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>Consider these words in a recently posted essay.
"It is not even a command to individual believers, much less to para-church organizations. It is a command to believers who are members of a local church"
Let us suppose that is the correct view, that this duty is for members-believers of a local church. I do not mind this view being promoted, unless the promoters praise Christian men of science (who disregarded it). It would not be consistent to praise them. It would only be consistent to say both 1. that the commission is for member-believers of a church and 2. that these Christian men (Kepler, Morse, Kelvin, Faraday, Boyle, etc.) were terribly disobedient to it.
Now that is consistent. The late Mulfinger, author of Christian Men of Science obtained his degrees from BJU. So he was well aware of the scope of the great commission that included member-believers of a local church. The mystery remains why he selected to portray sketches of these men, knowing that they were clearly disobedient to the Great Commision. (Boyle was an Anglican, Kepler a Lutheran, Faraday a Sandamanian. It was not clear to me whether Morse or Kelvin were even members of a any local church.
It is also inconsistent for fundamentalist to praise John Burgon, and even name a society after him (as Arminian Baptists have done), because no where do we hear of Burgon going out anytime in his life preaching to lost souls or winning them. Instead Burgon spent his life teaching divinity, and searching and examining Greek MSS. But he too was disobedient to the Great Commission. Why are the Arminians not admitting to us that Burgon was not only Anglican, but that he disregarded the Great Commision? Why is there silence on that point?
We often praise A.W. Pink, whom the Particular Baptists in Australia, did not approve of, because Pink believed in the effectual call being entire in its scope. But for many years, A. W. Pink was a member of no local church at all. Thus, it would only be consistent to say that A. W. Pink disregarded the so-called Great Commission. But is anyone saying that?
In other words, it is what is not being said, (the implications), that give this view an exclusiveness that is disturbing to some. None of the six scientists I mentioned were Baptists. But the remaining five include Walt Brown and Henry M. Morris.
Steve wrote:
One of the best ways to kill a church, and there are many, is to disregard the great commission
>In other words, A.W. Pink, Kepler, Kelvin, etc. by their disregard of this great duty, had a lifestyle that might have killed their local (Anglican or Lutheran) church, correct?
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