Article critical of Emergent Church
I found this article by Rev. Ken Silva critical of the writings of Brian McLaren in particular, and emergent church in general. I'm certainly not an expert on Mr. McLaren's writings, but I can definitely say I'm not a fan of Rev. Silva's work.
He takes exception with the phrase
take another look at Jesus' teachings about hell
and responds with
This is their serpentine smokescreen while they are busy redefining the historic orthodox Christian faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
(emphasis his). First of all, even from the brief piece shown, it's
clear that this is not a call to rewrite scripture, but to review it's
intent. But Rev. Silva clearly sees this as an attack on the core of
Christianity. I will agree with one statemtent he made, as long as the wording is changed. He wrote
This
Emergent Church movement is growing very quickly and without a doubt it
is creating a subversive influence within the Body of Christ
Change
"Body of Christ" to "church" and I would agree that this is a fair
assesment. But, with that change, I also think that it's a compliment,
and not a criticism. I may not know a lot about everything that is
"emergent," but I do know that I think it's important that the church
remain current.
He also claims that "... God will also abandon him even further" if McLaren doesn't "repent." This is not the God that I know. God doesn't abandon us. We may abandon God, but not the other way around.
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Comments
The article quotes McLaren ... It doesn't reference the quote but I's pretty sure it's from his latest, "The Last Word". I agree with his statement ... I keep thinking about the Lord's Prayer when we pray, "your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." Salvation is much more about redeeming creation than it is about what happens after we die. This is not an unorthodox belief. It's good reformed theology. ----- Wendy
I commented in their blog. Watch me get fire-bombed. But they took that statement out of context, totally, since the sentence before it said:"For many Christians, their faith is primarily about what happens to people after they die. That distracts them from seeking justice and living in a compassionate way while we're still alive in this life."and I said:"I think McLaren's point is not that Hell isn't Hell, or that Hell doesn't exist, but rather than focusing on our lives after we die, we should focus on living as Christ said to, loving our neighbors as ourselves, et cetera. The idea that McLaren doesn't believe in Hell is ludicrous; the man is merely saying that rather than worrying about ourselves or our lives after death, we should instead live the life that our Father has given us, and live it properly."Being not a theologian, and having not read anything by him, I could be wrong...but I've been known to be wrong before. I'll get over it.
Brian McLaren's most recent book has inspired several New Year's resolutions for me, which I've posted at http://thatisnotmyblog.blogspot.com. Now if I could only remember what I did with last year's resolutions...
As one brother recently wrote, “They are basically offering a critique of emergent thought based on Calvin as a ‘vintage Christian’ with an ‘exclusive hold’ on the truths of scripture…” (tortilini.blogspot.com)I believe this is an important insight. Our brothers and sisters in the Reformed school are attempting to make a resurgent at claiming the “hearts and minds” of Christians after being relegated to a secondary position for the past 50 years by more moderate forms of Calvinism and Arminianism. And it is not just those in the emerging movement within the Church that they strongly disagree with. They also oppose the seeker sensitive movement, Church growth movement, contemporary worship movement, and even the Jesus People movement of my earlier youth. blind beggar
re. "the God that I know" It might be a good diea for yout o take a moment and read Romans 1. It clearly says God gave them over to their sins. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 - God sends the lie i.e. gives them over. The Bible is pretty clear on that.