Four Views on Eternal Security

Morthland College is off to a good start for the spring semester. Since Morthland is an interdenominationsl (Bible-believing Classical Christian) college, it is interesting to view balanced presentations of various theological views.

Dr. J. Matthew Pinson, President of Free Will Baptist Bible College, is the editor of a book that presents four views on eternal security. Each representative author sets forth his position, and each of the other contributing authors then respond to each chapter as it has been presentd.

I just read the introduction to the book, and Dr. Pinson gives a great concise summary of his understanding of each of the views himself.

You might like to check out the book for yourself.

MP3 File

I am not sure this is going to work, but recently I preached at First Free Will Baptist Church in Johnston City, IL. They posted the message on their website, and I have permission to use it as I see fit.

So, I am trying to get it to work here.

If I don't get it to work here, you can view it at http://www.jc1fwb.com/2011/10/a-message-from-our-guest-speaker/.

Click Here for the attempted link to the audio file.

If it works, it might take a minute to download to your computer. The file is a little of 14 megaqbytes.

Happy listening!

Latest Update

Many of you know that I am involved in the founding of a new Christian college here in southern Illinois.
So, I am teaching Old Testament Survey at the moment, and the class will be available online this coming spring. You can go to http://Morthland.org to check out its availability.

Also, I have a speaking and writing ministry, and you can check it out at http://The-LOVING-Way.com.

As far as working with local pastors goes, I am working with one at present who is going through the process of becoming licensed as a minister. After that, he will be eligible for ordination. He is doing our study by reading and watching videos at present.

Also, I am serving as a consultant to a local church in the area that had nearly closed. We are performing some great experiements as I am their (acting) pastor at present. All the things we are doing as experiments are thoroughly biblical, so we are not afraid that we are doing something wrong.

Some of what we are doing bears some similarity to the concepts presented in Simple Church written by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger and The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren. However, we are not copying any church. We are coming up with our version of how we are going to do church.

We have been blessed by the Lord sending some people to us, and we have baptized one young man three weeks into our experiment.

Last Sunday, a college student came and led our music. This Sunday, he is going to preach in the morning service.

We have a Sunday morning service, and we have started a small group that meets during the week.

Our philosophy is to: Love God. Love others. Prepare for ministry, and then engage in ministry. We have a simple church for a complex world. It is the little church with a big vision. Our main corporate focus is very simpe, but we have the opportunity to become very complex as people discover and engage in individual ministries. Future plans are to develop a network by which these individual ministries work together to accomplish larger tasks.

That's it for now.

I will update you from time to time about what is happening with this "great experiment."

Morthland College

Morthland College is indeed off to a good start here in the fall of 2011.

I am teaching an Old Testament Survey class, and I am also serving as the Department Chairperson for Biblical Studies.

The college has received authority to operate from the Illinois Board of Higher Education and has been give degree-granting authority for three programs: Biblical Studies, The Classics, and Business. These are four year degrees.

To find out more about Morthland, go to www.morthland.org.

Update

Well, you will notice that we haven't made formal posts here for a while. I want to update you on two things.

One is that we are starting a new faith-based college here in Southern Illinois. The name of it is Morthland College.You can check it out at http://www.morthland.org/mcweb/home.html.

The second thing is that a select number of local preachers have been meeting with me for coaching and live discussions on our books. That explains the absence of some of the online conversations we have been having.

This site still updates when new articles are being written

Apart from the updates, here is a new announcement. If you live in the southern Illinois area, Thompsonville First Baptist Church is holding a couples' enrichment and relationship seminar on Saturday, April 30 at 6 p.m. The evening will start with a meal, and then a program will follow from 6:45-8:45. There will be a keynote session, a breakout session, and a final 15 minute wrap-up session. Handfuls on Purpose will provide a book table. If you would like to attend, call 618-627-2228. If you get the answering machine, please leave your name and tell how many will be attending with your group. The cost is $15.00 per couple.

Until next time,

Happy Ministry!

Course 12 Week 8

If you haven't already, scroll down in the left sidebar to see the new articles on marriage that have been written during this course.

This is the final week of the course.

You may place your comments for this final week in the comments section below.

Course 12 Week 7 Main Comments Area

If you haven't noticed, most of my new material has been in the form of articles written about marriage. They have been showing up in this blog, but you have to scroll down in the left sidebar to find them. Go there and check them out. You may find some titles that interest you.

Starting Tuesday, you may post your comments below for the seventh week.

Once again, I want to commend Roger for keeping up with his studies. There really is value in being able to summarize what you read, and he has done an excellent job. Roger, Saturday, Tyler Owens mentioned (when we were meeting with him for ordination) that the book you are reading now was one that really blessed him. I hope it has been good for you too.

Course 12 Week 6 Main Comments Area

Course 12 Week 5 Main Comments Area

Course 12 Week 4 Main Comments Area

Course 12 Week 3 Main Comments Area

You can use the comments area below to finish up week 3. I did not think anyone was posting. Roger, sorry I did not see all of your posts until this morning.

The Bible Is a Unique Book

The Bible is a unique book for many reasons. It make the claim that
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," (2 Timothy 3:16).

We need to understand that a book that makes such a claim is a trustworthy book. It is the book that talks about the exclusivity of Jesus as the way of salvation. (Remember that other religions make exclusive claims too.)

We will be focusing on Creation, Who Jesus Is, and the Trustworthiness of the Bible as we consider the topic of Jesus being the Way to Heaven.

In the Beginning

In the first chapter of the Bible, we have the account of Creation. We also have some of the earliest indications of the Trinity present there too.

"In the beginning, God . . . ."
"The Spirit of God moved . . . ."
"Let Us make man in Our Image."

The Hebrew is indeed plural, just as is translated in our English translations. So, we are dealing with One who is Plural. Sounds like a contradictin, but really it is a paradox. A paradox is an apparent (not real) contradiction which has two parts, both of which are true AND both of which are necessary.

We need to understand that God, who is mentioned in the Old Testament, exists as Trinity.

That is why John 1 indicates that Jesus (The Word) was active in the process of Creation (without Him not anything made was made.)

Jesus is exclusively the way to Heaven, in part, because He is indeed God. No other supposed way to Heaven has this characteristic.

Cours 12 Week 2 Main Comments Area

Please place your posts (comments) for week 2 in the section below this post. (Click on the word, "comments," below.

(Also please be sure to read the post right below this one, which talks about what your first two comments for this week need to be.

You will also notice that the weekly requirements section has been moved to the left below the welcome post.)

Looking forward to talking to you.

Course 12 Beginning of Week 2

We start seriously considering the material you are being exposed to this week.

For your first post this week, please give us the title of your book, and list the table of contents.

For your second post, list the titles of the chapters you will be studying this week. (To figure that out, take the number of chapters in the book, and divide that number by six. That answer will give you the number of chapters you need to cover each week. If you have a decimal following the whole number, you have the option of deciding the number of chapters you will do this week. For instance, if you come up with 4.5, you will do either 4 or 5 chapters this week.)

Give us this information as quickly as possible, so we can ask you questions that will help you focus on some things to say in the comments' area.

You may make more than two comments a day too.

Course 12 End of Week 1

This ends our introduction week. We will begin in earnest on our studies next week (which begins at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) morning). Remember that our posting weeks run from Tuesday-Monday. Posts must be made during that week.

Happy Fourth

We had a good family day yesterday and watched fireworks last night.

This morning, I preached at Ezra Church of God in West Frankfort, IL.

I am thankful for the Godly heritage of our nation. I recently read about someone who came here from Romania, I think it was. He said, in _________________(whatever place it was), they have the freedom to read the Bible and to pray in the public schools now. He also said, that he cannot understand why the U.S. seems to be going in the direction that __________________ used to be in.

Another friend says the state of our country is like it is because we are getting what we deserve.

May we as a nation wake up and return to our former heritage.

Making Comments

Sometimes students in these courses are intimidated by making comments, yet, some of those same students are avid Facebook or Myspace users. I don't quite understand, then. What we are doing here is the same thing. The only difference is that the comments have to be about what we are studying. (However, during the first and last weeks of our 8-week terms, they don't even have to be about the books.)

When we comment early in the week, we can go back and forth, agree or disagree with the author, find ways to apply what we are studying, and so forth.

It can be great!

Looking forward to our conversations this term.

If anyone would like to join us this term, just send an email to rcarneysurvey@yahoo.com, and I will tell you how to get started. When can accept new enrollees up until the end of the second week. After that, things are just too far gone for this term in order for the student to catch up. We currently are 5/7 of the way through the first week. people who enroll today or tomorrow can catch up very easily.

Posting Ideas

This is an introduction week.

We are practicing getting around in the posting area. Having trouble coming up with 9 posts? Here are a few ideas.

(Remember to make your posts at least 3 sentences long.)

1. Tell us what the name of your book is. Tell us what you think might be some of the best things you could get from it.

2. List the Table of Contents of the book.

3. Ask you fellow student and instructor one or more questions. (Up to three posts where you ask questions may be less than three sentences long.)

4. Answer your fellow students questions (with posts of 3 or more sentences).

5. If you have a really long comment, try breaking it into two or more ideas and making more than one post.

6. (Optional) Pick a chapter or two from your book, and start writing comments about that (those) chapters.

7. Be creative. Remember, this week your posts can be about almost anything thing. In the next few weeks, they will have to be more specific tho the course materials.

Maybe this will help!

Looking Forward to the Course

I am excited about seeing your discussions take place over the course of the next 8 weeks.