truth and sound doctrine. It has only produced distortion, confusion, and error. Yes, there are people in the movement who know and love the truth, have an orthodox Gospel, but are heterodox on the Holy Spirit. Not all of them are heretics. But I say again the contribution of truth from the people in the movement doesn’t come from the movement, but in spite of it”.

John MacArthur’s Strange Fire, A Brief Biblical Response by Jon Ruthven
“As we shall see, John MacArthur’s abhorrence of “further revelation” via prophecy and related spiritual gifts derives, not from scripture, but from the frustration of Calvinists under Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) of watching so many of their members defect to the Quakers, the crazy charismatics of the time. People were falling down, making a lot of noise and encountering Jesus in visions, prophecies, and healings. Sound familiar? Calvinist scholastics responded to this outrage with the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF)—often now regarded as the gold standard of Calvinist theology”.

John MacArthur’s Strange Fire, Reviewed by Eddie L. Hyatt
“That being said, MacArthur’s latest book does not represent an honest search for truth. It is obvious that his mind was already made up when he began his research for Strange Fire, and he found what he was looking for. He presents a circular argument, beginning with a faulty premise and proceeding with selective anecdotal evidence that determines the outcome. He begins with a commitment to cessationism, the belief that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were withdrawn from the church after the death of the twelve apostles and the completion of the writings of the New Testament. Since that is the case for him, that means modern expressions of Spiritual gifts must be false. He then utilizes the selective anecdotal evidence to buttress his presupposition, which leads him back to his starting point of cessation”.

Have you bothered to listen to any of it for yourself?
 
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Biblicist

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Have you bothered to listen to any of it for yourself?
Yes. I read through most of the material by Ruthven and Arteaga though I only glanced through Hyatt's post.

There are probably a number of other scholars and academics who have also posted on the same subject within Pneuma Review but for those who have a need for more information then I will leave it up to them to do so.

As for MacArthur, considering that his arguments are either based on a humanist world view or that they heavily rely on "guilt by association" then any Full Gospel believer who has been around for a while should be able to easily counter his objections without even going to Pneuma Review or elsewhere.
 
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Faulty

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Yes. I read through most of the material by Ruthven and Arteaga though I only glanced through Hyatt's post.

There are probably a number of other scholars and academics who have also posted on the same subject within Pneuma Review but for those who have a need for more information then I will leave it up to them to do so.

As for MacArthur, considering that his arguments are either based on a humanist world view or that they heavily rely on "guilt by association" then any Full Gospel believer who has been around for a while should be able to easily counter his objections without even going to Pneuma Review or elsewhere.

I meant have you listened to any of the conference for yourself yet?
 
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Biblicist

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I meant have you listened to any of the conference for yourself yet?
Oops! No, as MacArthur has been spreading his worldly views for a number of decades then I'm sure that there will be nothing new to hear and his cessationist worldview is about as invigorating as watching grass grow, which reminds me, I need to finish mowing a part of backyard.
 
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jiminpa

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I meant have you listened to any of the conference for yourself yet?
I haven't listened to the conference. I have also never attended a lecture by Bishop Spong, or Richard Dawkins. I have never participated in a human sacrifice. I have never gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca or Salt Lake City.
 
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Faulty

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I haven't listened to the conference. I have also never attended a lecture by Bishop Spong, or Richard Dawkins. I have never participated in a human sacrifice. I have never gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca or Salt Lake City.

Mmmkay, thanks for the list.
 
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Faulty

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Driscoll has his 'Act Like Men' conference today. Chris Rosebrough, of Pirate Christian Radio, is heading up there and will be giving away free ebooks in honor of the Strange Fire event. The difference here is that his arrival is announced beforehand and he has purchased a ticket and plans to attend the sessions.

What makes this interesting for me to observe, is that when he purchased a ticket to attend Driscolls Elephant Room 2 conference a while ago, he was met by security when he arrived and ordered to leave or be arrested for trespassing. His ticket was not honored and his money was not returned. It will be interesting to see what transpires this weekend.
 
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Faulty

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I'm sure the meaning isn't lost on you.

I know what you were trying to say, I just didn't see the point.

He was commenting on what other people were saying about something that he had in his power to review for himself, and it obviously interested him to know because he was researching about it.

Just didn't understand why if he's so concerned about it he hasn't actually reviewed it himself. As for me, I've listened to three of the lectures so far, because I'm capable of formulating my own opinion about something without relying on someone else's opinion to skew it first.
 
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jiminpa

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macarthur's hatred for God's Spirit is well documented on his own website. What is the point of filling our own ears with his blasphemies? To know that he is saying what he has always been saying, only more intently than he had in the past? It would be like going to a Richard Dawkins lecture expecting some amount of Christian truth, or perhaps expecting to learn just how foolish he really is. We already know how foolish both macarthur and Dawkins are, and Dawkins is at least more honest about who he is.

Neither is at all edifying.
 
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hislegacy

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I meant have you listened to any of the conference for yourself yet?

One doesn't have to eat garbage to identify garbage. The smell alone is often enough

It's the same with the conference.
 
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I know what you were trying to say, I just didn't see the point.

He was commenting on what other people were saying about something that he had in his power to review for himself, and it obviously interested him to know because he was researching about it.

Just didn't understand why if he's so concerned about it he hasn't actually reviewed it himself. As for me, I've listened to three of the lectures so far, because I'm capable of formulating my own opinion about something without relying on someone else's opinion to skew it first.
It seems that I was being a bit slow on the takeup with your question. I was simply working from the premis that as MacArthur has been pedalling the same old material for decades then why should I have to go and spend hours listening to his videos when he will have nothing new to say.

When it comes to the endemic abuses that exist within the Pentecostal and charismatic movements which we seem to be all too happy to permit and even encourage, again, why would I need to listen to MacArthur on this.

If MacArthurs conference had not been raised elsewhere on this forum then I would have probably let the Charisma email about his worldly talkfest slide by me, though the amount of subsequent articles would have eventually grabbed my attention I suppose.

As for the interest that his talkfest has generated, I am rather surprised by this as MacArthur is simply one of those theological dinosaurs and the old relic of cessationism I would have thought in this day and age was only embraced by those who are either spiritually less astutue or by those who are easily misled.

Hopefully the Pnuema Review links will be of assistance to those who many want some additional information and of course Jon Ruthven has been providing some superb theological information that has over the years been one of the reasons that the cessationist worldview is now on the fringe of theology.
 
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