Faith of Covenant Seminary based on fallacy?

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Hello All,


Blessings!

I'm playing Mr. Meany Writer today. I doubt I could parody all of the rediculous Christian doctrines in all of the religious circles of today let alone the past, but what follows below is funny to me, and I thought it appropriate to publish it on the world wide web. So I did...If you find it funny I ask you to pass it on to those you know outside C.O. Thanks, Den.


The faith of Covenant Seminary founded upon a fallacy?

Good afternoon St. Louis,

We hope you are enjoying this beautiful day. One of the nice things about weather is that it is knowable. If there is wind we can feel it. If there is sunshine we can see it. If flowers are in bloom we can smell it. If there is snow on the ground we can taste it. If it is raining we can touch it. As the weather changes our senses change so we are always able to know it. Weather is knowable.

A few thousand years ago Jesus of Nazareth made a profound statement. In the Gospel of John chapter three he said.

John.3

[6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which isborn of the Spirit is spirit.

[8] The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that isborn of the Spirit.

Here Jesus plainly states that as much as wind is noticeable, so is being born of the Spirit. As a part of our weather wind is knowable. If wind is noticeable and knowable, then being born of the Spirit is noticeable and knowable, even if we don’t know the source, nevertheless it is true that such is there.

Our topic today is the fallacy of the Christian creed in the hands of the humbly ignorant, (unqualified). Such are the authorities teaching something they call faith at Covenant Seminary here in St. Louis. (According to Wikipedia a fallacy is usually incorrect reasoning in argumentation resulting in a misconception). Throughout history we understand there are many in churches and seminaries that have built their version of the Christian religion or faith either partly or completely upon a Christian creed or something like it.

Let’s examine one of our local seminaries. Covenant Seminary of St. Louis has long been regarded in religious circles as a strong somewhat Bible based institution. It has the respect of many for its plain speaking evangelical roots in their own claim that they are unqualified, (humbly ignorant) and unable to say whether the Bible is without error in its original documents. Nevertheless they ascribe to the Apostle’s Creed as a foundation of their belief system along with the Statement of Faith of the National Association of Evangelicals.

We cite the Covenant Seminary website as the source of the following doctrinal statements.

http://www.covenantseminary.edu/whycovenant/doctrine/

The Bible as the Word of God is the primary standard for our faith. We are unqualified in our commitment to the Scriptures as being immediately inspired and inerrant in their original manuscripts. Covenant Seminary's faculty and Board of Trustees annually subscribe in writing to this belief.

Here is Covenant Seminary’s version of the Apostle’s Creed.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into the grave. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic [i.e., universal] church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Here is Covenant Seminary’s version of the Statement of Faith of the National Association of Evangelicals.
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in his virgin birth, in his sinless life, in his miracles, in his vicarious and atoning death through his shed blood, in his bodily resurrection, in his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in his personal return in power and glory.
We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.


Notice that in the last two statements of faith we used the word version. We used it simply because we are unqualified, (humbly ignorant), of being able to ascertain whether these documents are in fact original or inerrant in their original manuscripts.

Based upon Covenant Seminary’s reasoning we must bring such church dogma into question. We must do this because yearly we subscribe to our ignorance before we base our unshakable faith on creeds that are based on a document that may be errant in part or entirety, i.e., The Holy Bible.

We hesitate to ask, but could such doctrinal reasoning be some version of a fallacy? Of course we are humbly ignorant and can’t be certain…but we might be persuaded that it could be if our Board of Regents subscribed to such nonsense.
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By Dennis Cook
St. Louis Spirituality Examiner
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Mr. C., (Dennis R. Cook), has been interested in that which is spiritual since his baptism at age 10. Father of five, world traveler, educator,...
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