A Return to Thought and Humble Dogmatism

Many months ago, I began a project called “Tuesday’s Thought.” In it, I attempted to send out a regular thought from varied sources to create, well, thinking. Occasionally, I get convinced that little thinking is going on and if there is thinking, too much of it is not rightly informed. This belief drives me to do much reading. When I study to preach and a thought comes in my time of interpretation—the reading of a good commentary lets me know one of two things: Yes, I am on the right track or No, I am a heretic! Because my experience and knowledge is limited, I spend time reading those who have done that which I aspire. At times my reading corrects me. At times it encourages me. At times it makes me believe I chose the wrong book or magazine or blog or commentary, yet even that is profitable if I take a nugget of learning—perhaps knowing what not to do.

In the midst of “Tuesday’s Thought” (i.e. around the end of August) I developed ulcerative colitis from taking a antibiotic prescribed as a precaution from oral surgery. Therefore, the practice came to a stop in light of barely being able to function. I am pleased to report that I have experienced a great recovery (Praise be to our Lord!) apart from some occasional times of tiredness. And that being the case, I have decided to return to my thought-invoking endeavor.

My way of communicating these thoughts will be through this new blog, OutsideMyHead. My intent is to again publish varying “thoughts” on Tuesdays. I will still be using the thoughts of others to help inspire thinking along with trying my hand at sharing some of my own thoughts. About once a week is a good pace for me, though you might see two postings in a week on occasion.

There are times when I fearfully tremble at putting more “words” out there on Al’s most famous invention. However, if one thought makes you think about things a little differently and captures your thinking in such a way that you may think things could be thought about differently and, in the process, your thoughts are directed more heavenward, then I think it is worth me putting my two cents in. What do you think about that?

So in that spirit, I want to share a thought to you from Mark Dever. Mark is the pastor of Capital Heights Baptist Church in our nation’s capital. This April, he, along with Dr. Al Mohler (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), C.J. Mahaney (Sovereign Grace Ministries) and Lig Duncan (First Presbyterian Church, Jacskon, MS) will be hosting a conference in Louisville, KY called Together for the Gospel (see www.togetherforthegospel.org ). It will be a tour-de-force event that will also include John Piper, John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul. On their website, the four hosts have had a running blog since the beginning of the year which has proven personally edifying to myself. Today, you will be reading a thought from Mark Dever entitled, “Humble Dogma.”

Disclaimer—if you feel a little detached and believe you will not be able to completely focus, I would encourage you to wait until you can focus and read Mark’s post. It is well worth your reading and attention and, of course, your thinking.

Many blessings and have a great week! Rodney



Humble Dogmatism
Mark Dever from "Together for the Gospel" Blog
February 8, 2006

Tonight, we at [Capital Heights Baptist Church] did our own little bit to encourage Bible reading—we read the entire book of I Corinthians out loud! It took about 45 minutes, and it was really encouraging and powerful to hear the message of the book as a whole. This was done as an introduction to a regular series of Wednesday night studies in the book of I Corinthians…
…I think that such reading encourages the right kind of humility. How can we as Christians be humbled without hearing the Word to which we should submit? How can we be humbled apart from hearing and heeding the Word of God? How will our churches ever be the truly humble assemblies we want them to be if they do not hear and submit themselves to God's Word?
What we need is humble theology—Itheology which submits itself to the truth of God's Word. "Liberal" theology—theology which does not view Scripture as finally trustworthy and authoritative—is not humble before the Word. Churches which are tentative and decry dogmatism may sound humble, but it is not truly humble to do anything other than to submit to God's Word. Christian humility is to simply accept whatever God has revealed in His Word. Humility is following God's Word wherever it goes, as far as it goes, not either going beyond it or stopping short of it.
Bertrand Russell, the late, well-known, British philosopher wrote in 1950 that “The essence of the liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment. This is the way opinions are held in science, as opposed to the way in which they are held in theology," (in “Philosophy and Politics,” in Unpopular Essays, [1950] p. 15). These days, I guess many are holding theological conclusions in such a "scientific" manner. But such hesitancy is not humility. The humility we want in our churches is to read the Bible and believe it—everything God has said, dogmatically, and humbly! It is not humble to be hesitant where God has been clear and plain.

see, blog.togetherforthegospel.org