THOUGHTS ON THE EMERGING CHURCH #4
While many are placing great emphasis on the rightness or wrongness of what the Emerging Church teaches my concern is not so much with what it teaches but with why such a movement should even arise within the church in our day, and in fact why such movements have emerged repeatedly throughout the 2000 years of church history, and what its emergence has to say about the condition of the church and of how it is seen and experienced by individual Christians and by the world at large today.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
THOUGHTS ON THE EMERGING CHURCH #3
As I have been trying to say, the problem isn’t with the Bible or with Bible study. The problem is with the way in which the Bible is used and abused to make and defend theological positions, with the idolatrous level to which theology and theological correctness has been raised in certain portions of the church and with the repulsive festering wounds of division which have for centuries characterized the church which are rooted and grounded not in love but this idolatrous allegiance to theological correctness, conservative and liberal alike.
It is these festering wounds of division which bring great heartache to many within the church who long to see loved ones come to the faith but know that they are repulsed not by Jesus or by the Gospel message but by the abhorrent, dysfunctional infighting within the church over theological interpretations. I believe your statement earlier in our conversation was, "we can't kill truth in the streets for the sake of peace." This is tragically a place where Paul’s criticism of the church in Rome would equally apply, “The name of God is blasphemed among the nations because of you.”
It is thus with grievously heavy hearts that many in the church today are finding it necessary to walk away from not the Bible or Bible study but from this divisive theological infighting in order that as they seek to walk in love with one another and with those outside of the community of faith in order that the great commandment of God might be fulfilled, for to love is the fulfillment of the law.
As I have been trying to say, the problem isn’t with the Bible or with Bible study. The problem is with the way in which the Bible is used and abused to make and defend theological positions, with the idolatrous level to which theology and theological correctness has been raised in certain portions of the church and with the repulsive festering wounds of division which have for centuries characterized the church which are rooted and grounded not in love but this idolatrous allegiance to theological correctness, conservative and liberal alike.
It is these festering wounds of division which bring great heartache to many within the church who long to see loved ones come to the faith but know that they are repulsed not by Jesus or by the Gospel message but by the abhorrent, dysfunctional infighting within the church over theological interpretations. I believe your statement earlier in our conversation was, "we can't kill truth in the streets for the sake of peace." This is tragically a place where Paul’s criticism of the church in Rome would equally apply, “The name of God is blasphemed among the nations because of you.”
It is thus with grievously heavy hearts that many in the church today are finding it necessary to walk away from not the Bible or Bible study but from this divisive theological infighting in order that as they seek to walk in love with one another and with those outside of the community of faith in order that the great commandment of God might be fulfilled, for to love is the fulfillment of the law.
THOUGHTS ON THE EMERGING CHURCH #2
One of my strongest beliefs which I have posted on FB before and commented on elsewhere is that theology is possibly one of the worst things that ever is happened to Christianity.
From my observation, theologies generally develop out of limited human understandings of portions of the Bible and quite often in response or reaction to a perceived lack of or excess of emphasis in someone else’s theological position.
Also from my observation quite often persons ties to their theological positions are more emotional than intellectual (which can be discussed other than here but which I believe is critical to be understood in this discussion) which is why they so often result in the type of "ugly confrontations" which you suggest and which from your comment I trust that you abhor as much as I do.
As to the larger issue of the emergence of the Emerging Church movement, from my perspective I see it to be nothing other than the most recent of these "ugly confrontations," and in this case more of a confrontation being thrust upon the Emergents by those of (what I would call) the "Anti-Emergent" movement than of a
mutually engaged upon confrontation.
The thing that MUST be understood is that it is these not decades long, not centuries long, but millennium long ongoing ugly theological confrontations which cause, result from and perpetuate the hostile divisive climate within the church which gives rise to the aversion to dogmatic theology which has resulted in our day in the movement which has come to be known as the Emerging Church.
Two questions with which God confronted me some time ago and required me to come to grips; and which my coming to grips with has completely transformed my approach to theology and my understanding of its place in the church; and with which I believe it would be well for all who fancy themselves to be theologically oriented to come to grips are these: Is God somehow restricted to exist and function within the narrow limits of our human theological understandings? And, do I have more faith in my theology about God than I have in the God who my theology is supposed to be about?
I do not purport to be conservative or liberal in my theological orientation; I have friends and enemies alike across the full range of the theological spectrum. I seek the truth from the Bible as it is to be found regardless of the questions it raises, the conclusions it suggests or whether the truth as I discover it fits comfortably within unsettling, challengingly, far afield from traditional Christian theology.
From this approach to the scriptures an observation which came to me a number of years ago was this: when I read in scripture of Jesus telling Peter that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the church and yet I see the relative little impact that the church seems to be having in the world today I am left to choose one of two conclusions, either Jesus is lying to us, or there is something very wrong with the way the church is going about being the church; and I don’t think that Jesus is lying to us.
It is not that theology needs to be abandoned altogether, for theology does have its place. But perhaps the time has come for the church to seek out a “still more excellent way” of being the church in the world. Perhaps rather than looking at the Emerging Church movement as a threat to traditional Christianity to be beaten back at all costs we ought to understand the movement at least as the voice of a people seeking out a more complete and “still more excellent way” where in that which has been passed down through the ages as dogmatic theological truth becomes incarnated into the daily living of the people of God in the world; if not perhaps the instrument God, young and imperfect as it may be, shining a light into the darkness, Illuminating a pathway, even if yet dimly, of a still more excellent way of loving our God with the totality of our being, and of loving our neighbors even as we love ourselves.
One of my strongest beliefs which I have posted on FB before and commented on elsewhere is that theology is possibly one of the worst things that ever is happened to Christianity.
From my observation, theologies generally develop out of limited human understandings of portions of the Bible and quite often in response or reaction to a perceived lack of or excess of emphasis in someone else’s theological position.
Also from my observation quite often persons ties to their theological positions are more emotional than intellectual (which can be discussed other than here but which I believe is critical to be understood in this discussion) which is why they so often result in the type of "ugly confrontations" which you suggest and which from your comment I trust that you abhor as much as I do.
As to the larger issue of the emergence of the Emerging Church movement, from my perspective I see it to be nothing other than the most recent of these "ugly confrontations," and in this case more of a confrontation being thrust upon the Emergents by those of (what I would call) the "Anti-Emergent" movement than of a
mutually engaged upon confrontation.
The thing that MUST be understood is that it is these not decades long, not centuries long, but millennium long ongoing ugly theological confrontations which cause, result from and perpetuate the hostile divisive climate within the church which gives rise to the aversion to dogmatic theology which has resulted in our day in the movement which has come to be known as the Emerging Church.
Two questions with which God confronted me some time ago and required me to come to grips; and which my coming to grips with has completely transformed my approach to theology and my understanding of its place in the church; and with which I believe it would be well for all who fancy themselves to be theologically oriented to come to grips are these: Is God somehow restricted to exist and function within the narrow limits of our human theological understandings? And, do I have more faith in my theology about God than I have in the God who my theology is supposed to be about?
I do not purport to be conservative or liberal in my theological orientation; I have friends and enemies alike across the full range of the theological spectrum. I seek the truth from the Bible as it is to be found regardless of the questions it raises, the conclusions it suggests or whether the truth as I discover it fits comfortably within unsettling, challengingly, far afield from traditional Christian theology.
From this approach to the scriptures an observation which came to me a number of years ago was this: when I read in scripture of Jesus telling Peter that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the church and yet I see the relative little impact that the church seems to be having in the world today I am left to choose one of two conclusions, either Jesus is lying to us, or there is something very wrong with the way the church is going about being the church; and I don’t think that Jesus is lying to us.
It is not that theology needs to be abandoned altogether, for theology does have its place. But perhaps the time has come for the church to seek out a “still more excellent way” of being the church in the world. Perhaps rather than looking at the Emerging Church movement as a threat to traditional Christianity to be beaten back at all costs we ought to understand the movement at least as the voice of a people seeking out a more complete and “still more excellent way” where in that which has been passed down through the ages as dogmatic theological truth becomes incarnated into the daily living of the people of God in the world; if not perhaps the instrument God, young and imperfect as it may be, shining a light into the darkness, Illuminating a pathway, even if yet dimly, of a still more excellent way of loving our God with the totality of our being, and of loving our neighbors even as we love ourselves.
THOUGHTS ON THE EMERGING CHURCH #1
The attached https are a couple of 8-10 minute video clips of discussions on the
Emerging Church - check them out and my response below -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv6uxCch7oc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxfobXmmRx8
The emergent movement is a natural consequence of the hypocrisy within the traditional church of Europe and America which persists in schism, an affront to Jesus' prayer for the unity of the church in John 17:21-22, with an arrogant and dogmatic adherence to theological traditions.
The dogmatic assertions of having the "true" interpretation of scripture, especially on the part of the most extreme conservative "fundamentalists" and extreme liberal "progressives" as each side builds their respective theologies on their personally preferred proof texts of scripture while virtually ignoring other passages which do not support their theological positions is the very seed within the church from relativism would be the natural fruit. To quote Pilate in John 18:38 "What is truth?"
The elevation of "doctrinal assertions" and "creedal postures" to a place of preeminence over Christian living: "we can't kill truth in the streets for the sake of peace" affronts Paul's directive in Romans 12:18 "so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men," and illustrates the principle of 1 Corinthians 8:1 "Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies." It also ignores the illustrations of the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46 and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 wherein a persons condition after death is determined exclusively by how they lived their life and used their resources in their relationships in this life. In these and other passages doctrinal correctness is not a factor in the determination.
Also it is the arrogance of western culture that would reduce "true" Christianity to a matter of intellectual pursuit while the entirety of scripture illustrates that our response to God is intended to be a whole life response, experiential as well as intellectual.
The attached https are a couple of 8-10 minute video clips of discussions on the
Emerging Church - check them out and my response below -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv6uxCch7oc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxfobXmmRx8
The emergent movement is a natural consequence of the hypocrisy within the traditional church of Europe and America which persists in schism, an affront to Jesus' prayer for the unity of the church in John 17:21-22, with an arrogant and dogmatic adherence to theological traditions.
The dogmatic assertions of having the "true" interpretation of scripture, especially on the part of the most extreme conservative "fundamentalists" and extreme liberal "progressives" as each side builds their respective theologies on their personally preferred proof texts of scripture while virtually ignoring other passages which do not support their theological positions is the very seed within the church from relativism would be the natural fruit. To quote Pilate in John 18:38 "What is truth?"
The elevation of "doctrinal assertions" and "creedal postures" to a place of preeminence over Christian living: "we can't kill truth in the streets for the sake of peace" affronts Paul's directive in Romans 12:18 "so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men," and illustrates the principle of 1 Corinthians 8:1 "Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies." It also ignores the illustrations of the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46 and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 wherein a persons condition after death is determined exclusively by how they lived their life and used their resources in their relationships in this life. In these and other passages doctrinal correctness is not a factor in the determination.
Also it is the arrogance of western culture that would reduce "true" Christianity to a matter of intellectual pursuit while the entirety of scripture illustrates that our response to God is intended to be a whole life response, experiential as well as intellectual.
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