Emergent and Sour

A friend of mine recently wrote:

When I find out someone is emergent, it's like finding out someones favorite band is nickelback.

AND

The emergent church is like sour milk...on the outside it looks good but once you get a taste of the inside you realize you just messed up!

I don't think I could say it any better myself. The emergent church movement really is a peculiar thing; it reminds me of your best friend's younger brother... it is so easy to pick on and make fun of, and all it does in return is whine and cry.

In all fairness, the emergent movement was started due to some valid complaints with the Christian culture created by the boomer generation. We can definitely learn some things from these men; however, since the movement was founded on complaints with the norm, I wish they would be more attentive to the complaints other Christian leaders and pastors are have with the culture the emergent movement is creating.

Read more...

Rob Bell's Recent Interview

I am trying to be more disciplined to only judge the correctness of people’s words, not the content of their character. With that said, Rob Bell seems like a very entertaining and enjoyable person, but his teaching is very lacking. Primarily, it is lacking the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The lack of the Gospel in his teaching is glaringly apparent in his recent interview with Christianity Today. You should read the entire interview, because in the second half of the conversation, the interviewer seems to be deliberately trying to get Rob Bell to talk about the Gospel. Rob Bell of course manages to side step any mention of the cross or atonement.

I don’t understand how a pastor can purposefully avoid talking about the most central component of Christianity (really, the most significant event in human history). Christianity cannot exist apart from the cross of Christ.

Which leaves me with this question: Can we put the label of “Christianity” on what Rob Bell teaches? Can the content of his message be considered “Christian”?

Another way of asking this question is, If someone wants to be a part of a conversation, and tries to stay within a safe distance of the norms of that conversation, but completely misses the main point of the conversation, then are they even in the conversation at all? Or, are they just rambling about something else that seems vaguely related?

I do not want to simply bash on Rob Bell. I do want to cause Christians to consider what Christianity is supposed to be about. The cross of Christ and the Gospel (our sin and Christ's atoning work in our place) are central to Christianity. To lose this is to lose all hope for salvation. We cannot be justified by our good deeds in the community or around the world.

Read more...

Emerging Marriage

For those of you who are still on the fence regarding the possible dangers of the Emergent Church Movement, and some of its leaders, this post is intended to kick you off. In a dialogue with Rod Dreher, Tony Jones (one of the leaders of this movement) made the following statement:

"I now believe that GLBTQ [people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, and queer] can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state."

In response to this quote, Justin Taylor said that he was reminded of the following verse:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
--Isaiah 5:20

At some point, we have to begin calling such propositions coming from this movement (and elsewhere in Christendom) exactly what they are: evil, dark, and bitter.

Read more...