I’ve learned to be skeptical of “experts”, so when I come across an unfamiliar theologian, I do my homework.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
I want to listen to what they preach and teach with a discerning ear. A guy with a degree can be pretty convincing, but we are still each called to be good Bereans.<\/p>\n\n\n
I am most interested in finding experts who can effectively communicate what they have discovered in their studies. I want to learn something new, not just find someone to reinforce what I already believe.<\/p>\n\n\n
I also check out what sort of company they keep and what their critics are saying.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
And in the age of the internet, you can ALWAYS find the critics. It’s as easy as Googling the theologian’s name along with the word “heresy”. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n
Most recently I have been listening to Tim Mackie. He and a friend put their Bible expertise to use in creating The Bible Project, featuring beautifully animated short videos highlighting various books and themes of Scripture.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Mackie’s preaching and teaching strike me as both fresh and interesting. And so, to be on the safe side, I searched for his critics on YouTube.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
So far I have found two. And those two have this in common: they are both Calvinists.<\/p>\n\n\n
As far as I can tell, their beef with Tim Mackie and The Bible Project is that he doesn’t buy into Penal Substitutionary Atonement as being part of what’s happening at the cross of Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
And although this single fact caused both YouTubers to recommend viewers avoid Mackie and his “heresy”, it only raised his reputation in my own mind.<\/p>\n\n\n
Now I want to hear more from Mackie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve learned to be skeptical of “experts”, so when I come across an unfamiliar theologian, I do my homework.\u00a0 I want to listen to what they preach and teach with a discerning ear. A guy with a degree can be pretty convincing, but we are still each called to be good Bereans. I am most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4569,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568\/revisions\/4569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}