Dr. Dell Johnson

Dr. Bob,
I was just reading some articles this morning by Rick Norris on the IFB reformers page.Rick Norris seems to have a lot of information and background articles available on this page. If you have'nt been there before it might be of interest to you.

 

Could you provide the link? If I missed it.

 

I hope that Dell Johnson's approach is considerably different than what he gave out on those tapes. I have never met the man but I do know that I have rarely seen such uninformed pomposity get such a wide distribution. I sincerely hope he has modified his position since leaving there. In the tapes, he came across to me as very uninformed and patronizing. I realize he was being forced to peddle the company line. I am glad to hear that apparently he has changed.

 

Dear Phil here ya go www.ifbreformation.org

 

Did you know they actually changed the doctrinal statement?? If you have an old catalog compare mayb 2001 or 2000 with the current one. You should see a change. I can't remember exactly what the verbiage of the change is, but this is the "softer" version of it. I hae apparently thrown away my old catalogs I have from them. If you have some old ones, if you get a chance, look back at them and see.

As for the doctrinal statement, No I can't agree.

1. Matt 24:35, IMO, is not referring to verbal preservation but to the fulfillment of promises, particularly those in Matt 24. I believe in preservation. That is simply not the verse to prove it with.

2. He appears to limit preservation to the "traditional Greek and Hebrew manuscripts." That is inadequate, IMO. God has preserved his word in the multitude of manuscripts.

3. I can agree that the KJV is an accurate English translation. (This I believe is where the change in the doctrinal statement is.)

But knowing the stand that Pensacola has taken over the past 10 years, this statement is not, IMO, a fair representation of what they actually believe. They took a much stronger position on this issue than this statement appears to communicate.

This statement is weak in that:
1. It uses a faulty basis for preservation.
2. It does not acknowledge the true extent of preservation. It is obvious that all manuscripts of Scripture are preservations of God's word. They are not "not God's word." It is simply inadequate to limit preservation to one manuscript family or tradition. One might say, "We think the best representative of the infallible Word is found in the traditional Hebrew and Greek manuscripts." While I would disagree, I think that better communicates the true picture.
3. It is worded in such a way as to not explicitly acknowledge the existence of other faithful, accurate translation. This to me sounds like a political attempt to work "KJV" into the doctrinal statement in way that appeases and appeals to the KJVO crowd while giving PCC "plausible deniability" by saying "We didn't say it was the only translation." I think it is a ruse to put it in this way. It sounds like an attempt to play to both audiences. At this point, having seen Johnson's performance on those tapes and knowing the background of this discussion, I am very skeptical of anything in that regard. I know how political Pensacola is. I know that Mutsch absolutely refused to meet personally with someone whom PCC attacked by name. The person called and volunteered to fly down there at his own expense to meet and try to work this thing out like gentlemen. Mutsch refused. That was simply uncalled for. There was a lot that went on in the mid to late 90s that a lot of people don't know about. Which helps my conviction that this was a political stunt to try to gain a bigger "market share" of the Christian college market.

But I thought from the beginning that these tapes and this stand from PCC was a political move to distinguish themselves from BJU, their main competition in terms of larger fundamental Christian colleges.

 

I too enjoyed the meeting last week, although it was very tiring for me. Dr. Johnson came across very well in his sermons and it seemed he was able to connect with both the kids as well as the adults in the meeting. All of his sermons for the week were recorded on CD and given to Lee Parsons. The recordings may be a little soft but they are recorded none the less.

If the statement about the scriptures was written by Dr. Johnson then it is a very appropriate place to stand and I would not have any problems with it at all. He struck me as someone that I would have liked to have gotten to know better, but he always seemed to be in a rush off after the service, especially the morning services.