First Week In Pasadena
I've arrived, and I'm trying to adjust to the new life here. We have spent all of yesterday in orientation and taking tours of the campus/dormitory. I am actually staying on the campus where the Perspectives national headquarters is located! The director of Perspectives actually gave us a tour of the US Center For World Missions yesterday! I hope to meet with him before he leaves (they're relocating the Perspectives headquarters to Arkansas).
I miss my girlfriend quite a bit. It's been weird trying to adjust to the thought of being away from here for two months, but at least now the countdown has started. I have actually been a little homesick, and you would think at 22 that would be all gone. We were really getting along and progressing so well, only to have me pick up and leave for two months. I can't wait to see her again.
My roommate is cool, and my discipler is also really funny. I had a great conversation with another guy last night about Reformed Theology/Christian Hedonism. There seems to be a larger amount of Calvinism among the group than I had anticipated. My roommate is working through the issues, and I hope to help him along. I talked to a guy yesterday who was talking about MacArthur and how he left some dispensation out (wasn't sure exactly the nature of the conversation, just overheard), but I did hear him say, "can you believe he's a Calvinist? And a five-pointer at that?" I walked up and told him I can't believe he's dispensational, and he then proceeded to say how Calvinism wasn't from Scripture but only from Calvin. He said, all the while walking away, that Calvin was a lawyer (which somehow voids his opinion apparently). He said that I should read Calvin's writings, and I would see for myself. But he was walking away muttering incoherently, because he obviously had no idea what he was talking about. Wondering if I should approach him again. Yea, I will.
I'm reading "Studies in Theology" by Loraine Boettner (download). I'm right now in his stuff on the Trinity, and it is a real page-turner. He's a great writer (wish he was supra and not post-mil, but he's still got some good stuff).
Lastly, there has been the theme of "finishing" the Great Commission, and although it's seemingly an obvious thought, it's not something you normally think of "finishing." The emphasis has been largely eschatological in that when we spread the gospel to all people groups then Christ will return (that's not distinct to an eschatological position is it? I thought it was for post-mil). "Missions" has been defined as reaching a people group that has not yet been reached. So in other words, you don't go on a "missions" trip to Chicago but it's an "evangelistic" trip. Good thoughts.
Jun 11th 2005 
7 Comments 
Jun 11th 2005
i miss you a lot and i'm glad you miss me too. i can see that you already have your hands in a lot of stuff down there, like i knew you would. it sounds like you're having a better time than yesterday, i hope they get better and better (oh, heck, you know they will!) i wrote you a letter that you will probably get in two years, so that's exciting.
missing you and wishing you well.... me
Jun 11th 2005
Sounds like you're going to have some good discussions on theology. So you're "supra," huh? Isn't that kinda extreme? :) I saw that Alvin Plantinga has an article in a book called Christian Faith And The Problem Of Evil on how the "supra" position affects a theodicy. It looked interesting, but I just didn't want to fork out $35 just to read one article.
Jun 12th 2005
Glad you ran into Boettner's Trinity stuff, it's really really helpful for me!
"that’s not distinct to an eschatological position is it?" (No.)
Jun 12th 2005
Here's an HTML link to Boettner's stuff: http://www.caledonianfire.org/caledonianfire/Boettner/mainb.htm
Jun 12th 2005
Supra is usually entitled "high" Calvinism, but it's not extreme in any way. How would supra change a theodicy? Although, Plantinga's a self-proclaimed Calvinist (but really a molinist), so I venture his objection would arise in determinism.
I wrote an article summarizing a deterministic theodicy: "The Problem of Evil Defined and Refuted".
Jun 12th 2005
Whats this. You call Dad when you arrive, e-mail Stephanie, and you don't even take the time to say hello. Man, what a jip. I wish I was a woman, maybe I could get some attention then.
Perry Stephen Poteet
Jun 13th 2005
This is one of my favorite things right now, so I'll comment on it also.
"The emphasis has been largely eschatological in that when we spread the gospel to all people groups then Christ will return"
It might be a distinct eschatological position to say Christ will immediately return when all peoples are reached, but to say that is just something that will happen sometime before Christ returns is from Revelation 5:9,
" And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,"
People being reached from every people group is what we believe has to happen or this wouldn't be true. Time will tell if our modern-day interpretation is way off or not. Certainly bodies in the church's past thought they had reached all the different peoples. I think the way we are defining different peoples today is very compelling and we might as well go with it :)
I believe the post-mill view actually has additional conditions for the return of Christ. I think they say that a period of peace, a golden age, will occur on the Earth before Christ returns, and that seems like it would only happen after all peoples were reached. If my premise is correct, then I would guess the people you are referencing are anything but post-mill.