Dispensationalism or Hyper-Fundamentalism?

I can't help but wonder after researching fundamentalism if dispensationalism is simply an eschatology of convenience for the fundamentalists. While not all fundamentalists are dispensational, it seems nowadays that if you are an upstanding evangelical (a term that is basically synonomous with fundamentalism) you are therefore dispensational. I can't help but wonder if my eschatology and hermeneutics allows me to fit into the evangelical model still. Am I still considered an evangelical if I'm not necessarily dispensational? I remember a conversation that I had with another student a few months ago where I was told that good evangelicals only hold to a literal interpretation to prophetic scripture. The more I read about fundamentalism and dispensationalism I can't help but wonder if it is really whether people care about the praxis of their eschatology, or if it's just some version of hyper fundamentalism.
Christopher J.

TWU

I found a good school. Hooray. This is momentous, it is a school that I actually really want to go to. And I really really want to go also. It's kind of odd I think, like I've never even gone to the school, but I know that I want to go. They offer an MA in Biblical Studies that is basically the best sort of degree a Christian could want. It is very reputable and could lead into other University doctorate programs which are much more secular, which I think would be good. TWU is really my 'gateway' school that will allow me to enter the secular scholarly level as well as maintain a good Christian foundation in my studies. Their Dead Sea Scrolls program is what first attracted me, and the guy who runs the DSS stuff would be the program advisor for my degree... or the degree that I'm looking for, which is an MA in Biblical Studies. This school would also allow me to get government scholarships in the humanities, which of course, is always cool. As well, people in the MA program get oppertunities to publish their work with their professors. Not only do they work for them, but they work with them too, which is very cool.
Well, I hope one day we can afford to go. If not, we could to Kansas City the first year, then TWU in Langley the second year.

Christopher J.
www.twu.ca

A Good School

I feel as though I am stuck at a cross roads in the middle of life right now. Any hasty decision will determine the rest of my life. It seems so strange that when I am so young trying to earn an undergraduate degree and at the same time consider graduate studies that even if I am accepted into a program I will only be 25 by the time I finish. Then when your that young why even stop there, why not just go on? So why not get a PhD? Even then by the time I finish that I’ll still be under thirty.
So now that I know I have all this option to go on in further education I have to play my cards right. Where to I get my MA? What do I choose for a program? What MA at what school will allow me to on to get into a PhD program? Even if I get a Masters degree from a particular school will it be acceptable to get into a school of my choosing to get a PhD? The whole degree situation is really the most confusing thing I’ve ever had to work out. My forty page paper on eschatology is simpler then this. If I go somewhere that’s too expensive I won’t be able to afford it past my first year. If I go somewhere that is cheap in Canada my American wife won’t be able to work right away. If I go somewhere cheaper in the states how do I know if the school is reputable enough? I don’t want to go to a denominational seminary because the education for something like theological or biblical studies probably won’t be broad enough. Most seminaries have inbred faculty who went to the seminary then decided never to leave.
I just want a good school. I just don’t know what it looks like when I’ve found one I can afford.
Christopher J.

Talking with Oma

 
Well, today I got to talk to Oma. (That's dutch for Grandma). It's nice to talk to my Oma every so often, espicially since I don't get to see her very often. She's going to have to sell her place soon and move into a home where she can be better taken care of. Someone isn't home all the time and sometimes she forgets critical things like insulin so it'll be good if/when she does move into a home. Oma was saying that her drain was plugged and that according to some guy's estimate it would be something like 1,700 dollars to get it cleared. It sounds like someone's trying to rip off my Oma just because she's older. Well, I don't live anywhere near her, and I kind of wish I did, but as is the case with all my relatives, they're far away. I never really grew up knowing my relatives with the exception of a few families. It was always neat to go to my grandma's for Christmas, or to visit Oma during one of my parents holidays. The one thing that was cool about growing up was that when my parents took a day off work to go to Vancouver and visit relatives was that they would take us with them because we were to young to be left alone. I wish I was too young to be left alone. It's kind of funny how people regress when they get older. When your first born you are in completely dependant on others, and eventually when you get older you return to that state. I guess it's kind of God's natural form for humiliation. Certianly no one can really go to God proud, if they did, they'd surely be surprised when they met someone greater then they, but if they were someone who is completely dependant on God and others, then I guess your stuck with your faith and a few friends and family, so in the end when you do go to God, it's probably better to be older in a much more dependant state of faith, then being young and independant like me. Then again, by the time your eighty, you may just make it look easy.
~Christopher J.

 
Well, we finally made it back from western Kansas. We had to make a stop in Arizona for one night because we missed our connection in Phoenix International. We were welcomed by one of those true Canadian Blizzards yesterday. Today it is a whopping minus 23 degrees Celsius. It was freezing this morning. To think that we were just in phoenix is incredible. I nearly had to take a bus up to Calgary from Phoenix. I should mention that Phoenix is only two hours away from Mexico. Passports became mandatory for people traveling from the USA to Canada out of Phoenix intl. on the seventh and we ended up flying out of Phoenix on the 6th. The airline put up 100 dollars towards a cheap hotel. I do not recommend flying with American West because they should have paid for the whole thing. The people at Phoenix intl. were less then helpful when it comes to distressed passengers, with the exception of the people at the information both. But overall it was a fun trip by far and completely worth all the stress of making it back in time. The computer was just fixed under an hour ago, so now I am blogging again. Recently, for whatever reason, the computer would not get passed the bios screen. well, now that it's working again I need to finish writing for my TH 390 class, which should have been done last semester. Fortunately, since I have a very graceful prof, who has decided not to fail me, I have an extension until the end of this month. Well, I have decided to apply to Nazarene Theological Seminary. Fortunately between the loan and what we'll make this summer and with the help of the school with a scholarship and student aid to help with our broken pick-up we'll be able to afford to make the move and go to the school. We only now just have to worry about me getting accepted to the Seminary. I'm pretty excited. Natalie has a job for this summer here at the library on Campus, I just need to find a job for this summer too. I have all my syllaby now so I guess I better get started on this summer before we can really plan on anything.
~Christopher J.

Normal Morning

This morning I watered our plants and fed our little heretics (goldfish named Arius and Pelagius). I'm under the impression that pelagius is actually a female fish and Arius has taken a liking to her. Otherwise their just pals, but I'm not sure what's going on with those two. Our little pepper is coming along, The pepper is turning red and growing, I wonder how long it'll be before we can pluck it an throw it on a frying pan with breakfast in an omlet. It's neat to have a pepper plant, I've never grown one before. On the negative side our Dwarf Schefellera seems to be wilting in the lower leaves. I was noticing that there were previous stems that had broken off that were below that so I'm not sure if it's a normal thing or not with a Schefellera. Well aside from my domestic adventures with the loca greenery the library was busy today. Everyone is either returning their books, paying there fines, or taking a ton of books out last minute for papers due this friday. I on the other hand have a five pager, a four pager, and to edit a two page item and that's it for me this week. I'm not very stressed for the amount of homework that I have but I have resevations about next semester.
I want to take the topics in philosophy class on CS Lewis, but I don't want to spend the money on all the books that Prof. X wants us to buy. I think since he's new here he doesn't realize that the majority of students can't afford to buy 8 books. The class is going to cost around 600 and on top of that it'll be like another massive amount for books. I do need an AS, but I'd rather take a philosophy then be bored with an intro level survey class like Psych to fill in. I'm in my fourth year so I feel like a 100 level class wouldn't be the most exciting. I want to get into this Issues in Contemporary Theology class, but I've been waitlisted since August and no one has decided to drop it yet. There's not enough 400 level theology and Bible being offered. I think if your a fourth year student you ought to have priority over Jrs. to get into those classes. For some reason Prairie doesn't work it that way though so I'm in my fourth year but I can't get into my required courses. Well, wait and see I guess.
~Christopher J.

Reading from Kierkegaard

Old age is the final change... Is that all of the story? Has all been heard that may be said about being a man, and mans temporal life? ...Yes, when late autumn comes, even the flower can speak the wisdom of the years and say with truthfulness, "All has its time, there is 'a time to be born and a time to die'; there is a time to jest lightheartedly in the spring breeze, and a time to break under the autumn storm; there is a time to burst forth into blossom, beside the running water, beloved by the stream and a time to whither and be forgotten." ..."Is there, then, nothing more to tell?" then it will answer you, "no, when the flower is dead, the story is over." ..."God made all things beautiful in his time; also he hath set eternity within man's heart" (Ecc 3:11) ...The wisdom of the years is confusing. Only the wisdom of eternity is edifying. P 35, 36

Soren Kierkegaard. trans. Douglas V. Steere. Purity of Heart. New York: Harper and Row. 1948

Heretical Goldfish

Well, we bought two goldfish yesterday, their technically called comets, but they look the same to me. We've decided to name them Arius and Pelagius. If you didn't know, we've named them after two major heresies of the first few hundred years of Christianity: Peligianism and Arianism. Pelagius taught that people were born free from sin and then later decided to sin. Arianism denied the divinity of Christ. I thing we should get some fighting fish called Alexander and Augustine :P
~Christopher J.