westwinds.org COPYRIGHT 2007 by Dr. David McDonald. The author retains sole copyright to the materials in this Teaching Atlas. It is a supplement to the teachings David will be presenting at Westwinds Community Church in Fusion. For more information, contact: Westwinds Community Church 1000 Robinson Road Jackson MI 49203 www.westwinds.org 1 dr. david mcdonald TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Pre-Ramble 8 Chapter One Sola Scriptura: The Bible and its Credibility 18 Questions for Further Reflection 20 Chapter Two Organic Monotheism: Above and Alive 31 Questions for Further Reflection 33 Chapter Three Imago Dei: Theosis and Imago Dei 45 Questions for Further Reflection 48 Chapter Four Trinitarian Metaphysics: one substance, three persons 63 Questions for Further Reflection 65 Chapter Five The Second Person: who is Jesus and why does it matter? 80 Questions for Further Reflection 2 westwinds.org 82 Chapter Six The Third Person: the Holy Spirit and the supernatural world 97 Questions for Further Reflection 99 Chapter Seven Soteriology: satisfaction, cleansing, wholeness, and Christus Victor 112 Questions for Further Reflection 114 Chapter Eight Afterwards: judgment and assurance, heaven and hell 126 Questions for Further Reflection 138 Chapter Nine The Local Church: a study in ethics and preferences 148 Questions for Further Reflection 3 dr. david mcdonald PRE-RAMBLE the word orthodoxy means right thinking, or right doctrine but you know what’s cool? the “doxa” part doesn’t just mean “thinking” it also means “glory” so, you could say that orthodoxy is also “right glory” a.k.a you could infer that our thoughts bring glory invite glory dance in glory wash our lives in glory or are just plain glorious cool? 4 westwinds.org having served as a pastor in a variety of church settings [emergent, pentecostal, seeker, parachurch] for the past 12 years, i’ve become increasingly convinced of the need for every christ-follower to be conversant with several key doctrines of the faith. i mean, really, getting all your theological facts straight isn’t the be-all and end-all of christian spirituality but sometimes i think we use that kind of logic as a scapegoat that allows for slopping thinking errant beliefs and, ultimately, inexcuseable behavior. the christian faith is a lived-experience the world will know us by the way we live by our love for one another our beliefs are made manifest in our actions and, sometimes, we severly undercut the importance of both belief and behavior to the great frustration of our god and to our own great shame. DOXA is an attempt to tell the story of systematic theology isn’t that hilarious? systematic theology may be the academic discipline with the least tendency towards story telling – it’s like god-math. sometimes it even feels like it’s supposed to be dry and boring because that somehow makes it more godly or important 5 dr. david mcdonald but this attitude of course is only the bastardized version of our worst fears about learning the truth about god this attitude allows us to insulate ourselves with the proud anxiety that we may be wrong about something and that being wrong may embarrass, or offend, or disclose our limitations. so, what we’ve tried to do here [and by “we” i mean the staff and elder team{s} at westwinds] is to try and re-insert the stories back into our theology. we’ve tried to authenticate the rationale for our doctrines with the events, people, stories that required us to form theologies in the first place. and then, of course, we’ve tried to retell those stories so they can be readily and messily ingested within the context of the 21st century western world the result? something we’ve playfully begun to call narramatica narrative + systematic or, narramatic theology to be honest, we wanted something more obscure but coriolis was already taken 6 westwinds.org 7 dr. david mcdonald Sola Scriptura: The Bible and its Credibility There once was a seven-year-old boy who liked to help his mom in the kitchen. He’d come home after school, while she was baking, and he’d learn how to cook. His mom would write down recipes and put them in a cookbook so he could remember them. His mother had a knack for cooking, and because of his affection for her, the boy always wanted to go back and read her notes on how to make a great meal. Now, over time the boy grew up and became a master chef. He became very confident in his ability to create a great meal, and so he stopped reading this old cookbook. He became more and more convinced of his ability to present something independent of all his experiences with his mom. After a while, his enjoyment of cooking (even as a master chef) began to diminish. He didn’t find that he liked his recipes as much any more. He noticed that he wasn’t receiving the same number of compliments. He didn’t feel the same sense of connection with his mother that he did when he was a little boy and used to do these things. Then, in the middle of his career, this fellow walked away from cooking. He didn’t use the cookbook anymore, and he didn’t really feel connected in the same way to his mom. He stopped cooking entirely, finding that he no longer enjoyed being in the kitchen or even remembering his childhood culinary adventures. 8 westwinds.org This story was relayed to me as a young boy, about the importance of learning and internalizing the Bible. There were a few key points here – that the Bible is meant to guide us, that it is a resource of instruction and history, etc – but mostly what stuck with me was the sadness of losing that connection with God. If for no other reason, we engage scripture primarily to stay connected with our Creator. Before we get too deeply into what the Bible is, who trusts it, and how we got hold of the canon1 or the present versions of the Bible that we have today, it is important to see what the Bible has to say about itself. Before we try to make any claims about what we think the Bible is or what other people ascribe to the Bible, let’s go through a couple of important passages of scripture to see what claims the Bible makes. We are looking at a very popular scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) “All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Let’s break the scripture down into smaller sections so we can get what was being said. First of all, “All scripture is God breathed.” We’ll talk about that idea of “God breathed” under the section on inspiration. Hold on to that phrase for a moment: “All scripture is God breathed and is useful.” Reading, knowing, and understanding the Bible is not simply a requirement for someone to be in good standing with God or church. It actually makes a difference in our lives and is useful for the following reasons: teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.2 Sometimes I think it is important to note that, as much as we value autonomy and individuality, there have to be voices from outside that can correct us, train us, and set us straight when we go wrong. Everybody is entitled to an opinion, and everyone’s opinion is valued. Everyone’s worth and frame of reference is valued, but when we are talking about matters, particularly of doctrine (or right thinking), there are certain right things and wrong things. There are certain true things about God and some things that are not true about God. The Bible is useful in instructing us in those ways. It’s useful for instructing us in correcting and training in righteousness and in rebuking us so that the “man 1 “canon” refers to the 66 individual books within the Christian Bible. 2 Cf. Hebrews 4.12, 13 & Psalms 19.7-11 9 dr. david mcdonald of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Whenever the Bible (particularly in the New Testament) says, “the man of God” it is not a gender exclusive statement but a reference belonging to first century Palestine where the man was the head of the household. So, by speaking to “the man.” they are speaking to the whole household – family members, slaves, and servants. In addition to this scripture, we look at the Bible being referenced to as the very words of God. It’s a perfect guide for life. The Bible, according to Psalm 119:2, is pure, true, flawless, perfect, effective, precious, and powerful. Nothing is to be taken from or added to the Bible according to Deuteronomy 4:2. Sometimes it is popular to think there is a lot of extra space between Jude and Revelation where we could insert modern 21st century theology or doctrine; yet, it is critical for us to realize that nothing should be added to, or taken from, the canon of scripture. The Bible is a book written by a particular group of people dealing predominately with the promises of God for those people; however, it isn’t just for them. Because of the person and work of Christ, the biblical message has become available to everyone. But just because the Bible is ‘for everyone’ does not mean that everyone can make the Bible into whatever they want it to be.