Restitutio

It’s recited in churches all around the world in many languages. It’s the standard by which all modern Christians are measured. It’s an artful and eloquent expression of doctrine. What am I talking about? Of course, it’s the Nicene Creed.

But what if I told you that this creed wasn’t from the Council of Nicea in 325 ad. You’d say, “Yeah, yeah, Sean, everyone knows the Nicene creed is really from Constantinople in 381 ad.” Or is it?

My guest today is Sam Tideman of the Transfigured Podcast and he has been digging into the historical record concerning the Council of Constantinople in 381. He wasn’t looking for this, but what he found absolutely shocked him. Or, perhaps, I should say, what he didn’t find shocked him. The Nicene creed people say today never got adopted at Constantinople either!

What does this mean for the development of the Trinity? When did this creed get formulated and adopted? How does this affect Christians today? Get answers to these questions in today’s episode.

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Follow Sam Tideman on his YouTube Channel: Transfigured

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What is the true nature of God? How should we understand monotheism? What about heresy? In today’s interview, I ask Dr. Dale Tuggy about his new book, Monotheism, Heresy, and the Bible, published by Theophilus Press. Our discussion ranges from handling proof-texts that call Jesus “God” to the role of logic in sorting out doctrine to how and when it’s appropriate to call a belief a heresy. We also talk about the tendency of Trinitarians to defend their doctrinal convictions by appealing to mystery.

In case you don’t know him, Tuggy is an analytic philosopher with a BA from Biola, an MA from Claremont, and a PhD from Brown University. He had a career teaching philosophy and adjacent subjects at the State University of New York at Fredonia for 18 years after which he founded the Unitarian Christian Alliance to help unitarian Christians connect with each other, promote scholarship, host conferences, publish books, and participate in debates.

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Get Dale Tuggy’s book, Monotheism, Heresy, and the Bible

More about Tuggy at blog Trinities.org and at the UCA website.

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Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

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How do you know God exists? What reasons do atheists have to doubt God’s existence? Can you arrive at certainty? These questions are among the most significant that you can ask. If God exists, there are huge implications for your daily life. If not, then you can more or less choose your own adventure, making up meaning as you go.

My guest today is Andrew Drinkard, the editor and project lead on an interesting book called Debating God’s Existence: Believers and Skeptics in Friendly Conversation, published by Eerdmans. In the interview that follows I ask him about his backstory as well as the story behind the debate this book was based on. We discuss Dan Barker’s argument against God based on the problem of evil as well as Adam Johnson’s argument for God based on objective morality. Then we engage a bit with Drinkard’s own content in the book regarding divine hiddenness.

But before getting to the interview, let me say a couple of words about our guest today. Andrew Drinkard is the director of Inspiring Christianity ministries at inspiringchristianity.com. He holds an MA in theological studies and apologetics from Liberty University and is currently completing an MA in philosophy of religion at Palm Beach Atlantic University. His work has been published in the Journal of Classical Theology.

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Get Will Barlow’s book, Explore What We Believe

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Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

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Are all your beliefs equally important? If not, how do you rank them? By what standard do you say, “This belief matters” and “This one is less important”? My guest today is Michael Hughes who has been working on these very questions. He’s written a couple of papers addressing levels of evidence. In his more recent work, he’s enumerated a nine-level rating system by which you can judge a belief.

At the top of it is “Level 1: beliefs that are essential to salvation” then comes “Level 2: practices that are related to salvation” then “Level 3: beliefs that are undoubtedly true,” then those that are probably true, then those that are possibly true, and so on. As we move down the levels we move from more importance to less. This is a fascinating and fresh approach to ranking beliefs and practices based on biblical confidence. Are they explicitly taught in Scripture? Are they merely implied? Are there many difficult texts or only a few? You get the picture.

After Hughes explains his rating system, I pepper him with questions, including gay marriage, marijuana use, Torah observance, and wine vs. juice at communion. For each, he explains how he would approach the belief or practice from a “levels of evidence” perspective.

(See below for brief explanations of all nine levels of evidence.)

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Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

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—— Notes ——

Level 1: Beliefs that are Essential to Salvation
Beliefs and practices which the New Testament explicitly teaches as essential for salvation have the highest degree of certainty and importance, and are confidently emphasised by the church. Anyone who believes these is a Christian and eligible for membership in the church. Anyone who doesn’t believe them is not regarded as a Christian.

Level 2: Practices that are Related to Salvation
Beliefs and practices which the New Testament identifies as related to salvation but does not identify as fundamental. These have a high degree of importance and are confidently emphasised by the church. Anyone who is a Christian should not reject them.

Level 3: Beliefs that are Undoubtedly True
Beliefs that the Bible teaches unambiguously, but which are not specifically identified as essential for salvation. These beliefs are beyond reasonable doubt, having a high level of evidence that they are true. The church speaks of them often and with conviction. Anyone who is a Christian should not reject them.

Level 4: Beliefs that are Probably True
These beliefs are clearly taught in most but not all Scriptural passages on a particular topic. They are likely to be true on the balance of probabilities but not beyond reasonable doubt, because the evidence is not unanimous. The church with humility and honesty encourages people to hold these beliefs. It may be important for people in positions of leadership to hold these beliefs.

Level 5: Beliefs that are Possibly True
Beliefs are supported by a minority of passages which provide some grounds for people to hold these beliefs. These beliefs are less likely to be true on the balance of probabilities, because the evidence for an opposing belief is stronger. The church does not teach these beliefs but welcomes as Christians those who hold them.

Level 6: Beliefs that are constructed
There is no New Testament passage that clearly or directly teaches this belief. The only scriptural evidence comes from multiple passages that need to be combined in a particular way, which means that the level of evidence to support these beliefs is low. The church does not teach these beliefs but may encourage people who believe them to focus on beliefs that are directly taught in Scripture.

Level 7: Speculation
These beliefs have little or no Scriptural support either for or against. This includes beliefs that come from outside of Scripture, beliefs on which the Bible is silent, and beliefs that are not clearly taught in any passage. The church does not teach these beliefs and may encourage people who believe them to focus on the beliefs that are truly fundamental, undoubtedly true or strongly supported by Scripture.

Level 8: Beliefs that are Undoubtedly False
These are beliefs that directly contradict unambiguous Bible teachings. The church should strongly oppose these beliefs with a high level of confidence because the evidence is unanimous that they are unscriptural beyond reasonable doubt. If the church becomes aware that someone holds any of these undoubtedly false beliefs, the church needs to provide the opportunity to discuss with them the unanimous Scriptural evidence against these beliefs. Those people then need to reject these beliefs and embrace the clear teaching of the Bible.

Level 9: Beliefs that are Fatally Opposed to Christian Teachings
These beliefs either:
– directly contradict essential Scriptural teachings, or
– are specifically identified by Scripture as being fatally opposed to Christian beliefs and practices.
The church should strongly oppose these beliefs with the highest degree of confidence and be prepared to present the Scriptural evidence to people who hold them. People who hold one or more of these beliefs are not regarded as Christian and are not eligible to be members of the church.

Are you looking for a biblically-grounded albeit easy-to-read introduction to theology? Well, look no further, because I’m excited to announce the publication of Pastor Will Barlow’s book, Explore What We Believe. He goes through what the Bible teaches about God, humanity, covenants, the kingdom of God, Jesus, salvation, Israel, the church, the spirit of God, the spiritual realm, death, and immortality. He also includes appendices on foreknowledge, time periods, and baptism.

Although you can certainly read this book on your own and benefit from it, Barlow designed Explore What We Believe as a discipleship tool for two or three people to work through together. This is perfect for helping Christians of other traditions to learn about what WE believe. It’s also ideal for training your teenagers in the faith.

In this interview I ask Barlow about the content of the book and how he sees it being used.

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

—— Links ——

Get Will Barlow’s book, Explore What We Believe

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.