Steve Stanley > Recent Status Updates

One helpful way of thinking through these questions is the so-called Wesleyan quadrilateral, which is associated with the founder of Methodism, John Wesley: Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. Although Wesley himself never framed his thinking in this way exactly, it still summarizes a useful method that Protestant theology should aim for.

Looking to start a habit of reading Christian books? Here’s an article I wrote for Logos Bible Study Platform on reading habits.

https://www.logos.com/grow/nook-why-t...

Everything God does outside himself he does indivisibly as Father, Son, and Spirit. But within this action, each of the divine persons acts in a manner fitting to his personal identity; the one act of God proceeds from the Father, through the Son, by or in the Holy Spirit.

In God's external activity, the persons are distinguished from one another not by distinct roles and functions but by distinct modes of actions in the one inseparable action of God.

These eternal processions ('goings forth') are unique from creaturely processions (like a parent who has a child) in two important ways: (1) they are *eternal*, having no beginning or ending in time, and (2) they are *internal*, so to speak, in the life of God. They do not produce a second and a third God but take place within the one divine essence or nature.

In God's inner life, the three persons are distinguished only by their . . . *eternal relations of origin*. The Father is from no one; he is unbegotten. The Son is eternally begotten from the Father; and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from (or is 'spirated,' breathed out by) the Father and the Son.

[T]he Trinity indicates that there are processions (Latin, *processiones*, 'goings forth' so to speak) and personal relations (*relationes*) in God. . . . God's being eternally goes forth from the Father to the Son and from the Father and Son to the Spirit. . . . Each of the three persons is identical with the divine essence, and they are only distinguished from one another by these eternal personal relations.

God is not composed of parts; no one created him or put him together. But at the same time, mysteriously, this one true God exists from all eternity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three are *persons*, not *parts*, of God.

Doctrine is important because God is important, and no doctrine is more important than the doctrine of God himself.

[Jesus’s] solution is the point of this whole book [Mark 8:34-35]. . . . The answer to the abusive pastor was there all the time. It is the cross of Christ. There, on display for all the world to see, was a shepherd who did not save his own life but gave it up freely for the sake of others. And anyone called to ministry must do the same.

If you are in leadership, ask the Lord to give you the humility to admit you may not see yourself as you really are. Be willing to take a long, hard look at yourself to see if you, like Eustace, have columns of smoke coming up from your nostrils. If you do, turn to Aslan and ask him to do what only can do: make you whole again. (143-44)

As you read about the need to look great, you may be reminded of a pastor you know. Fair enough. But the question here is whether it describes *you*. Would your staff and your church members describe you in this way? If so, your it’s-never-good-enough approach, left unchecked,’ could be a pathway to becoming a bully pastor. . . . Jesus’s model of leadership is the opposite of abusive.

[T]hese pastors feel the need to squash the so-called rebellion before it gets out of the gate. They tend to overplay the danger, stoking fear around ‘slander’ and ‘gossip,’ clamping down on anyone who seems to step out of line. They create a culture of silence where the church leadership can never be questioned or challenged (all under the auspices of protecting the peace and purity of the church.)

[S]ome pastors tend to catastrophize the slightest bit of disagreement or complaint in the church, thinking that even the smallest amount of dissension in the ranks will lead to revolt. Some pastors are so worried about what is being said about them that it can lead to narcissistic paranoia.