March 14, 2010
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In the Apprising Ministries post Philip Clayton With “Big Tent” Christianity In The Emerging Church I reminded you that the Emerging Church (EC) was a Trojan Horse taken inside mainstream evangelicalism; and further, at its corrupt core the EC has always been an existential rebellion against the final authority of the Bible i.e. a rejection of the proper Christian spirituality of Sola Scriptura. I also told you I fully realize that what I’m covering here concerning the EC, as well as the Purpose Driven/Seeker Driven camp, very likely appears to be a theological maze.
Again, you’re quite correct; it is. That is precisely a major strategy right now of these seducing spirits sowing their doctrines of demons; they are weaving them into a veritable spiritual labyrinth. As I said before, Jesus does warn us — “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Matt. 24:10). That has zero to do with the Left Behind series; regardless of eschatological beliefs, I am warning you that Satan’s goal right now is to unleash a tsunami of heresies, which are very fine-tuned, and then aimed precisely at areas where the visible church can be easily divided.
This is because he knows very well that in this time of timid tolerance the church visible really has no structures in place to definitively deal with them. Until you can see these issues against that backdrop you’ll struggle to understand why the foolish embrace of the Emerging Church with its Emergence Christianity is now proving to be so detrimental to a mainstream evangelicalism that never fully renounced humanism. If evangelicalism had purged the leaven of liberalism from its midst initially it wouldn’t have had to deal with this neo-liberal cult slithering around within its own walls.
Men like the Emergent trinity—Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, and Tony Jones—and their friends like progressive/process theologian Philip Clayton would never had been able to sow the seeds of their Liberalism 2.0 within the mainstream of the visible church in the first place. And as I explained in Brian McLaren With A New Kind Of Liberal Theology the EC is not simply rehashing old liberal theology; no rather, we’re dealing here with a new postmodern form of liberal/progressive theology complete with an upgrade which allows more for the spiritual dimension than did the old modern form of liberal theology.
However as I pointed out previously, just as it’s predecessor, this newer postmodern form of Progressive Christianity is also a doomed attempt to make what they think is the Christian faith palatable to this postmodern culture and with the latest supposed advances in scientific knowledge. I also told you the term Emergence Christianity itself, which such as Phyllis Tickle see as the new reformation, incorporates emergence theory of evolutionary science; and I explained that many in the EC believe that, right now, mankind is evolving upward into a higher state of consciousness.
And now you know why their practice of neo-Gnostic Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism [1] is key for them; this is where they think they’ll actually be receiving this “transformation” from God. That’s why, in their minds, the meditation in an altered state of consciousness known as Contemplative/Centering Prayer is so critical. As I’ve been telling you, this is where someone like Brian McLaren is coming from; and what he’s trying to do with his new book is essentially Brian McLaren Making Up A “God” The Emerging Church Likes, because the one true and living God of the Bible just won’t do for the EC.
Now with this all in mind, let me tell you that the recently concluded Theology After Google (TAG) conference, which featured McLaren’s friend Dr. Philip Clayton, was about much more than simply training people in the EC concerning the importance, and use, of the latest social media in our world of rapidly advancing technology. TAG was also a networking conference designed to link up those who’d be interested in using this new social media to advance the Liberalism 2.0 of what Dr. Clayton calls in his book Transforming Christian Theology (TCT) “big tent” [read: inclusive] Christianity. [2]
As I now bring to your attention Clayton’s post today SHOULD the church adapt to a post-Google world?, over at his personal blog Clayton’s Emergings, you’ll really need to have this background in order to recognize the category errors in Clayton’s piece. He begins by telling us “the big ‘Theology After Google’ event” has come to an end; but says Clayton, “this major conference wasn’t really about Google” nor in “one sense” was TAG “even about technology.” He saw it being “about two questions: should the church adapt to the rapidly changing world around us? And, if so, what precisely should we do?”
Clayton continues:
Well, imagine the alternative. Indeed, there’s an easy way to see it up close and personal: just go to the websites of the critics of the Theology After Google (TAG) conference. Ken Silva called the TAG conference a “heresy fest” and, later, “nothing more than a warped and toxic twisting of the actual Christian faith.” You — each of you, each reader — has to decide for himself or herself. I encourage you to go to Ken’s blog and read it with an open mind.
In the same vein, I’d encourage you to watch the professors at Southern Baptist Theology Seminary tear apart Brian McLaren’s newest book, A New Kind of Christianity, in a panel discussion. Decide for yourself whether adapting to the world (and the people!) around us amounts to selling Christianity down the river. (Online source)
A couple of things come *ahem* emerging here: 1) I’ve never said using new social medium and technology was bad. Um, after-all, the only way Philip Clayton would ever have become aware of me is a direct result of my using said mediums; and 2) I say that the following from Clayton just might preclude his followers and students from really reading what I write “with an open mind” when he says:
You may agree with Ken and the irrate professors. Or you may even think that our TransformingTheology project — the call for the church to adapt to an emerging world and emerging technologies — is even worse than Ken thinks. Perhaps the TAG conference, and the present writer, should be put on his sidebar of dangerous leaders, alongside Rick Warren (and, if you follow the links on Rick, alongside “radical Roman Catholic apostates such as Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the militantly pro-Roman Catholic Church spiritual Gestapo Unit known as the Jesuits”). (Online source)
I’m not sure I’d refer to the SBTS panel as “irate”; but for the sake of argument, we’ll just agree to disagree agreeably on this point. However, as you’ll see in a moment, the Transforming Theology project is clearly about more than the church adapting “to an emerging world and emerging technologies.” On one hand Clayton seems like he wants honest dialogue, but then he would also appear to be trying to paint me in a negative light by using my quote concerning Ignatius of Loyola; a man who devoted his life Counter Reformation spirituality and to the defense of the Church of Rome who’d anathematized the very Gospel of Jesus Christ itself.
And finally Clayton then goes on to conclude:
On the other hand, you may endorse the motif that ran through every speaker and every workshop at the Theology After Google event: we best follow Jesus by attempting to be Christ-like to the people around us … by attempting to meet them where they are. Using new technologies, and thinking in new ways about our faith are part of that. The central Christian questions and concerns are still our concerns, but the answers can be affected by the new things we’re learning and the new conversations we’re having.
It really is a choice. Ken Silva and the Southern Baptist seminary professors really do embody a different attitude toward the world “after Google” than we do. Which way will you choose? (Online source)
However, as I said in my initial comment at his blog, the heart of the matter here is that it would be more accurate to say that, along with the SBTS seminary professors, I’m employing a different attitude toward what the late Christian apologist Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989), interestingly enough SBC himself, so often called “the historic, orthodox, Christian faith” than those who believe as Clayton does would do. As I explained to Clayton the differences aren’t over “the world” because no one’s arguing that the Gospel doesn’t have a secondary phase, which certainly involves caring for our fellow man, etc.
Instead these differences concern theological fundmentals i.e. cardinal doctrines of Christianity itself. Perhaps the main problem we run into is with Clayton’s definition of theology in his book TCT where he writes, “Theology means moving from Scripture and tradition, by means of reason and experience, to application in the contemporary world” (89). But here we receive some indication that this wrong view concerning theology, which by its very definition is the “study of God,” in Clayton’s “Transforming Theology” is actually rather similar to the neo-evangelical liberalism of Robert Schuller.
You may recall Schuller turned theology backward (toward the self) in his 1982 book Self-Esteem: The New Reformation where he said, “classic theology has erred in its insistence that theology be ‘God- centered,’ not ‘man-centered.’” [3] Clayton’s statement about “moving from Scripture and tradition by means of reason and experience,” then shows a neo-orthodoxy ala Karl Barth (at best); and at worst, is the same ill-fated strategy of the original liberal, or modern theology, which is also known as Progressive Christianity. In fact, the dying mainline denominations are the testament to its spiritual bankruptcy.
Clayton goes on in TCT to give us the subheading of “Viewing Theologies as Complementary, Not Mutually Exclusive”; a nice sentiment, but there are differences that end up exclusive when it comes to the Person and work of God the Son—Christ Jesus of Nazareth. Clayton tells us in his TCT that he feels it’s “time to start building bridges” instead of “staking out one hostile terrain or another.” He then gives four examples as to “what happens,” in his opinion, when we look at theologies “as complimentary resources for richer Christian response to today’s world.”
The first example Clayton gives is that of “evangelicals and conservatives” whom he sees as having “a deep commitment to a close reading of Scripture” and a “high view of biblical inspiration” which would give them “the grounds for a systematic presentation of Christian belief” (92). The second group Clayton tells us about takes “these strengths” and combines them with “high respect for and close study of” what he essentially lines out as church tradition. Clayton then informs us that he’s learned much from “the Eastern Orthodox churches” whom he’s speaking about here.
Being a former Roman Catholic, I can tell you that one could just as easily include the Church of Rome in that group as well. Next Clayton praises those whom he sees who are specializing “in the language and concern’s of today’s world.” And because they are the (only?) ones who truly “understand contemporary social and political issues at a very deep level,” whom Clayton himself calls “liberals or progressives,” are those who allegedly prophetically call us to “Christian action.” Well, that is, if we accept that one can be Christian while denying virtually everything that Christians believe.
And lastly come “the scholars” whom Clayton says are those “skilled at expressing the distinctive features of modern thought” or “the challenges” of “science or the world-and-life-views of other religious traditions.” Clayton then goes on to conclude:
When they are presented in this way, without negative rhetoric, it’s easy to see that the four categories can be viewed as complimentary. Can you imagine the church that could emerge when all these strengths are honored and used? (93)
Yes, actually I can; it would look a lot like what I have called the sinfully ecumenical Emergent Church with her neo-liberal form of progressive Christian theology being cobbled together by Clayton as laid out by his friend Brian McLaren in his book A New Kind of Christianity. The reason I say sinfully ecumenical is because such as these would have us merely dismiss doctrinal differences as deep as the full Deity of Jesus Christ in favor of working together advancing a reimagined version of the social gospel. But as noble as this Transforming Theology may be, this Christians cannot do.
For you see, the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ—repentance for the forgiveness of sins by God’s grace alone; through faith alone, in the sacrifice of Christ alone on the Cross, and His resurrection from the dead for justification before the Father—is anchored in the fact that Jesus is God Himself in human flesh.
________________________________________________________________________________
Endnotes:
1. CSM is a romanticized Roman Catholic mysticism; a so-called Spiritual Formation (SF) advanced by Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster along with his friend and spiritual twin SBC minister Dallas Willard.
2. For more detail see Philip Clayton With “Big Tent” Christianity In The Emerging Church.
3. Robert Schuller, Self Esteem: The New Reformation, (Waco: Word, 1982), 64.
See also:
THE NEW CHRISTIANITY OF BRIAN MCLAREN AND THE EMERGING CHURCH
BRIAN MCLAREN INVITES YOU ON HIS QUEST TO DESTROY CHRISTIANITY
PHILIP CLAYTON WITH “BIG TENT” CHRISTIANITY IN THE EMERGING CHURCH
THE EMERGING CHURCH AND PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AFTER GOOGLE
MARCUS BORG AND CHRISTIANS WHO DON’T BELIEVE IN JESUS
THE EMERGING CHURCH, A LAVA LAMP, AND LEAVEN
APPRISING MINISTRIES WITH A PEEK AT THE COMING SOTERIOLOGY OF EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY
March 14, 2010
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Authorities in Bekasi, West Java run into determined lawyer, congregation.
BEKASI, Indonesia, March 11 (CDN) — Efforts by local officials in this city in West Java to close a church met with stiff resistance this month, as a defiant lawyer and weeping women refused to allow it. Women of the Huria Christian Protestant Batak Church (HKBP) cried in protest as officials from the Bekasi Building Department on March 1 placed a brown signboard of closure on the church building in Pondok Timur, Bekasi, 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Jakarta. The seal stayed in place for about two minutes before some of the shrieking women tore it down. The sign was trampled as furious church members stampeded over it, shouting and screaming. Bekasi city officials turned and ran as the congregation fanned out. The defiance followed a heated debate within the same church building minutes before, as the Christians had invited the Bekasi officials inside to discuss the matter when they arrived to seal the building. The discussion soon became heated as a city official asserted that the church did not have a building permit. The church had applied for a worship building permit in 2006, but local officials had yet to act on it, according to the church’s pastor, the Rev. Luspida Simanjuntak. At the meeting inside the church building, attorney Refer Harianya said that the sealing process was illegal, as it requires that public notice be given. “HKBP has never seen nor received the formal order and has not acknowledged such an order by signing a receipt,” Harianya said. “In addition, public notice must be given in the form of formal reading of the order.”
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March 14, 2010
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And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
March 13, 2010
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Ongoing purge launched nationwide to stop ‘proselytization.’
ISTANBUL, March 12 (CDN) — Moroccan authorities deported more than 40 foreign Christian aid workers this week in an ongoing, nationwide crackdown that included the expulsion of foster parents caring for 33 Moroccan orphans.
Deportations of foreign Christians continued at press time, with Moroccan authorities expressing their intention to deport specifically U.S. nationals. Sources in Morocco told Compass that the government gave the U.S. Embassy in Rabat a list of 40 citizens to be deported.
The U.S. Embassy in Rabat could not comment on the existence of such a list, but spokesperson David Ranz confirmed that the Moroccan government plans to deport more U.S. citizens for alleged “proselytizing.”
“We have been informed by the Moroccan government that it does intend to expel more American citizens,” said embassy spokesperson David Ranz.
Citing Western diplomats and aid groups, Reuters reported that as many as 70 foreign aid workers had been deported since the beginning of the month, including U.S., Dutch, British and New Zealand citizens.
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March 13, 2010
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Ongoing purge launched nationwide to stop ‘proselytization.’
ISTANBUL, March 12 (CDN) — Moroccan authorities deported more than 40 foreign Christian aid workers this week in an ongoing, nationwide crackdown that included the expulsion of foster parents caring for 33 Moroccan orphans.
Deportations of foreign Christians continued at press time, with Moroccan authorities expressing their intention to deport specifically U.S. nationals. Sources in Morocco told Compass that the government gave the U.S. Embassy in Rabat a list of 40 citizens to be deported.
The U.S. Embassy in Rabat could not comment on the existence of such a list, but spokesperson David Ranz confirmed that the Moroccan government plans to deport more U.S. citizens for alleged “proselytizing.”
“We have been informed by the Moroccan government that it does intend to expel more American citizens,” said embassy spokesperson David Ranz.
Citing Western diplomats and aid groups, Reuters reported that as many as 70 foreign aid workers had been deported since the beginning of the month, including U.S., Dutch, British and New Zealand citizens.
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March 13, 2010
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HT: BetterThanSacrifice.org
March 13, 2010
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HT: BetterThanSacrifice.org
March 13, 2010
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March 13, 2010
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March 13, 2010
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“The sacrificial, costly love of Jesus changes us. When we see the beauty of what he has done for us, it attracts our hearts to him. We realize that the love, the greatness, the consolation, and the honor we have been seeking in other things is here. The beauty also eliminates our fear. If the Lord of the universe loves us enough to experience this for us, what are we afraid of?
Tim Keller
HT Kingdom People
March 12, 2010
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From Towers (SBTS)
“Brian McLaren, author and leading voice of the emergent church movement, has written a new book that seeks to reformulate Christianity, but it is nothing more than a wholesale rejection of historic Christianity, concluded members of a panel discussion Thursday at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr., along with [...]
March 12, 2010
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Is it a small thing in your eyes to be loved by God – to be the son, the spouse, the love, the delight of the King of glory? Christian, believe this, and think about it: you will be eternally embraced in the arms of the love which was from everlasting, and will extend to everlasting – of the love which brought the Son of God’s love from heaven to earth, from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to glory – that love which was weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged, buffeted, spat upon, crucified, pierced – which fasted, prayed, taught, healed, wept, sweated, bled, died. That love will eternally embrace you.
Richard Baxter
March 12, 2010
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As a reader of Apprising Ministries it’s old news that Brian McLaren is a leader in the neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church with its Emergence Christianity. Back in November of 2005 I began pointing out that the Emerging Church (EC) had all the hallmarks of becoming a newer version of what cult expert Dr. Walter Martin had labeled the cult of liberalism some 20 years prior. Therein lies the key; the EC is not simply old liberal theology, no rather, it’s a postmodern form of liberal/progressive theology—an upgraded Liberalism 2.0 which allows more for the spiritual than did old liberal theology.
However, just like it’s predecessor, this postmodern upgrade of what’s known as Progressive Christianity is also an ill-fated attempt to make what they think is the Christian faith palatable to this postmodern culture as well as with the latest supposed advances in scientific knowledge. In fact the term Emergence Christianity, which adherents such as Phyllis Tickle see as the new reformation, itself incorporates more than just a nod to emergence theory of evolutionary science; and many in the EC believe that, right now, mankind is evolving upward into a higher state of consciousness.
For such as these, their practice of neo-Gnostic Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism is where they think that they’ll actually be receiving this “transformation” from God; that’s why, in their minds, the meditation in an altered state of consciousness known as Contemplative/Centering Prayer is so important. Now you may understand better where someone like Brian McLaren is coming from, and what it is he’s trying to do, with his new book—which is essentially Brian McLaren Making Up A “God” The Emerging Church Likes because the one true and living God just won’t do for the EC.
This is critical background information if you want to be able to see through the postmodern fog of the EC and to get past the Humpty Dumpty language surrounding McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity. Along with Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones—the others in the Emergent trinity—and with an assist from friends like progressive/process theologian Philip Clayton, men like McLaren are trying to raise up what they call a ”big tent” Christianity. A version of Christianity where people like Marcus Borg, who don’t actually believe in Jesus, can even be Christians too; no real doctrinal distinctives.
Everybody’s coming in; well, save one one group. Bible-believing Christians—who’re now the new lepers that the EC simply broad-brushes off as ”fundamentalists”—aren’t allowed under the Big Top of this Emergence Christianity. This is important to understand when you listen to McLaren talk about his latest book. You may have seen Mike Clawson of the EC with his recent series of questions, which Brian McLaren answered over at Clawson’s blog. What’s germane to our topic here would be Part II of Clawson’s questions, where he sets up McLaren to be able to deny he’s a liberal.
Keeping the above in mind, notice how Clawson first tells McLaren, “Quite a few critics (both conservatives and liberals in fact) have accused you of simply rehashing classic liberal theology.” By adding “classic” before liberal theology Clawson frames his question to McLaren in such a way that the EC leader can then go into full obfuscation mode all the while opining how, “It’s so funny that some conservatives want to paint me as a liberal.” While McLaren is as evangelical as I am emergent, he isn’t a “classic liberal”; he is trying to find a ground where everyone can have their Christian cake and eat it too.
Of course this dream of a “Christian” utopia is absolutely ridiculous and impossible; but other than that, I guess it’s a good idea. I’ve told you before that the EC is as a snake trying to swallow whole its prey; in this particular case, this would be the church visible. Men like McLaren, as new Gnostics, believe they are becoming “enlightened” aka transformed by God to understand that God has these increasing concentric circles of inclusiveness—as one EC pastrix puts it—where His dream for this world being a Global Family begins with the various forms of Christianity finally uniting.
After you understand that you’ll be able to see past the classic liberalism, some of which is in McLaren’s work, into the vortex of a new—bigger and more universal—form of progressive Christian theology that he’s advancing. Remember, nothing in the EC is as simple as it seems; e.g. you will see a universalism, but it’s a newer form of Christian universalism. Like I’ve pointed out previously those who adhere to this Emergence Christianity have gone into every area of church history and theology, which even remotely called itself Christian, grabbed it all and then threw it into a spiritual blender to puree it together.
Once you understand this you’ll begin to see why such as these are attacking Sola Scriptura and relentlessly pushing forth propaganda trying to convince us that it ultimately doesn’t matter what we believe as long as we have “faith” in Jesus. Lord willing, I talk more about that another time, but in closing this for now I will point you to McLaren’s new book is merely a fresh take on an old lie SBTS panelists say from Towers, A New Service of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Dr. Al Mohler and a few others from SBTS weigh in on what Kevin DeYoung calls “McLarenism.”
Jeff Robinson tells us among those with Mohler in “a panel discussion” yesterday were “professors Bruce Ware, Greg Wills, Stephen Wellum and Jim Hamilton.” Now that you know what I’ve shared above you’ll recognize that Ware is dead-on-target when Robinson informs us that the professor suggested “the book might be more accurately titled ‘an old kind of apostasy,’ because it rejects the God of the Bible.” Robinson then goes on to tell us more of what Ware had to say about McLarenism:
“There is an audacity and an arrogance in this book that is breathtaking,” Ware said. “To look God in the face, as McLaren does, and say, ‘You are not God,’ is just stunning. Here is a man who sees the God of the Bible and despises that God. So what he does is create God in a whole different image, an image that fits his postmodern ‘evangelicalism.’ This will appeal to a person who knows little or nothing about the Bible, but who is steeped in the culture.” (Online source)
In his report Robinson shares that Dr. Al Mohler “said many will find the arguments in McLaren’s book compelling so long as they avoid God’s Word.” Again, a main reason the EC has attempted to kick out Sola Scriptura. And further said Mohler, “If you actually read the Bible, you are going to end up having to say that this is a dishonest attempt to make the Bible say what is does not say. His narrative subversion just does not work”. Robinson also lets us know that professor Stephen Wellum explained:
“When you actually let the Bible speak for itself, there is no way that you could come to the conclusions that he reaches. Clearly, McLaren has an evolutionary worldview that is a process view of God. There is an evolutionary view of the Old Testament that comes from outside the text and is planted on the text. He is giving you the impression that he stands at the end of the line, though he wants to say that he is on a quest.” (Online source, emphasis mine)
As one who’s background involves studying non-Christian cults I can tell you that the highlighted above is a classic sign of cultic leaders. In order to establish a need for their services they always advance extra-biblical teachings, which they alone supposedly possess, thereby indoctrinating their followers.
See also:
THE NEW CHRISTIANITY OF BRIAN MCLAREN AND THE EMERGING CHURCH
BRIAN MCLAREN INVITES YOU ON HIS QUEST TO DESTROY CHRISTIANITY
PHILIP CLAYTON WITH “BIG TENT” CHRISTIANITY IN THE EMERGING CHURCH
THE EMERGING CHURCH AND PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AFTER GOOGLE
MARCUS BORG AND CHRISTIANS WHO DON’T BELIEVE IN JESUS
THE EMERGING CHURCH, A LAVA LAMP, AND LEAVEN
APPRISING MINISTRIES WITH A PEEK AT THE COMING SOTERIOLOGY OF EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY
March 12, 2010
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In the Apprising Ministries post Brian McLaren With A New Kind Of Liberal Theology I told you not to get caught up in the rouse that Brian McLaren, a recognized leader in the neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church with its Emergence Christianity, is simply rehashing liberal theology.
As I pointed out in that prior article, he’s not; but rather, along the others in the Emergent trinity—Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones—and with an assist from friends like progressive/process theologian Philip Clayton, McLaren is trying to help raise up what they call a “big tent” Christianity.
However, what this postmodern upgrade of what’s known as Progressive Christianity has in common with it’s predecessor an ill-fated attempt to make what they think is the Christian faith palatable to this postmodern culture as well as with the latest supposed advances in scientific knowledge.
I also pointed you to McLaren’s new book is merely a fresh take on an old lie SBTS panelists say, which reported upon the SBTS panel in the video below where Dr. Al Mohler and a few others from SBTS weigh in on what Kevin DeYoung calls “McLarenism.”
See also:
THE NEW CHRISTIANITY OF BRIAN MCLAREN AND THE EMERGING CHURCH
BRIAN MCLAREN INVITES YOU ON HIS QUEST TO DESTROY CHRISTIANITY
PHILIP CLAYTON WITH “BIG TENT” CHRISTIANITY IN THE EMERGING CHURCH
THE EMERGING CHURCH AND PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AFTER GOOGLE
MARCUS BORG AND CHRISTIANS WHO DON’T BELIEVE IN JESUS
THE EMERGING CHURCH, A LAVA LAMP, AND LEAVEN
APPRISING MINISTRIES WITH A PEEK AT THE COMING SOTERIOLOGY OF EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY
March 12, 2010
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March 12, 2010
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“Men entertain thoughts in private, and say words in private, and do acts in private, which they would be ashamed and blush to have exposed before the world. There is an all-seeing Witness with us wherever we go. Lock the door, draw down the blind, shut the shutters, put out the candle; it matters not, it makes no difference; God is everywhere, you cannot shut Him out or prevent His seeing.”
J.C. Ryle : Thoughts For Young Men
March 12, 2010
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HT Vitamin Z
March 12, 2010
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“What’s wrong with that?”
People have often asked the question, “What’s wrong with ______ ?”
You fill in the blank.
What’s really being asked is, “How much like the world can I live and behave, and still go to heaven?”
Recently, I posted on a video called “Hip-Hop For Haiti” and, apparently, I’ve taken what seems an unpopular [...]
March 12, 2010
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“The church, if it is to be anything, it is to be absolutely distinct from the culture, absolutely distinct from the world, absolutely distinct from unbelievers,” said prominent author and evangelical pastor John MacArthur.
Speaking from the pulpit to thousands of fellow pastors at the Shepherds’ Conference, MacArthur underscored the biblical command not to be yoked with nonbelievers and to be a separated people.
“Paul demands a total break,” he said Wednesday at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., citing the apostle in the New Testament.
MacArthur, author of Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World, grew up in a fundamentalist environment. At that time, the word “separation” was a big word on the evangelical word list. Fundamentalists built high walls in terms of church conduct and relationships, he explained. If those walls or lines were crossed, the violator was vilified.
Even MacArthur was a victim of the highly separatistic fundamentalism. He recalled being stripped off of about 55 radio stations in one day when they felt he was behaving outside their parameters.
The fundamentalism back then was cruel and unbiblical, he said. And it was so cannibalistic that it consumed itself and disappeared.
But MacArthur feels there needs to be a “biblical (not traditional) understanding of separation” among Christians today.
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