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Signs and Wonders: from Cessationism to Fanaticism -- Towards a Balanced Middle

出版	CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016-01-21
主題	Religion / Christian Theology / General
ISBN	15233347549781523334759
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=dVp2jwEACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋Opinion on the legitimacy of signs and wonders in ministry today spans a continuum from cessationism at one end to fanaticism at the other. Cessationism limits miracles mainly to the first century; fanaticism demands miracles to meet our need and schedule. The Word of Faith theology is representative of the fanaticism end, followed closely by Third Wave organizations, with Pentecostal organizations following a little behind them. This thesis proposes an alternative that tends more towards the balanced middle utilizing a dichotomy between the evangelistic/missionary setting as opposed to the established church setting. The hypothesis driving this thesis is that there exists a recognizable difference in the frequency of signs and wonders in ministries to unevangelized indigenous people groups as opposed to already evangelized areas with established churches. It is expected that the preponderance of signs and wonders will be found in the former. The literature review revealed that several authors had already tied signs and wonders to the evangelism context both biblically and experientially. A few practically restated my thesis' hypothesis. What they had not done, however, was a broad-based biblical foundations study nor a rigorous search of missionary literature to support their opinion. Neither had any compiled a list giving "purposes" for signs and wonders along with reasons for non-healings specifically -- to the extent that will be presented in this thesis. The biblical foundations study reveals a "clustering" effect of signs and wonders throughout the Bible and correlates those clusters to power encounters in the evangelistic/missionary context. It is noted that the NT epistles are almost bereft of any mention of signs and wonders and actually contain "contrary evidence" of ministers of the gospel who were strong in faith yet suffered from lingering illnesses. This observation is contrasted with the Gospels' and Act's portrayal of a multitude of signs and wonders in ministry - the difference is explained by the evangelistic/missionary context of the latter as opposed to the established church context of the former. Missionary accounts from around the world are given which support this thesis along with observations recorded from two missionary organizations - SIM and GFA. The struggle in theology between the cessationist view and fanaticism view is illustrated by the controversy surrounding the cancellation of John Wimber's MC510 class at Fuller Theological Seminary. This thesis provides a third view that better describes the data in that controversy. The atonement argument used by those leaning towards the fanaticism end of the continuum is examined and found to be of less value than what its proponents claim. A list of non-healing reasons noted by the author and other scholars is given along with a list of biblically stated purposed behind signs and wonders. The conclusion is that a better model of signs and wonders that explains both the biblical data and experiential data is based on the evangelistic/missionary setting ; the "promised Holy Spirit" route rather than the atonement; the Pauline model of giftings of the Spirit for the established churches; and ultimately God's sovereignty involving many known and unknown factors.