Alpha & Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog
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Paul Owen, Once Again
12/23/2006 - James White
Paul Owen, former Mormon, former evangelical, former Presbyterian, etc., has added his kind, level-headed, fair commentary to the discussion of Acts 2 over at the oxymoronic website. Before I point out the many problems in this retort (it surely gives an insight into how nonreformed Owen ever was, let alone is), do you note something about the attitude and mind-set of these "Reformed Catholics"? Yes, of course, they are always critical of their former associations and beliefs and always welcoming of Rome's, but that's just part of what it means to be an apostate: you always find ways of justifying your apostasy by attacking your former beliefs. But I'm referring to the incapacity of these folks to even begin to maintain some level of decorum in restraining their unfettered disdain for those who do not embrace their views, and who would dare to believe otherwise! Look at Johnson's post, then Owen's. These men are their own private Popes, determining the universal mind of "the Church," dismissing entire biblical arguments with the wave of a hand and the standardized "absurd" dismissal. The only reason they have not become fully Roman Catholic is that Rome already has a Pope, and there are no current vacancies for them to fill. They have abandoned the intention, spirit, and meaning of the solas, their mockery of the sufficiency of Scripture is splashed across their pages, and yet they lack the integrity to finish the job they have started, jump in the boat, and cross the Tiber. It seems they are simply too much in love with their own self-proclaimed pontificate to give it up to Ratzinger.Now, Owen says my exposition of Acts 2 is "absurd." That is very nice, but to back up such a claim he would have to provide some examples. Does he do this? No. In fact, he can't seem to recognize the difference between the exposition of the text and the application I made in reference to answering the question, "Does the Bible provide a clear apostolic mandate regarding the objects of Christian baptism?" and "Is Acts 2:38ff directly relevant to determining the answer to the previous question?" He writes, "What an astonishing naivete is displayed by thinking that noting this obvious point is going to take the argument anywhere forward!" Actually, the naivete here is Owen's, who obviously is so filled with hatred of Baptists that he will not even consider taking the time to read serious material presenting a covenantal Baptist perspective on...anything, basically. He is completely blind to the actual arguments, which is why this retort is without merit. He has not listened to the arguments, and thinks so highly of himself, and so little of "Baptists," that he pontificates on the subject anyway. The argument is drawn from a concept Owen no longer believes, but which was believed by my forefathers and many others: that definitional aspects of the church, such as the ordinances thereof, require a higher standard of proof than lesser entities. We have no specific examples of infant baptism in the New Testament. Acts 2:38ff provides us with the first instance of specifically Christian baptism, and we are able to discern that those baptized all shared a common trait: they had heard the Word and believed. This theme will continue throughout Acts, in fact, as I have argued recently elsewhere (see the sermons for June 25th and July 2nd, 2006, here). And so at the very inception of the ordinance it is inseparably linked with the proclamation of the Word, the promise of the Spirit, faith and repentance. This was the point of my examination of the text, and Owen's ignorance of Reformed Baptist polemics is no excuse for his condescending arrogance and hence irrelevant commentary. ...
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23:48:21 - Category: Reformed Baptist Issues - Link to this article -
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