Episode 9 Paul Maxwell on Trauma in Reformed Theology
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- In this episode, Paul Maxwell and I talk about his work on trauma and reformed theology. He argues that reformed theology conceptually teaches good and true dogma but that the individual experience of this theology among those who have experienced trauma needs to be considered. Maximal control and overly negative views of human nature can affect some people in unhelpful ways.
One of the most exciting parts about hosting a podcast like this is that I can learn from those with whom I disagree. Here, that is partially the case. But I learned more about reformed thinking and trauma and was challenged to think self-reflectively. I hope the same thing is true for you too when you hear Paul speak.
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Thanks for the honesty gentlemen. I think it’s very worth thinking through that only the Bible has a category for every single person in the world. Anything man made will have holes, and that’s why we should just struck to the simplicity of the gospel, spread it to the world, live in love, and stay away from philosophical based faiths.
Hope this video gets a lot of new viewers in light of Maxwell’s recent announcement that he’s no longer Christian.
True! I actually didn't know his work before, but I'm interested now. Maybe he left christianity a long time ago in his heart
I don’t think he ever was Christian at all! Judging his motivation how he started - he just realised it was a controversial topic and was very popular among secular Christianity!
The only way to avoid the trauma of Calvinism is to psychologically bracket it in ones thinking. We "confess" it - but we don't live as though it's really deeply true (i.e. God's willing all things and the total depravity of humanity). The walls of Maxwell's bracket finally gave way to the unconscious pressures of reality and lived experience - and he now says he is no longer a "Christian".
I am a former PCA pastor and graduate from Reformed Theological Seminary - but I am not a "former" Christian.
By the grace of God I gradually became aware of the structure of Calvinist theology as one built on half-truths, the other half being filled in by human "logic" - drawing logical conclusions that, though "valid", are untrue to the Logos in which we live, move and have our being. A simple honest reading of Romans 11 destroys the half-truths Calvinists construct out of Romans 9. The failure to "hear" the rhetorical symphony (with nuance and hyperbole) Paul builds from Romans 9 through 11 is catastrophic. Reading Romans 9 as though it were a propositional systematic will never allow you insight into the "mystery" of chapter 11, summed up in Paul's crescendo, "in order that He might have mercy on ALL" (ALL Israel and the FULLNESS of the Gentiles 11:25-26). All of this is grounded in the most fundamental fact of what we know of God as He was and is revealed in Christ: "God IS Love" - a thing which Calvin Himself could never embrace (he never once quote that passage from 1 John in his "Institutes").
God's plan, hidden in Christ, is the uniting and reconciliation of "ALL things" through the cross. (Eph. 1:9-10 and Col. 1:19-20 ) - so much so that Paul could proclaim the unconditional GOOD News:
"God is the Savior of all people" - 1 Tim.4:10-11
In regard to all the above, I highly recommend Jan Bonda's (Dutch Calvinist) The One Purpose of God
@@ryansetliff7416 Look in the mirror, sir: *you're just imposing your eisegesis upon the passages, and thinking no one will come along and challenge you as spoke confidentially with many words.* Your words exemplify the typical, self-confident arrogance of many Calvinists. "All" is not a "zinger" - it's just a simple word that tends toward a simple meaning - but with all your horrific assumptions (your "system") you must explain the simple away, leaving us with an idea of God of which it cannot possibly be said that He "IS Love". It honestly astounds me that you can so convince yourself that Paul has changed the meaning of "Israel" in Romans 11 from all that he has said of it in previous chapters - and cannot admit (or "see") the whole Calvinist construal of "the hardened" (as the eternally reprobate of Romans 9) are not those same "hardened" of Romans 11 that God is able to graft back in again - those same who he will come and turn away from their sin?
This "learned" Calvinist casuistry and sophistry is killing the Gospel hope of countless lives....
"The letter kills - but the Spirit gives life"
As George MacDonald (who understood Calvinism better than you or I ever will) said, "To men who are not simple, simple words are the most inexplicable of riddles."
You cannot equivocate away (nor, apparently at this point, understand) these two simplest of Truths:
1. God IS Love
2. We are all His offspring (indelibly marked by the image of God, Jesus Christ)
May God have mercy on us both - for we both "see through a glass darkly" - and we both have probably, in this exchange, failed to love one another - even though we both sound like we "understand all mysteries"...
Again, *I will say no more* - but, I sincerely pray God (and you) will forgive me for any unnecessary offense - and that God's Blessings will rest on you and your family!
@@ryansetliff7416 God bless you!
Powerful. I've listened to many former Mormons and Catholics gone atheist who I wished had not made a leap over other theological opportunities. I feel the same as I listen to Mr. Maxwell speak. He does emphasize that the Calvinistic reading is a faithful one, and that some Eckhartian mysticism is to be had with it. I wonder, if the edge of theodicy might not be dulled in a non-Calvinist Christian tradition. May God use this time as a "cocoon" for him, to come back stronger than before.
His efforts to justify “coloring outside the lines” is compassionate. I wish he would have been more comfortable seeing the lines of Calvinism are an illusion.
Paul got Wyatt shook there for a moment haha thank you for this episode, man!
One of the most perplexing things Jesus ever said to everyday, common ("totally depraved") human beings was, "Judge for yourselves what is right"! We do not have to equivocate away what goodness really looks like to justify monstrously immoral ideas we attribute to God. It is no wonder that George MacDonald (steeped in Scottish Calvinism) said, "I turn with loathing from the God of Jonathan Edwards". Read his "Unspoken Sermons"....
Calvinism will definitely lead you to hopelessness. Stay away from it folks.
It's quite the opposite for me. It's a source of great comfort and joy. Of salvational assurance, and assurance in the promises of my God and Savior.
Totally agree.
That Calvinism is full of hopeless.
@@zacharybaker695 Paul Maxwell disagrees with you.
If I were a Calvinist, I would be hopeless too just for the mere fact that Paul Maxwell was predestined to NOT believe in God after believing? So he is predestined to be in the lake of fire? and not his free will that lead him out?
This is blasphemy and selfishness actually! Just think about it.
God is good and he want all to be saved. Period.