Protestant Theology

[Dismas]

I'm currently in the planning stages of writing some fiction. For the sake of fleshing out one of the main characters, I need to know a fair amount of certain Protestant doctrines. So, I'm looking for some resources that explain them and put them into context.

I'm looking in particular for resources concerning:
- Prosperity Theology
- Teetotalism
- Double Predestination vs. Determinism

Also, I would like info on how Protestant apologetics against Atheism/Agnosticism differs from Catholic apologetics.

[BG45]

Prosperity Theology. Turn on your television, find a station called Trinity Broadcasting Network. (If you don't get it, they have their "Praise the Lord" podcast available for download.) Watch for a few hours, you will learn very quickly all you ever needed to know, especially if you hit it while they're showing Joel Olsteen.

[Laudate_Dominum]

This article has 179 reference sources which ought to help in researching teetotalism. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_And_Christianity"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_And_Christianity[/url]

In particular the Billy Graham, John MacArthur, Albert Mohler and Russell Moore references and beyond.

[Deo Iuvente]

teetotalism; read through this topic [url="http://forum.ship-of-geniuses.com/"]here[/url], read the posts by "NJA". There you've got your typical fundamentalist teetotaler.He also posts some links. (And believes that if you don't speak in tongues, your not a christian.

[RandomProddy]

[quote name='Dismas' post='1444745' date='Jan 12 2008, 01:35 AM']Also, I would like info on how Protestant apologetics against Atheism/Agnosticism differs from Catholic apologetics.[/quote]

Usually trying to comment on the existence of God involves me using naive set theory or chaos theory but that's more to do with me being a mathematician

[Lord Philip]

[quote name='Dismas' post='1444745' date='Jan 11 2008, 05:35 PM']I'm currently in the planning stages of writing some fiction. For the sake of fleshing out one of the main characters, I need to know a fair amount of certain Protestant doctrines. So, I'm looking for some resources that explain them and put them into context.

I'm looking in particular for resources concerning:
- Prosperity Theology
- Teetotalism
- Double Predestination vs. Determinism

Also, I would like info on how Protestant apologetics against Atheism/Agnosticism differs from Catholic apologetics.[/quote]


Wow...great thread. I must confess with a little embarassment that I come from a tradition similar (though they would disagree on many points) to Prosperity theology. The only difference is that proponents of Prosperity theology take the same ideas much further than the charismatic group I was involved with.

So here's the essential element. The one thing missing from these people's understanding of authority is [i]apostolicity[/i]. This is very interesting because I still believe many things these people hold, though with the caveat of apostolicity.

Let me explain what I mean. These people read in the New Testament such events as the casting out of demons and miraculous healings, and see it in a context not so much of personal power, but of authority. They see St. Peter telling someone to get up and walk in a forceful and confident manner, and interpret that as indicating that all believers have spiritual authority, even over ailments and personal circumstances. The words that they utter (when they have an experience called "baptism of the Holy Spirit") are no longer just words from a human being, they are words that are backed by God himself and so their words effect the power of God in this world.

This is astonishing, because as outlandish as these things might seem, we Catholics believe something similar. We believe that those who have Apostolic Authority (bishops and priests) by their words and actions actually manifest the work and power of God. They do so in the Sacraments. In confession, the priest says that one's sins are remitted, and by the authority of God they are. When the priest says "this is my body", God is backing those words and the bread and wine become the body and blood of our Lord. Coming from this charismatic background made my belief in the Sacraments surprisingly easy.

So in the Catholic Church, we have an organized and carefully guarded authority that comes from Christ himself. Charismatics have a wild and (what they themselves admit) uncontrollable power and authority that often causes them to abandon reason itself.

A good analogy is the following. Picture a firing range with an audience. You see 20 police officers with those big earmuffs (I don't know what they are called) that fire down their lanes and hit their targets every single time, and the audience claps in amazement. Those are our Catholic priests and congregations.

Now imagine another firing range with another audience. People just come up out of the audience with fully automatic machine guns to the lanes and just wildly spray their bullets everywhere. With such power at their fingertips they are overcome by their passions and madly begin to flail their weapons as they spray 800 rounds per minute and begin running down their lanes like madmen. But it does not stop here. Each member of the audience is also given a machine gun and so they all stand up out of their seats and start spraying bullets wildly.

Some of the bullets inevitably hit the targets, but never dead on.

As one who has been in both circumstances, this analogy really rings true.

Okay, now we have the "moderate" charismatics down. Let's get into the heavy-duty Prosperity Theology folks. Some of these things the charismatics have as well, but usually in lesser form and with the knowledge that "God may will otherwise".

Now that we have established that true believers in Jesus have in their words the very authority of God to "speak things into existence" and to change their circumstances, why wield this power only in Church to heal someone? Why not make millions of dollars and jet airplanes and Bentleys appear? WHY NOT? Christ has won the victory for us and given us authority. The Bible reveals a God that is immensely wealthy: he lacks nothing. Now if we are the sons of God, why shouldn't we be wealthy as well? If Christ won the victory, let's live in that victory! Do victors in war go and skulk around and look sad? No! They live it up and celebrate!

Since being rich is so good, and God wants the best for us, LET US BY FAITH CLAIM WHAT IS REALLY OURS AS THE CHILDREN OF GOD: PRINCES AND PRINCESSES OF HEAVEN. If you just claim it in Jesus' name, you will receive whatever you ask for...the Bible says that. Come on! Speak it into existence! If you are sick, tell your sickness that you are a child of God and that all authority has been given to you and say to that sickness, "Be Gone!" and it will go away by the power of God.

Why do people continue to be sick then? Well, they need the Holy Ghost. They don't have enough faith. The might even have a sin in their lives that God is punishing them for. Just give it to God and tell him you want to be his and if you do, you will be called a child of God and the Holy Ghost will come upon you and will give you the authority over all things.

-----

Frightening, I know. Any questions?

Concerning Protestant apologetics against atheist and such, there is really not a whole lot of difference. There are some excellent Protestant thinkers out there who deal some pretty shattering blows to atheism. One great example is William Lane Craig.

I will say, though, that Protestants often try to com up with things on their own rather than use a lot of the classical arguments from St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, though there are too many exceptions to define this as a hard-and-fast rule. Interestingly, though, the Protestants often end up just rephrasing the classical arguments anyway, just using different categories.

Anyone else have anything different on this?

God bless,

Philip

[N/A Gone]

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Across-Spectrum-Understanding-Evangelical-Theology/dp/0801022762/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200342620&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.com/Across-Spectrum-Unde...2620&sr=8-1[/url]

very good book that shows alternate view points in the evangelical arena. I have read it and one of the authors is a former mentor of mine. If you want a quick 101 on evangelical theology I would recommend this book.

[Dismas]

Thanks everyone for the information. I really do want to express my characters correctly, and I fear that my lack of experience would be a caricature of one of the protagonists.

Feel free to continue posting!

[Paddington]

[quote name='Dismas' post='1445660' date='Jan 14 2008, 07:15 PM']Thanks everyone for the information. I really do want to express my characters correctly, and I fear that my lack of experience would be a caricature of one of the protagonists.

Feel free to continue posting![/quote]

You can pretty much make stuff up and know that there is at least one Pentecostalist out there doing just what you write.

[Dismas]

[quote name='Paddington' post='1447890' date='Jan 19 2008, 06:28 PM']You can pretty much make stuff up and know that there is at least one Pentecostalist out there doing just what you write. [/quote]
Well, I'm looking for more commonplace nondenominational evangelical than snake handling pentecostal. This character is one of the good guys, after all.

[Paddington]

Sounds awesome.

You could always fill some pages with courtship, home-schooling and witnessing adventures.

Oh, yea, and The Prayer of Jabez (I didn't read it) has a lil of the prosperity thing to it. Joel Osteen too.

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='Paddington' post='1448077' date='Jan 20 2008, 02:12 AM']Oh, yea, and The Prayer of Jabez (I didn't read it) has a lil of the prosperity thing to it.[/quote]

Yeah, that would be a good one for the prosperity part.