Just spoke on with for with CB of my Grace church. It appears that the only view they have for in church services, against wearing masks, etc. is that one should not FEAR. Do not fear death, do not fear of infecting others (perhaps provided if others do not mind being infected), because somehow this is pleasing to God.
I am not sure why, but to support Joseph Yu of former Redeemer pastor's point, it's not about fear, it has nothing to do with fear at all in fact, but it is a matter of responsibility. It would seem that those Christians have some nonchalant, irresponsible attitude on this. As if they are blinded from seeing it or something.
As for CB's take on that: "just know that those who are coming into church don't mind getting Covid", I would reply: "Well, it is a Christian thing, even reformed, to help save those who doesn't want to be saved". But of course, this is a passive means, not an active for it is not by force nor by imploring something upon others, so ultimately, they will still get what they wanted in the end, after all, though salvation begins prior to human will, Jesus also said that He did not come for those who are "not sick".
At this point, USA has the highest number of Covid-19 death: 500k. The rate per population capita is not good either, raking top 10 in the world:
In this cause, I would say reputation matters. This is one of those very few cases we can say that, when all other countries are laughing at this resultant of ignorance. And the numbers show that America is doing pretty badly for a developed and supposedly Christian nation.
When it comes to knowledge of the Bible or doing obvious Christian things, the fundamentalists are good at them. However, when connecting to other objects of God's creation, to life, they are really bad it it because they fail to see the connection to the Bible. They may acknowledge it, but they pursue it not because it does take effort which they lack seeking.
We also talked about Ravi Zacharias to which CB said that his message is not Gospel related/centered. I find it to be untrue, perhaps he listened too much to Ray Comfort's criticism on Ravi, which I think is about the same thing. I think that's just nitpicking too much. One can easily search for Ravi's take on sin and the Gospel. But perhaps they are referring to the fact that Ravi needs to say the word Gospel or repeat the basic principles of the Gospel like 1 million times in a sermon/lecture, the more the better, like many fundamentalists do. As for me, I referred to my lost of interest in RZIM when Ravi did not stand for the Gospel against the Mormons when he was invited to the Mormon Tabernacles, and even defended what he did there when questioned in public.
Then we also talked about the WTS issue where Lane Tipton was asked to leave regarding the case with Scott Oliphint. Basically, Oliphint's works questioned the immutability of God or the unchangeable properties of God. Tipton wasn't the only one challenging Oliphint on this. CB mentioned that his mentor Henry Krabbendam has written a long work against Oliphint's work, that in short, it pertains to Deu 29:29. However, I am skeptical of this application of the verse, because it smells awfully like a fundamentalist's approach, not to mention that it imposes a serious accusation that is on par with witchcrafts - if cannot fathom the depths of a subject, instead of admit it, call it either not important or be ignorant of it, and if others expounded upon it, if done badly then it's heresy, if done rightly but not palatable, then call it something only for seminary. So I would like to ask, what is it that Oliphint was going for that has been deemed "secret things of God" that we are not to touch on. I won't read either works unless someone can convince me to.
But I must add that at least Chris was kind enough to discuss all these with me, so I see him not as a fundamentalist, perhaps fundamentalist influenced? I don't know.
DeerMeatForDinner's Robert Arrington has 3000 acres property in Florida: @1:50
That's like $3.5M to $7Million at current's property market in Florida. I wonder how the tax must be like.