I guess this is not a big shocker to anyone who has followed the Trinity Foundation over the years. In
this link, Robbins castigates Douglas Kelly's assertion that the WCF taught an Experimental Calvinism. Rubbish! The WCF taught the trichotomatic view of Faith in WLC Question 72: What is justifying faith?
Answer: Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition,
not only assents to the truth of the promise of the gospel,
but receives and
rests upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation.
Belief, assent, and trust, plain and simple. The WLC separates "receives" and "rests" for the express purpose of underlining the need for the truth to pass into personal persuasion. It is the separating of assent and trust that Clark and Ribbins take issue with. Here, they believe is where we enter the "navel gazing" element that leads to improper introspection. Belief and assent is all that is needed according to Clark.
Robbins claims that the WCF does not teach a Reformed form of mysticism we call experiential. Has he ever read the codifiers of the WCF? Even the supra Rutherford, who is clearly objective in his approach of apprehension makes ample room for the head/heart distinction Robbins takes issue with. As one reads the codifiers of the Standards, the more infra the more experimental. Ribbins needs to get his head out of objective rationalism for a moment and take a heartfelt look at the testing and proving of genuine faith as is so clearly explained in the Word.
Robbins also takes a potshot at Beeke and any of our Churches which teach the Puritan ideal of faith.
