Response to a query...
>what can you tell me about Westminster West Seminary? And about Peter Jones? Know anything about them?
Peter R. Jones
Scholar in Residence
Adjunct Professor of New Testament
If this said plumber who has gotten 10 people to read the Bible complete in his life I'd be more impressed.
B.A., University of Wales; B.D., Gordon Divinity School; Th.M., Harvard
Where is 'Th.M.' in the Bible? Maybe it's in the Alexandrian manuscripts somewhere...
Divinity School; Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary.
Letters piled on letters. I hate to think how much time and effort this man has put in impressing men (and a particularly vain variety of men at that) when a similar amount of time and effort to get the Word of God into one's heart and to evangelize the faith in a real, practical, effective way would be time and effort spent on something so much more real and valuable.
Dr. Jones and his family came to the U.S. in 1991, after 18 years of cross-cultural mission on behalf of the Presbyterian Church in America, assisting the theological training of Reformed pastors and church planters in France.
This is all the equivalent of a dollar donated with an overhead take of 98 cents. This is all service to vain institutions and fake positions when the Faith calls for something so much more simple and effective: get the Word of God in a real way to people, read it with them, give them the basics, and do it again for others. God wants seeds planted. He determines if they are to grow.
Get directly to actual individuals. This is how evangelism works. It's not setting up cross-cultural this and that and appointing 'assistants' to this and that and eternally training 'pastors' who in turn train more pastors when all they have to do IS GET THE WORD OF GOD TO PEOPLE DIRECTLY. How much training does that need, pilgrims?
He taught Greek and New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, was Professeur de Nouveau Testament and Director of the Master’s Programme, Faculté de Théologie Réformée d’Aix-en-Provence, and was been Professor of New Testament at Westminster Seminary California from 1991 to 2003. Among his writings are: A Second Moses According to 2 Corinthians 2:14-4:6; God’s Inerrant Word (contributor); "1 Corinthians 15:8—Paul the Last Apostle"; The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back; La Deuxieme Epitre de Paul aux Corinthiens; Spirit Wars; Gospel Truth & Pagan Lies; Capturing the Pagan Mind; and articles in La Revue Réformée, Etudes Evangéliques, Ichthus, and Hokhma.
He's proud of having written books. I'd list how many times I've read God's Word myself. That would make people really sneeeeer. How juvenile. And so what? You can read the Bible a thousand times and still be an idiot! Yes, but it doesn't matter. God converts people, not man. A person who actually reads the Word of God complete, humbly, is more likely to get others to do the same. (And people actually read the Bible complete?) Some of us actually do, pilgrims...
In January 2003 Dr. Jones was named Scholar in Residence and Adjunct Professor at WSC,
Halleluja! He's bringing in the harvest!
as he launched Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet,
Another 'launch'. Shouldn't you list things that actually have a history if you're going to list anything at all. After he launched it he obviously went back to some new institution to get some more letters after his name.
a national and international teaching, preaching and writing ministry.
Really. So, like, how does that actually work? Conferences on how best to teach and preach to people? Maybe it all boiled down to writing a book about the launch and then telling people how to teach and preach in the book. How many people read the book? It looks good on the resume though to other man-fearers.
Another vain 'scholar' who wears a suit and tie and 'talks' about the Faith.
This is my take on this individual.
As for Westminster Seminary California campus: I've never come into contact with anybody from that institution. The Bible teacher who evangelized me was a farmer who became a Marine who started a business unrelated to religion and then who began to teach the Bible - actually read it word for word - over various media. He's very practical about it and successful with it. He 'hooks' people. His theology is not pure, but his great virtue is to read the actual Word of God verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. Complete. The theology will be sorted out by individuals on their own initiative after regeneration by the Word and the Spirit. And he does this not caring if he's boring people. He doesn't have any letters after his name... The graduates and faculty at Westminster fear man too much to do what this simple man does...
1 Comments:
He's from the deep south and he's reached more people in the state of California than anywhere else. Because he doesn't care about what man thinks. He doesn't say: "Oh, they're liberals out there, so we have to be careful how we frame this and that and be sure not to upset their particular sensibilities..." He just reads the Bible. He doesn't try to coax or beg anybody to believe. In this sense he's a real Calvinist (he knows he can only plant the seed, but only God can make it grow). Though his theology is not Calvinist. It doesn't matter, the Word and the Spirit regenerate souls, and his main thing is reading the Bible complete and not worrying or caring about entertaining or boring people.
I don't listen to him anymore, but why should I? He did his job. I actually once called his operations to enquire about something years after I'd already stopped listening, and they actually told me that since I hadn't been in contact with them for over six months I couldn't order (a book) from them. It's quite an unusual outfit. They turn away money. That is them saying: we don't have any shortage of new students. You've gotten what you need, now you know where to get more (the Word of God).
Your question about institutions in general is a fair one: in the context of the faith it depends on how practical they are. Do they make Bibles or get Bibles to people? That's practical. Do they boldly read the Word of God via various media and airwaves? That's practical. It takes operations and money to do these things. But on a personal level anyone can do it to. And the effect is bigger than people tend to think. If you effect 10 people those ten people effect 100 then ditto 1000 and 10000 and 100000 and 1000000... God is able to work with small numbers, but for it to happen God's own have to actually evangelize practically and simply actual individual people. Actually do it.
If this isn't taught, and indeed if it is looked down upon, then it doesn't happen. It IS looked down upon by 'church leaders' and 'educators' because it shows them up. They're involved in operations that exist to make them a living and get them worldly acclaim and position. Some of them might do a month in a shelter or something and 'put it on the resume' and talk about it for life. But I don't even care about shelters and food banks and what not. Get the actual Word of God into people's ears. That plants the seed. If it grows God makes it grow. There's ways to do this boldly and effectively. Food and water and shelter take care of themselves, they don't save anyone's soul.
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