Bnonn Tennant (the B is silent)

Where a recovering ex-atheist skewers things with a sharp two-edged sword

Do you adhere to any orthodox creeds, confessions, or denominations?

Yes. I am Presbyterian and affirm the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Are you a polytheist/henotheist?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Polytheism, henotheism and monolatry connote a pantheon of ontologically similar gods who are all, in principle, worthy of worship. This is false. I believe, like all orthodox Christians, that there is only one self-existent deity, Yahweh—but also that the universe he made includes created spiritual beings of great power. Both the Old and New Testaments call these beings gods (Psalm 82:1; 1 Corinthians 8:5; 2 Corinthians 4:4). They are also called the sons of God, archangels, watchers, princes, and cosmic powers, among other things (Genesis 6:2; Deuteronomy 32:8, ESV; Jude 9; Psalm 82:6; Daniel 4:17; 10:13, 20; Ephesians 2:2; 6:12; Colossians 1:16). They were appointed as gods over the nations at Babel, where God disinherited mankind, with the exception of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:8-9, ESV). These gods ruled under God’s command through a heavenly court or divine council, as seen in Job 1:6-12; 1 Kings 22:19-22; Psalm 82; 89:5-8; Daniel 4:17.

In other words, when I say there are many gods, I am using that term the way the Bible does, and not the way Enlightenment liberal higher critics did, which we have inherited. To call the biblical worldview polytheistic or monotheistic is to cram it into artificial Western categories which its authors and original readers did not share or agree with.

Do you teach works-righteousness?

Do I teach that we can earn merit before God through our own efforts? No. That’s heresy; a false gospel, which is no gospel at all. Our right standing before God is vicarious, through our adoptive union with Jesus’ right standing before his father.

Some people think I teach works righteousness because I affirm that we take hold of our right standing before God by faith—that is by loyal trust or reliance—and I then go on to further affirm that loyal reliance is not merely passive, but also active. If we aren’t doing things like growing in obedience, loving the saints and so on, then we are not exercising loyal reliance. But our loyal reliance does not earn our favor with God; it is how we take hold of and join ourselves to Jesus, who already has favor with God.

Are you human?

No, but I play one online. I am actually an artificially intelligent heuristics analysis bot of unknown provenance.