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Jack Cottrell The Faith Once For All Analysis

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In the introductory chapter of Jack Cottrell’s, The Faith Once for All: Bible Doctrine for Today, the author made several clarifying points about theology, that I had previously had the privilege to know. The first concept that stood out to me was “the denial of truth,” (12) because of how far-reaching the effects of it are. Cottrell makes the assertion that it may be, “the most pervasive and far-reaching feature of 20th/21st-century western thinking” (12). Essentially, Cottrell means that as a culture, we no longer accept anything as absolute; my truth may differ from someone else’s view, and neither parties are wrong. Everything is relative. I was previously familiar with this idea, but I did not realize quite the extent of its reach. For instance, Cottrell references a study from the 1990’s that says, “about three-fourths of the U.S. population did not believe in absolute truth” …show more content…

With all of this in mind, I was not particularly worried, until Cottrell argues that when everyone is denying the existence of absolute truth, there can be no absolute truth in regards to Christianity; it implies that Jesus cannot be the only way to the Father, as he claims in John 14:6. So, it is alarming to think that that percentage of Americans are philosophically against this piece of scripture. Another point I found particularly compelling is quite simple, but also something that reminds me of the vastness of God. Cottrell infers that while God is the subject of study in theology, He is also the only source of knowledge for theology (17). Without the information He gives us through His Word, we could only know the things about his character revealed in nature, and even that is a gift from him. It is amazing to me, that God is so big and complex, he is the only one who tell us about himself. Lastly, Cottrell delves into an area that I personally already had questions about; he discusses the value of theological sources outside

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