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Friday, April 27, 2012

Is Roger Olson pretentious?


On the one hand:

I think it is pretentious for anyone to pretend never to have any doubts about something as uncertain as the mind of God...I will confess that whenever I hear a preacher or evangelist or Christian teacher speak who always comes across as absolutely certain (not just confident) of everything he (rarely she) says and never even hints at simply struggling with doubt as a human being I run away as fast as I can. If Jesus came among us and spoke (as he did to the disciples in bodily form) in a way that I could not doubt it was he, I wouldn’t call his truth claims pretentious because he’s God, but for anyone else to speak that way seems pretentious to me because they’re not God.


On the other hand:

One day, at the end of a class session on Calvinism's doctrine of God's sovereignty, a student asked me a question I had put off considering. He asked:"If it was revealed to you in a way you couldn't question or deny that the true God actually is as Calvinism says and rules as Calvinism affirms, would you still worship him?" I knew the only possible answer without a moment's thought, even though I knew it would shock many people. I said no, that I would not because I could not. Such a God would be a moral monster.

— Roger Olson, Against Calvinism (Zondervan 2011), 85

1 comment:

  1. Well, I'm not saying that Roger Olson is pretentious, but I can say that if I were Roger Olson and believed what Roger Olson believes, I would have to consider myself pretentious. :)

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