Blessed Purity – Steve Lawson
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*UPDATED* ED YOUNG JR SAYS HE’S SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT
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As a follow-up to SBC Pastor Ed Young Jr In Luxury Cover-Up? here at Apprising Ministries I point you to Ed Young Jr’s blog where he tells us he’s Setting Things Straight and Moving On.
In introducing his video of the same title at his blog today Young, Jr says:
I took the opportunity to thank the church and address some recent news coverage. And now, we will continue to move forward and follow God in the work He is doing here. (Online source)
As I watched the video a couple of things came emerging in my view; 1) it seems the board members protesteth too much, and 2) The first to plead his case seems right, Until another comes and examines him (Proverbs 18:17, NASB). So stay tuned; indeed, likely we ain’t seen nothing yet.
*UPDATE* Christian apologist Chris Rosebrough, host of the Fighting for the Faith (FftF) program on Pirate Christian Radio (PCR), has been examining this issue further and shares his findings in Ed Young’s Admissions Are More Damning Than The Original News Story.
In addition tonight Rosebrough tweeted:
I’m gonna put @EdYoung ’s admissions in proper perspective on tomorrow’s program. His admissions are VERY damaging. (Online source)
Rosebrough’s FftF program airs on PCR weekdays at 6pm EST
See also:
BUT SOUTHERN BAPTISTS SAY OK TO “BISHOP” T.D.JAKES
SOUTHERN BAPTIST PASTOR ED YOUNG, JR.: CHURCH LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE IS NOT ABOUT THEOLOGY
WORD FAITH MOGUL “BISHOP” T.D. JAKES – A SOUTHERN BAPTIST PREACHER?
KEEPING YOU APPRISED OF: T.D. JAKES ON THE TRINITY
Not Enough Self-Denial In Gospel Missions
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“We have not enough self-denial; and that is one reason why we do not prosper. Far be it from me to say aught against the self-denial of those worthy brethren who have left their country to cross the stormy deep to preach the Word. We hold them to be men who are to be [...]
ACT! for America
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I am all for Christians being involved in politics. I have never been shy regarding that. Nor have I been shy in stating that Islam is an evil, violent religion…it is. However, we must never forget that the Gospel is the power of God. Not morality, not political activity, not community service, nothing….nothing but the [...]
ED YOUNG JR SAYS HE’S SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT
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As a follow-up to SBC Pastor Ed Young Jr In Luxury Cover-Up? here at Apprising Ministries I point you to Ed Young Jr’s blog where he tell us he’s Setting Things Straight and Moving On.
In introducing his video of the same title at his blog today Young, Jr says:
I took the opportunity to thank the church and address some recent news coverage. And now, we will continue to move forward and follow God in the work He is doing here. (Online source)
See also:
BUT SOUTHERN BAPTISTS SAY OK TO “BISHOP” T.D.JAKES
SOUTHERN BAPTIST PASTOR ED YOUNG, JR.: CHURCH LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE IS NOT ABOUT THEOLOGY
WORD FAITH MOGUL “BISHOP” T.D. JAKES – A SOUTHERN BAPTIST PREACHER?
KEEPING YOU APPRISED OF: T.D. JAKES ON THE TRINITY
AN INSIDER LEAVES THE EMERGING CHURCH
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As I told you e.g. in Emerging Church And TransFORM’s Steve Knight ”Communication + Mission” specialist Knight founded this latest network of the sinfully ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church—that morphed into Emergence Christianity—(EC). Today Knight wants us to know that:
just posted a comment for Jeremy @Bouma on his post “Goodbye Emergent”: http://bit.ly/b1rziT (Online source)
You may recall Jeremy Bouma from the Apprising Ministries piece Did Rob Bell Forget The Cross? There Bouma, who used to refer to himself as an “emerging- missional follower of Jesus,” shared his experience at the Poets, Prophets, Peachers (PPP) conference put on last year by Emerging Church icon Rob Bell, which also featured his equally heretical friends Peter Rollins and his now co-teaching pastor Shane Hipps.
Bouma was live blogging from PPP where, concerning Bell’s mystical musings, he pondered:
I also am curious why The Story that Rob was encouraging us pastors to tell was missing the Event of the Cross, the point at which God objectively dealt with the three objective realities of evil, sin, and death… While he also emphasized the resurrection as key to the New Creation, I am confused HOW even the resurrection is made possible or actually does something for US without the Event of the Cross. (Online source)
Well, possibly that event may have had something to do with Bouma looking at the sinfully ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church—that morphed into Emergence Christianity—(EC) in a new way. The above link from Steve Knight takes us to Bouma’s post today Goodbye Emergent: Why I’m Taking The Theology of the Emerging Church To Task where he informs us:
Once upon a time I was enamored by the “I-am-not-a-movement-but-a-conversation” known as the emerging church (In fact, at my seminary I’ve been known as Emergent Jeremy!) Five years ago, I stumbled upon an “emerging” author known as Brian McLaren (even attending his church for a stint). I gobbled-up his “A New Kind of Christian” trilogy because it’s question-asking permissive narrative gave flesh to the phantom that was haunting me at the time… (Online source)
Bouma goes on to tell us that as his “relationship with Emergent progressed” he began “wonder” about a few things concerning the EC; for example, “why it was cool and trendy to disregard Paul, pity the fool who believed in real judgment, ignore the cross, and downplay individual participation in rebellion/sin.” He writes that he “became uncomfortable” with, and has apparently, “grown downright tired of the theology that has bubbled-up out of the emerging church.”
As Bouma then goes on he gives us some serious reason to be quite alarmed that this type of EC theology, not only is being openly embraced within the mainstream of evangelicalism, but has been fed to your youth for years now. It also becomes all the more important to remember here that Bouma’s writing from an insider’s viewpoint when he candidly shares:
I’m not exactly sure when my saucy love affair with emergent and liberal Christianity ended. My “I don’t” isn’t as crystalized as my “I do.” Maybe it was when I read Pelagius‘ writings and realized much of Emergent theology really does mirror his 5th century theology.
Maybe it was after the former head of Emergent Village, Tony Jones, rejected original sin, a historic part of the Rule of Faith, claiming that it is “neither biblically, philosophically, nor scientifically tenable. “.
Maybe it was when I read Fredrick Schleiermacher and realized his and modern liberalism’s vapid, gospel-less faith are being repackaged and popularized to an unsuspecting, ignorant Christian community as a wholesome alternative to what has been.
Maybe it was after I read Karl Barth and realized the natural theology pushed by popular emergent theologians is not revitalizing Christian faith, but killing it; it is the same kind of faith Barth so vociferously fought against in order to preserve the historic Rule of Faith.
Maybe it was after reading a leading emerging church voice suggest that God and grace and the Kingdom of God are not tied directly and exclusively to Jesus Christ; ultimately its not really about Jesus, but about a vanilla, generalized World-Spirit god (lower-case “g”)… (Online source)
In fairness to Jeremy, let me also draw your attention to where Bouma quite specifically informs his readers that he’s not on a “heresy hunt”; nor has he suddenly become one of “the hyper-fundamentalists who exalt themselves as Truth Defenders.” And I agree with Bouma concerning the importance of what he says in his post today because he is saying “au revoir” having “been on the inside of and involved with this conversation for half a decade.”
He then reiterates and points out that he:
I attended Brian McLaren’s church; I helped host the Church Basement Roadshow at my church for Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Mark Scandrette; I’ve had several interactions with Doug Pagitt, someone I like as a person and who even introduced me to my wife and attended our wedding; and I am personal friends with the coordinator of the Emergent West Michigan cohort who is also a member of the new Coordinating Council for Emergent Village. (Online source)
Bouma’s correct in that he’s writing here as “an insider who is simply leaving the inside.” It also looks to me that Steve Knight realized the EC now needs to swing into damage control mode as the new book by EC guru Brian McLaren, which is as close to a systematic theology of EC beliefs as we’ve seen, is about to drop. You see, it will essentially confirm what Bouma’s just told us above concerning the EC as a Liberalism 2.0 i.e. a reimagined form of quasi-univeralist Progressive Christianity.
See also:
THE EMERGING CHURCH SOWING ITS NEO-ORTHODOX CONFUSION ON SCRIPTURE
PHIL JOHNSON ON THEOLOGICAL LIBERALISM
TONY JONES, THE EMERGING CHURCH AND PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION AND “INSIGHTFUL” EMERGING CHURCH HERETIC TONY JONES
IN THE EMERGING CHURCH OOZE CONVERSION IS OUT
APPRISING MINISTRIES WITH A PEEK AT THE COMING SOTERIOLOGY OF EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY
THE MORPHING EMERGING CHURCH MOVEMENT
Salt Cellar (2/8)
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New Book Release: A Sincere and Pure Devotion to Christ
Devotional works from Dr. Sam Storms: “These meditations on 2 Corinthians will help readers grow in their devotion to Christ and find their joy in him.
Second Corinthians is unique in the New Testament in the way it portrays the sufferings of Paul and the supremacy [...]
DR. ROBERT REYMOND: EFFECTS OF REGENERATION
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By this divine work the sinner is re-created in and to newness of life, has the defilement of his heart cleansed or “washed” away (Ezek. 36:25-26; John 3:5; Titus 3:5), and is [supernatually] enabled to “see” and to “enter” the kingdom of God by faith (John 3:3, 5).
He is also enabled to believe in Jesus (John 1:12-13), to believe Jesus is the Christ (1 John 5:1), to love others, particularly other Christians (1 John 4:7; 5:1); and to do righteousness and to shum the life of sin (1 John 3:9; 5:18). (A New Systematic Theology Of The Christian Faith, 719)
Dr. Robert L. Reymond
DR. ROBERT REYMOND: EFFECTS OF REGENERATION
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He is also enabled to believe in Jesus (John 1:12-13), to believe Jesus is the Christ (1 John 5:1), to love others, particularly other Christians (1 John 4:7; 5:1); and to do righteousness and to shum the life of sin (1 John 3:9; 5:18). (A New Systematic Theology Of The Christian Faith, 719)
Dr. Robert L. Reymond
Go To The Street Corners
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Here’s a really good video representation of what we do here in Arizona–and wherever we find ourselves really! Rob-roy Nelson produced this video. Well done!
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Tim Conway: The Will of God
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Filed under: Videos Tagged: Christ, Conway, counsel, discern, God, guidance, location, serve, Tim, will 
Where is the Emphasis: Jesus’ Birth, Death, or Resurrection?
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A.W. Tozer, The Radical Cross | “As there is now no babe in the manger at Bethlehem sot here is no man on the cross at Jerusalem. To worship the babe in the manger or the man on the cross is to reverse the redemptive processes of God and turn the clock back on His [...]
IS DALLAS WILLARD A CHRISTIAN?
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In articles like Dr. Jay McDaniel And Mysticism At Northwest Nazarene Universary and Southern Baptist Convention Embracing The Emerging Church and Rick Warren And Peter Scazzero With Messed-Up Monk-ee Bizness here at Apprising Ministries I continue to warn of the crippling effects of corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster, with an assist from his spiritual twin Dallas Willard, now that it’s penetrated mainstream evangelicalism.
As a former Roman Catholic I can tell you that Foster/Willard’s stupid CSM shtick, masquerading as supposed Spiritual Formation, is nothing more than a romanticized Roman Catholic Counter Reformation spirituality such as that promulgated by apostates (at best) like Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the militantly pro-Roman Catholic Church spiritual Gestapo Unit known as the Jesuits. It’s rather amazing people don’t realize this spurious CSM is what led Rome to the false doctrines dealt with at the Reformation.
Do you really not see that, by far, the vast majority of mystics appealed to by Foster—and Willard teaches precisely the same CSM as his former pastor and friend Foster—were Roman Catholics? You really can’t follow that Foster/Willard and their ilk rarely, if ever, quote men e.g. like Charles Spurgeon or Jonathan Edwards concerning the proper Christian spirituality of Sola Scriptura. Well, the fact is they can’t; because CSM must approach the Bible in a highly subjective manner e.g. neo-orthodox in order to “find” CSM in it.
Now you’ll see that I have very good reason to ask: Is Dallas Willard A Christian? As you listen below to the Fighting for the Faith program of Christian apologist Chris Rosebrough from Pirate Christian Radio beginning at 07:22 you’ll hear Willard share his law-based non-gospel as he muses, “Now, I believe that everyone who deserves to be saved will be saved no matter where they are or what they do.” And Willard then goes on to flatly contradict the Scripture when he opines:
It’s so important to understand that God is not biased about these matters [being saved and devout] and He is open and in touch with evryone in the world, and for all who seek them with all of their heart—and that is defined in terms of coming to love Him, and not just have the right beliefs about Him—but coming to love Him, and loving their neighbor as themselves.
Being that Willard is a minster, as am I, in the Southern Baptist Convention I can tell you the above is not biblical doctrine, let alone being in accord with the SBC’s revered The Baptist Faith & Message. It is, however, right in line with the uber-inclusive and sinfully ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church—that morphed into Emergence Christianity—(EC). That’s little wonder because EC guru Brian McLaren himself already clearly told us in the 2004 Christianity Astray Today article “The Emergent Mystique” that Foster and Willard were “key mentors for the emerging church”.
And if you’re tempted to think Willard merely misspoke let me remind you that last year in So You Want To Be Like Christ… Ditch The Disciplines Of Dallas Willard I showed you from his own website Willard also informs us that people who are “worthy of being saved” will “be saved” as he just did above; not only that, but in Willard’s fantasy even those who don’t know Jesus can still be saved:
What Paul is clearly saying is that if anyone is worthy of being saved, they will be saved. At that point many Christians get very anxious, saying that absolutely no one is worthy of being saved. The implication of that is that a person can be almost totally good, but miss the message about Jesus, and be sent to hell.
What kind of a God would do that? I am not going to stand in the way of anyone whom God wants to save. I am not going to say ‘he can’t save them.’ I am happy for God to save anyone he wants in any way he can. It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved. (Online source, emphasis mine)
This is the kind of reasoning we get from “Protestant” SBC philosopher Dallas Willard; and you’ll also find this eternally fatal view quite common among practitioners of CSM, “if anyone is worthy of being saved, they will be saved.” As well as their mystic speculation, “It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved.” But the Spirit of Jesus has already told us…THREE different times; in Psalm 14:1-3, in Psalm 53:1-3, and then because sheep aren’t too bright, He tells us once again:
as it is written: ”None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)
See also:
DALLAS WILLARD: “WHICH SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES?”
DALLAS WILLARD ENCOURAGES CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER
“CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE” BY RICHARD FOSTER AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THEOLOGICAL ERROR
CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY OF RICHARD FOSTER ROOTED IN THE EASTERN DESERT AND THOMAS MERTON
DISCIPLINES TO DECEPTION IN SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
VIRGINIA SOUTHERN BAPTISTS ENCOURAGED TO EMBRACE THE EMERGING CHURCH
Feb. & March 2010 Resource of the Month | Pirate Christian Radio
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Fighting for the Faith is one of the best podcasts in Christian radio. The host of the show, Chris Rosebrough, deals with the issues that plague today’s church as well as offers up some great sermons by experienced pastors. Please consider supporting Pirate Christian Radio at the following link for $6.95 a month, and help keep it on the air.:
http://www.piratechristianradio.com (Go to the “Join Our Crew” button)
If you’d like to make a one time donation to help out the station, please click here:
http://bit.ly/bLl3yF
http://www.fightingforthefaith.com
The “Kung Fu Panda: The Sermon” Review
Here are two other sites Chris Rosebrough runs:
http://www.alittleleaven.com
http://www.extremetheology.com
CHARLES SPURGEON: GAMES LIBERALS PLAY
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Now-a-days, if a man is very reverent towards the word of God, and very desirous to obey the Lord’s commands in everything, people say, “He is very precise,” and they shun him; or, with still more acrimony, they say, “He is very bigoted: he is not a man of liberal spirit;” and so they cast out his name as evil.
Bigotry, in modern parlance, you know, means giving heed to old truths in preference to novel theories; and a liberal spirit, now-a-days, means being liberal with everything except your own money—liberal with God’s law, liberal with God’s doctrine, liberal to believe that a lie is a truth, that black is white, and that white may occasionally be black. That is liberal sentiment in religion—the broad church school—from which may God continually deliver us.
Charles Spurgeon
HT: Pyromaniacs
See also:
PHIL JOHNSON ON THEOLOGICAL LIBERALISM
TONY JONES, THE EMERGING CHURCH AND PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION AND “INSIGHTFUL” EMERGING CHURCH HERETIC TONY JONES
IN THE EMERGING CHURCH OOZE CONVERSION IS OUT
APPRISING MINISTRIES WITH A PEEK AT THE COMING SOTERIOLOGY OF EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY
THE MORPHING EMERGING CHURCH MOVEMENT
ACTIVELY-GAY “BISHOP” GENE ROBINSON SAME-SEX ACTS ONLY UNNATURAL FOR NON-GAYS
Two Churches Forced to Close in Indonesia
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Islamists pressure officials to stop Baptist services; Batak worshippers also told to cease.
JAKARTA, Indonesia, February 4 (CDN) — Local governments have ordered the closure of two churches on Indonesia’s Java island.
Under pressure from Islamist groups, authorities ordered Christian Baptist Church in Sepatan, Tangerang district, Banten Province to cease services. In Pondok Timur, near Bekasi in West Java, officials abruptly closed the Huria Christian Protestant Batak Church (HKBP) after delaying a building permit for four years.
Tangerang district authorities issued a decree on Jan. 21 ordering all worship activities to cease at the Baptist church. At a meeting in the district offices, officials pressured church officials to sign a statement that they would stop all worship activities, but they refused.
The Rev. Bedali Hulu said that he received the government order on Jan. 26. In addition, a sign was placed on his church’s worship building saying, “Stop! This building violates government decree number 10 of 2006.”
Continue reading…….
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A Puritan’s Prayer: A Minister’s Preaching
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My Master God,
I am desired to preach today, but go weak and needy to my task; Yet I long that people might be edified with divine truth, that an honest testimony might be [...]
DR. JAY MCDANIEL AND MYSTICISM AT NORTHWEST NAZARENE UNIVERSITY
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Along with other online apologetics and discernment ministries such as Lighthouse Trails Reseach (LTR) at Apprising Ministries I’m doing what I can to alert you as to how far corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster, with an assist from his spiritual twin Dallas Willard, has now penetrated mainstream evangelicalism.
You need to understand that this refried Roman Catholic Counter Reformation CSM masquerades as supposed Spiritual Formation. With this in mind I point you below to a 2006 lecture by Dr. Jay McDaniel to a class at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. In his address you’ll hear from one very familiar with the practice of CSM and the doctrines of its major proponents.
For more background information and clarification of the issues involved I encourage you to read the LTR post Northwest Nazarene University President Responds Regarding New Spirituality Speaker as well as the emails below . Please also know that I have personally been in contact with each of the authors and they’ve both given me permission to publish the following for context:
Mr. McDaniel,
I just finished listening to a video of you at Northwest Nazarene University. I must say that I was surprised that a Nazarene University would allow you to actually come and speak to the students . Your views and ideas are completely opposite to not only Nazarene doctrine but God’s word. Your comment on your Hindu sister makng it to heaven and then realizing that her lifes journey was now made complete when she finally saw Jesus is absolutely non sense. The bible says no one will enter heaven unless they have aknowledged their sin and asked for forgiveness. They must have that personal relationship before death not after. Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven.
With all do respect. I do not need to talk with a buddist or muslim to grow deeper in my walk with God. The word of God is the only thing we need to teach us about God and what being a christian is all about. Please take your false teaching away from the Nazarene church and our youth. I have emailed this video to our General Offices of the Nazarene church and will be making it a point to be sure that your false teachings are not allowed at another Nazarene school.
I will be praying for you that God will get a hold of your heart and show you the confusion and heresy that you are spreading. ”You shall have no other gods before me.”
Protecting the truth,
Darren Krauter
Dear Darren,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I haven’t seen the video, Darren, and it has been a long time since I gave the talk at Northwest Nazarene College. Please forgive me if I don’t quite remember what I said. But as I recall, I was describing what some theologians call “the fulfillment model” as developed by Catholic theologians since Vatican II. Their general idea is (1) that people are saved if they are honest to the best of their lights and if they inwardly aspire to live in a spirit of love and hospitality; but that (2) their salvation will be fulfilled in heaven by a recognition that Jesus completes the movement toward divine love, toward which their hearts were already drawn. I find this a plausible perspective, but as it happens, the fulfillment model is not my own position. I am less certain about who is saved and who is not.
Nevertheless, my own view differs from your own, because I trust that God is more mysterious, and more generous, than you. The mystery of God’s love is that it transcends human preoccupations with reward and punishment. I discern from your e-mail that you believe there are limits to God’s generosity, because God first requires that a person be a Christian in order to be saved. Perhaps you think that God is too holy and too pure to receive us into his heart after death, without our first accepting the sacrifice he made on the cross. I know many Christians who think this way.
I understand the cross differently. For me the cross reveals a side of God which has been loving and forgiving from the very beginning of time: a side which is hospitable even to the Roman soldiers who nailed Jesus’ hands to the cross. Thus the cross is, for me, not a substitute for a punishment we all deserve, but rather a revelation of a love that is infinitely tender and deeply mysterious. Moreover, the cross is not simply a symbol for this love, it is an incarnation of this love. Like the sun, God’s love shines on all of us: the just and unjust alike. That’s part of the mystery. Why is there so much grace? Shouldn’t the other people — those who are different from us — get what they deserve?
Nevertheless, I do think there are some limits. I know that God loves the hard-hearted but I know that God wishes their hearts were not so hard. Surely there must be much pain in God, given the arrogance and violence of which we humans are capable, sometimes in God’s name. But I would not define the limits in terms of what a person believes. My own view is that God judges a person’s heart, not a person’s beliefs. As we approach the gates of heaven, I think the question will not be “What did you believe? How fervent were you in claiming a Christian identity?” but rather “How open was your heart? How well did you love?” Let’s imagine that the person standing at the gates is not Saint Peter but rather Jesus himself. Let’s let Jesus decide whether or not to open those gates. Like you, I trust him.
I think there is something Wesleyan about my perspective, too, insofar as it focusses on love. His central concern was how the Holy Spirit transforms a life into love. But my aspirations are not to be “Wesleyan.” My desire, like your own, is to be faithful to Jesus and to walk with him in daily life. I trust that we — you and I – can agree on the importance of such fidelity and such walking, even if we have sharp disagreements on other matters. So I close this response to you with a prayer of my own, namely that both of us walk in the light of God’s love as best we can.
In peace,
Jay McDaniel
PS If you send the video to others, you might also include your e-mail to me, and my response to you, in the interests of fairly representing my own point of view. This is not because I aspire to speak at Nazarene schools. I am happy to do so, and I consider myself a Wesleyan in spirit. However, I do not want to go where I am not welcome. But I want to be known for who I am; that’s why I encourage you to send copies of our interchange. I am also sending this note to Dr. Thomas Oord, because I know him and admire him, and I want him to be apprised of our interchange. I trust Dr. Oord’s judgments on these matters, too. He is among my very favorite Wesleyan theologians. His own definition of love is from which I continue to learn.
Dr. Jay McDaniel
Willis T. Holmes Distinguished Professor of Religion
Nancy and Craig Wood Professor of Engaged Education
Hendrix College
1600 Washington Avenue
Conway , AR 72032Jay,
Thank you for your quick reply. I will be honest I did not expect a reply so soon or even at all. I will definitely forward your response along with the video link. I believe your response does show a drastic difference in our beliefs.
I do believe that Jesus does represent an unbelievable love for all people of all races and religions. That being said, I do not believe salvation is not made complete when we arrive in Heaven and see Jesus. Jesus said when he was calling the disciples to “Follow Me”, he did not say, do what you think is right , love people and when you see me in Heaven, you will understand that what you did is now allowing you to enter heaven. I believe you are saying that as long as we walk in what light we have in the religion we are practicing, we have an opportunity to make it to heaven. My bible says, I (Jesus) am the way, the truth and the light . No man comes to the father but by me. I can not think of anywhere in the word that it says that can be accomplished after death. I do not fine anything in my bible that gives credence to your view. We need not look any further than the word of God to learn we are in need of a Savior. That same bible gives us all the direction we need to grow and be the Christians that God wants us to be. The fruits of the spirit will be evident. I must admit I am not sure what part of your Wesleyan roots you formed these views from.
I believe that before Jesus returns he will give everyone an opportunity to accept or deny Him as Lord and Savior. I believe that when our lives on earth are complete and if we have not repented of our sins and accepted Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we will be eternally separated from God. That is not a popular view in the world today. People always just like to concentrate on God is love and not deal with what you need to do, salvation not works, in order to spend eternity in Heaven. God has laid out in His word very clearly what we need to do. Not only for salvation but what our lives as Christians should be. God does not send anyone to hell. I can not and will not make a determination on anyone’s salvation. If we choose not to accept Him as Lord and Savior we are turning our back on His greatest gift and condemning ourselves to eternal separation.
Thank you for the discussion. As you said in your video, you probably will not change any of the “exclusive” believers view and you haven’t. I would ask you to be very careful in what you tell your students. You have an awesome responsibility when you are presenting your views. I am not a theology major, not even close, and in no way would even come close to your education. Jay all I can tell you is I am a sinner that found a savior. that changed my life. I want to tell as many people about his unbelievable love and that this love and forgiveness I found is available to everyone. We both have an awesome responsibility!
I also want to apologize for my initial email. I know I came across a bit angry. I was!!! I could have expressed my concerns better.
God bless you and your family.
In His service,
Darren Krauter
Dear Pastor Silva,
Thank you for your thoughtful e-mail. I do give you permission to post my e-mail. I would appreciate it if you would add this e-mail, too. I would like for those who view the talk to know two things. First, that the hospitality extended to me by NNU was a wonderful example of Christian witness. And, second, I would like viewers to know that I am grateful for the many people who visited with me after my talk, who shared with me their conservative theologies in firm yet kindly ways. I learned from them. I wish the video you post could include those conversations, so viewers would understand that NNU community includes conservative thought at its very best.
In Christ’s peace,
Jay McDaniel
See also:
CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY OF RICHARD FOSTER ROOTED IN THE EASTERN DESERT AND THOMAS MERTON
RICHARD FOSTER AND THE INFLUENCE OF THOMAS MERTON
RICHARD FOSTER’S LEGACY ENDURES: CHRISTIAN LEADERS HELP TO MAKE IT SO
RICK WARREN AND PETER SCAZZERO WITH MESSED-UP MONK-EE BIZNESS
PASTOR KEN SILVA—THE HIJACKING OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY
The Sin Of Killing Time
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“Only fools idle away their time.” Proverbs 12:11
Idleness is a complicated vice. Yes, I say VICE!
First it is a most wasteful vice. It wastes time, which is more precious than rubies; it wastes a man’s mental faculties; it wastes property.
Idleness is a disgraceful vice. How reproachful is it in a being made to be active, to [...]
