CHAFER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY BIBLE CONFERENCE 09' MARCH 9-11

Not only was the 2009 Chafer Theological Seminary Bible Conference spiritually and intellectually edifying, but I was able to travel with two of my best friends Freddy and Bret. We rented a mini van and spent 24 hours driving (each way). We stayed at the comfort suites (off Clay St.) in West Houston - very nice!

DAY 1 highlights: 

Freddy, Bret and I had breakfast with Dr. Robert L. Thomas, who Dr. Rigsby calls, "The greatest living Greek Scholar." We picked his brain for over an hour.  The man works for John MacArthur, does not completely agree with Chafer's soteriology, but came to speak at the conference.  This is grace in action. Rather than concentrating on a point of friction, he brought to the conference a hermeneutical model, which seeks to eliminate the notion of a "pre-understanding" of the text.  That is to say, when the text does not line up with our theology, we need to go with the text.  He also mentioned that, "If you want to create a heresy, change the meaning of key words."  Assigning new meaning to old words is a good way to create a new heresy.

During lunch, we munched on buffalo wings with Dr. Charlie Bing, another grace-oriented man in regards to the recent gospel debates.  He believes in including the message of the cross when sharing about Christ on the basis of the progressive revelation that God as given us.  Basically, the event did happen, we have it in Scripture, so we ought to share it.  

Dr. Merryman (from Merryman ministries) closed up the night with words from the heart in 2 Timothy 3:10-4:8.  Here Paul was encouraging Timothy to remain faithful in the midst of Apostasy to use the entire council of God, not just selected portions.  And then there was evening and night, and that was the first day.

DAY 2 highlights:

Dr. Thomas emphasized the importance of "single meaning" in hermeneutics.  We use the addage, "One interpretation, many applications."  he concluded that, "The value of following the principle of single meaning is beyond estimation. It eliminates all sorts of hindrances to letting the text speak for itself, which is, of course, the goal in Bible interpretation."  Dr. Thomas Ice spoke on highlights and low-lights in the history of Hermeneutics.  His fundamental contention against Hank Hannegraff was that literal interpretation is the only way to go, which I think is good to go.

DAY 3 highlights:

Dr. Thomas closed his series by stating that we need not change they way we have handled the Biblical text.  It is accurate and we CAN trust it.  To my surprise, some scholars are not far from the claims of the Jesus Seminar in saying we really cannot know exactly what Jesus said.  "Evangelicals need to retrace their steps of the last fifty years if they are to regain their
appreciation for the reliability and precision of the Bible."

Dr. Hixon presented his paper on, "What is the Gospel?" with reference to his book, "Getting the Gospel Wrong."  I can see Scripturally that the content of the Gospel may include the death and resurrection of the Lord, but the dilemma I have is seeing where people are told to believe in the "Gospel" for "Eternal Life."  I raised this question during Dr. Hixon's Q&A, and he replied with Romans 1:16, which he believes is speaking about Justification Salvation.  I asked this question to several men at the conference and did not receive a straight answer.  I do not believe (as does Pastor Freddy) that people are to believe in the "Gospel" in order to receive "Eternal Life."  However, we may be missing something and are open to other ideas.  For now, John 3:16 is a sufficient "ice breaker" in starting a conversation with a stranger or non-believer.

OVERALL, the trip was edifying, stimulating and a good time with two of my best friends!