–Basic Creed–
What is the chief end of man? I believe the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
To my shame, I have not glorified Him as He deserves, and I have certainly not delighted in Him as I ought. I am a sinner.
But God is a great God, abounding in love and mercy. For I am a sinner saved by grace, meaning that I am saved, not according to the good things I have done, or according to my righteousness, but because Jesus Christ came and died for my sins; the godly for the ungodly, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. My faith is in Him and in Him alone.
–Now For You Theology Buffs. A More Detailed Statement–
I am a Reformed Christian holding firmly to the doctrines of grace. I find the non-cessationist position, as held by men like D.A. Carson, Piper and Sam Storms, theologically compelling. That being said, cessationism appears existentially normative, at least to me, thus far. I grew up dispensational, but men like Kim Riddlebarger, O Palmer Robertson and Robert L. Reymond have cured me. Therefore I hold to a more covenantal view. I lean heavily towards Amillennialism, but would not die on that hill. Here I must say that G.K. Beale’s commentary on Revelation is an absolute gem. Sell your shirt and buy it. Van Til’s “The Defense of Christianity and My Credo” forever changed me. But while I am a thorough-going presuppositionalist, I very much appreciate all fields of apologetics. They all have their place. Alvin Plantinga is wildly interesting, if you’re into that kind of stuff.
I am paedobaptist, but a non-dogmatic one. Here I can really see both sides of the debate, and I feel each other’s plight. At the end of the day, I’m convinced that the warnings and the nature of the New Covenant, along with the existential problem of when to baptize a young, but professing child, tilt the issue towards paedobaptism.
I think doctrine is profoundly important (I loathe theological liberalism), but despise cantankerous Christians who wield their doctrines like clubs.
John Piper, D.A. Carson, Jonathan Edwards, John Calvin, G.K. Beale would be some of my top picks, if I were stranded on an island and had only the Bible and a pile of books to read. Moby Dick and C.S. Lewis’ “Space Trilogy” would be musts as well. If you haven’t read Perelendra, the second book in the trilogy, sell your pants and buy a copy (though you shoud read the first… so sell your underwear!).
The Sound of Doctrine 
This is such a deep blog! What can I say, youve hit the nail right on the head! You even added some videos to make it seem so much more real. Youve got a great way of communicating with the reader, a great way of making me feel like what you have to say is just as important to me as it is to you. Keep it up!
Ah, sorry I didn’t respond sooner. For some reason it placed your comment in the spam section! But thank you very much! I’m honored by your words. I hope the blog serves you well. Oh, and hey, I’m a huge MMA fan. I actually watched Cro-Cop fight in Indianapolis! It was my first live event. Very enjoyable… though I needed closer seats 🙂
Hi Austin,
Liked where you said ‘I am paedobaptist, but a non-dogmatic one. Here I can really see both sides of the debate, and I feel each other’s plight’ – same with me, though im on the other side of this one.
Your recent post on the Rob Bell interview on Unbelievable drew me in, and i’ll be looking in from now.
Thanks,
james
PS. the space trilogy is pretty good isn’t it. Don’t know what you think, but from what i read there are some parts of C.S Lewis’s theology that are questionable, but that series is great reading. Same for Screwtape latters of course 🙂
Thanks James!
Yeah, the Space Trilogy is great. Simply love Perelandra. And I agree with your concern with Lewis’ theology. While much is very good, there are parts that I simply cannot subscribe to. As you may know, each year John Piper covers the life of a saint (a biographical sketch). They are always excellent. He recently covered C.S. Lewis and did a fantastic job highlighting both the good and the not so good. Check it out over at Desring God.
Hi Austin,
I appreciate your work here. I just got about 12 emails from you, each one a different blog post. Did I sign up for that and forget about it, Is that a weird WordPress function, or how did I get these? Usually when I’m subscribed to a wordpress blogger the posts come occasionally but I’ve never had a flood of’em like today. Looks like good reading but a bit overwhelming. No problem, it just kinda got my attention…I thought it was spam at first, and thought I’d check in to see if others got inundated like this today.
grace and peace,
Reuben
Thanks, Reuban. No you are quite right. It did flood at once. I was blogging at another website for years and have recently brought some of those posts back over here. My apologies for the flood!
I was inspired by your “Life Outside the Circle’ post to put a graphic together with that thought. Since then I’ve been invited to join a facebook group of artists, and I’m planning to post the graphic. Would you mind if I link to your blog page?
thanks,
-Reuben Huffman
Thank you for the kind words! I would be honored if you linked it. May the Lord bless your efforts!
Great, thanks!