Response to TGC re: Matthew Bates, Beyond the Salvation Wars
A recent article posted on the TGC website by Harrison Perkins claims to be a review of Matthew Bates’ recent book, Beyond the Salvation Wars, but only succeeds as a ‘hit piece’ intended to highlight the specific theological camp encouraged in the TGC community. Perkins claims that “Bates’s gospel and his arguments for it have several significant flaws.” Perkins does not list the flaws by number, but I’d like to address five specific criticisms he makes of Bates before providing some concluding thoughts. I’ll pose these as questions to be answered as I do not believe the claims accurately represent Bates’ positions.
Where is the Garden of Eden?
Before the darkness of sin descended onto our world, there was a time when God walked with mankind beneath the branches of a garden, and all was right with the world. It is hard now to imagine it, for we live in a world shaped by deceit and violence, but even in the darkness there is light. God is yet at work in his creation, and this book is a calling to remember what once was and what will be again. It is a calling to not lose hope, but to resist the darkness, not through violence or hatred, but by cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. A calling to remember that though we stand outside the garden, God is yet with us.