Discussing Identity Christology with Drs. Clowney, Houston, and Sproul
Days later, I expressed my thoughts about this to my close friend Jim Hiskey. Jim had discipled me for years. We also were partners in the Lord’s work—mostly the PGA Tour Bible Study. Jim’s brother and PGA Tour player, Babe Hiskey, and I had co-founded this group at Jim’s suggestion. During most of the 1960s, Jim was on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ. He then hooked up with Dick Halverson and Doug Coe, leaders of The Fellowship in Washington, D.C. It is a ministry with many branches, but primarily ministering to members of the U.S. Congress.
Jim Hiskey was very concerned about my theological change. So, he asked me to talk to certain people about it. He first arranged for us to play golf with Dr. Ed Clowney, president of Westminster Seminary. Afterwards, during lunch in the clubhouse, I shared with Ed my new thinking. Dr. Clowney did not seem particularly worried about what I was saying.
After that, Jim had me talk on the phone with Dr. James Houston, president and founder of Regents College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. But we only talked about 20 minutes.
Later that summer, Jim arranged for me and my family to stay at Legonier Valley Study Center, a few miles south of Arnold Palmer’s hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. (That’s were Babe and I had teamed to win the Tour’s PGA Team Championship in 1972.) The reason was that popular theologian R. C. Sproul was its director and main Bible teacher. I spent almost an entire day alone with R. C. in his home discussing this matter. R. C. insisted that we occasionally take a break to his backyard where he would swing his golf club and he’d ask me for swing tips.
None of these three conversations were particularly significant to me. All three men—Clowney, Houston, and Sproul—had not indicated alarm to what I was saying. Jim Hiskey then asked them their assessment of what I was saying. Jim relayed to me that all three men told him he need not be concerned about me. So, they gave me a clean bill of spiritual health as a Christian. Frankly, I was surprised, since all three were committed to the doctrine of the Trinity. But frankly, I was not impressed with Clowney’s and Sproul’s grasp of this subject and did not think that either of them were that capable of evaluating what I was saying. However, I must admit that I was not as articulate about my revised faith as I later became, and it developed further.
My Christological Journey (Part 4 of 12)
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To see a list of titles of 130+ posts (2-3 pages) that are about Jesus not being God in the Bible, with a few about God not being a Trinity, at Kermit Zarley Blog click “Chistology” in the header bar. Most are condensations of my book, The Restitution of Jesus Christ. See my website servetustheevangelical.com, which is all about this book, with reviews, etc. Learn about my books and purchase them at kermitzarley.com. My books are: The Gospels Interwoven (1987); Palestine Is Coming: The Revival of Ancient Philistia (1990); The Third Day Bible Code (2006); The Restitution of Jesus Christ (2008); Warrior from Heaven (2009); Solving the Samaritan Riddle: Peter’s Kingdom Keys Explain Early Spirit Baptism (2015).
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