A Seminary Student’s Thoughts on the John 3:16 Conference-Update

Update: Todd Burus shares a great letter written prior to the conference.
Read it: Calvinism in the SBC- An Open Letter to Johnny Hunt and Jerry Vines

One of the people I was at the John 3:16 Conference with is a seminary student working towards an M.Div.  He attends an SBC seminary and was asked to give his thoughts on the conference for one of his classes.  He’s allowed me to post his brief thoughts below.

Note: Thanks to Peter for influencing me to make this clarification.  The paragraphs below are a brief overview of my friend’s initial thoughts that he shared with his class.  One of his assignments is to write a reflections paper and this is definitely not that.

Overall, I think the conference was a bad idea. I say this not only as a 5-point Calvinist, but as someone who tries to see the bigger picture. This conference was about tearing down a view that some disagreed with. It also seemed to be a lightning rod to audience members, who are hostile to reformed theology. This was demonstrated by the man who is the author of “Christianity vs the God of Calvin” and the man who said the Lord gave him a divine revelation that He has nothing to do with Calvinism.

While neither of those views were expressed by the speakers, it shows the hostility that the conference drew. I also spoke to someone at the breakfast who openly claimed to be Semi-Pelagian. It was shortly after that I broke fellowship and left the table. Since we have to turn in papers that address the speakers, I will not do that here. However I do want to say that of all the presenters, Paige Patterson was who I considered to be the best, and David Allen to be the worst, and Richard Land to not really address the issue at all.

I do however appreciate Dr. Allen’s response to the young man who claimed to have had a divine revelation, and that the convention would not take a stance against Calvinism because it was against autonomy as well as not in the best interest of the convention.

If anything, this conference has helped to stabilize my views of reformed theology, because the arguments were not coherent nor were they drawn from a systemic view of scripture, and the arguments were poorly made.

On a side note, I also think it speaks volumes that the conference costs $50 for audio and $70 for Video while Together 4 the Gospel, Desiring God, IX Marks and other Reformed outlets make their audio available for free. It almost appears that the reason behind the conference is not because Reformed Theology is destroying the convention, but that it is destroying the revenue generated during revivals.

Tagged as: calvinism, Gospel, hyper-calvinism, John 3:16 Conference, Southern Baptist