Rants on Issues that MATTER!!!
(to me)Archive for emerging
.our trajectory is right into humanism.
So there is this idea about how to interpret the Bible through the lens of a trajectory hermeneutic.
You may be asking what this hermeneutic is all about, I am so glad that you asked, here is a brief definition of what it is.
In brief, Webb says that the ancient world in which the Bible was written
had gravely deficient moral standards. God in his wisdom knew that it would
be best to work gradually to lead his people from the moral practices of the
surrounding cultures to much higher standards of moral conduct. Therefore
in the OT God gave moral commands that were a great improvement over
the standards of the surrounding culture, but were not yet his highest ideal.
In the NT, God gave even higher moral standards, making further improvement
over what was taught in the OT. But even these NT moral commands
were not God’s “ultimate ethic.” Our task today is to try to understand the
direction in which God was gradually leading his people, so that by observing
that trajectory we can discover God’s “ultimate ethic” on various topics,
an “ultimate ethic” that we should seek to teach and obey today.1
Wow, does this sound like something that really makes sense. Think about the implications that this has on the authority of the Bible. In reality this way of interpreting the Bible has said that the Bible has no authority.
Now the Christians that hold to this view may object to my saying that their hermeneutic of the Bible denies Biblical authority. They will have fancy side stepping answers about how they love the Bible and how it has authority about living.
However if we cut through the haze of their arguments, we are left with the fact that the TH does not value what scripture says. They say that the biblical morals were correct for the society that they were written to, however now we have moved beyond that, our society they would claim is more advanced than theirs, therefore those moral/ethical commands do not apply.
Can I call it how I see it, doesn’t that sound arrogant, really doesn’t it? They are implying that though God gave ethical commands, however they are smarter than God and can decide what really needs to be done.
So in reality we are left with choosing between God or man.
Thats not a hard choice for me. I chose Sovereign God. Not some human that is brilliant and deceiving.
Also does the TH glorify God, may I suggest that it doesn’t and in reality it makes humans little gods. We will worship ourselves when we fall into this trap, like somehow we know better than God.
Give me a break.
It shouldn’t even be a hard choice.
To Jesus alone be the glory.
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1 https://www.cbmw.org
.you can’t just try harder.
So I have a tendency to critique the baptist fundamentalist and emergents on this blog. Now I will attempt to critique both on the same issue. So get ready to be offended by me.
You can’t live out a certain set of morals and be saved by them, it is by the grace of Jesus that we are.
Now some of you are going yeah go get them, for you there is this.
You can’t just live a certain way and earn your salvation either. Translation you can’t live the “way” of Jesus and be saved without the grace and power of the cross. Just because you are kosher and care for the poor doesn’t mean that you have life.
Now most of the rest of you are mad.
I find it ironic that the emergent church which has been a huge critique of fundamentalism has fallen into the same trap that they did. Just because you changed the “works” that have to be done to be Christian doesn’t mean that you aren’t doing the same thing.
Now don’t take me the wrong way on this. I believe that most of the things that these two groups do are correct, however their motivation is false. We can make ourselves righteous by that which we do, we are righteous only by the grace of God. See I believe that not sleeping around, not stealing, giving to the poor and the such are good things, however these need to be a reaction to the grace of God, not what I have to do to please God, when we try to please God through our works and making ourselves righteous we are saying “Jesus your death on the cross was not enough for me.” In reality we try to make ourselves god.
See the only way to live is under the grace of God and in the power of the cross.
.without Jesus.
Without Jesus there is nothing.
There seems to be this breed of “Christians” that are out there that think that the ideas of Jesus can be disconnected from Jesus. They talk about forgiveness and love, however they don’t mention Jesus or disconnect the being able to do these from Jesus. They act like Jesus was a good teacher and that was it. They think that Jesus leads them to a higher spiritual place.
The reality is that Jesus leads us to him, the reason is because Jesus is ultimate. So I want to call out the emergent leaders, stop acting like Jesus is one way to a higher spiritual plane (doesn’t that sound like another religion) and realize that the point is Jesus.
.questions.
Questions are such a powerful thing. There is this idea happening in the church that questions are an innocent thing. However like anything it depends on the heart of the person who is asking the question. If the person truly wants to know something then questions are great and need to be asked. On the other hand if a person is asking questions to mislead someone then they are wrong.
There are some leaders of the church who are trying to lead people down a path that is not true by the questions they ask. They are a lot like a salesperson. I have worked as a salesman for a few years now and our most powerful weapon is questions. I can lead people to a decision to buy what I want them to. I ask them questions that have them deciding that they want is what I have to sell. Now these leaders are saying that they are honestly just searching, however by their questions that doesn’t seem to be the truth. They are trying to lead people down a dangerous path that does not lead to life by their truths.
So what I have to say is that we need to look at people’s questions. We need not be fooled by the facade that they put on. We should never stop asking questions or leading questions. However the questions we ask need to be leading people to life.
Do our questions lead to Jesus?
Do they lead to the cross?
Do they lead to the resurrection?
Do they lead to Jesus as the only Way?
.new message.
Does the church need a new message?
A new way of saying it?
Both?
Neither?
It seems like there are two main camps in this discussion. There are some churches that are in the emerging/emergent movement that think that we need a new message and a new way of saying it. Why do we need a new message? Why do we need to get rid of the cross? Why do we need to get rid of the message of sin? How can the message of grace be as potent as it should be when we water it down?
On the other hand there are churches that have a message that follows the Bible however they don’t want to present it in a way that people understand. What is the point of that? How does that benefit the kingdom of God?
May I suggest that we keep the timeless message and try to find new ways of presenting it to people. A few churches have done this well. By presenting I don’t just preaching or teaching, rather more of a conveying. Now preaching and teaching are a very important part in this conveyance, however so is shepherding. May we in trying to find new packages to convey the truth not change the message. It seems that the ones who have changed the message were reacting to the methods and in fact overreacted and in that changed the message. My hope is that we as Christians and leaders do not change the message of the Gospel of Christ Jesus. Hopefully the church will reclaim the Gospel and let that be the only stumbling block and not the way we convey it to people. May Jesus give us the strength and wisdom to do that. Remember Jesus is Lord and Savior of all.
.human will?.
“We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:15-16)
How often have we tried to be better people?
How often have we failed at being better people?
How often have we heard a sermon about being a better person?
How often have we as teachers of the Bible taught people how to be a better person?
How often is the answer Jesus?
I ask these questions because in my life I have tried to become a “better” person. I have tried to be a person that is more like what I read about in the Bible. I have heard so many sermons, it doesn’t matter from what kind of church, about being a better person. Not often was Jesus the answer from conservative churches to emergent churches the answer was the same, human will and strength.
When I look back on some of the lessons I taught, they were about doing things. Doing things under our own effort. Some were about relying on Jesus for the power and guidance to change and be transformed. However not as much as I would like. I only hope that the ones about relying totally on Christ Jesus sunk in. So I hope when I am in a teaching position again the message that the students hear is Jesus, Jesus and Jesus. I want to be a one song band.
So have you found a place where Jesus is the hero?
Have you found a place where you are taught to seek Jesus?
Have you found a place where you are taught to rely on Jesus?
Have you found a place where Jesus is the answer?
I have and I plan on someday soon being that place for students. A place where they can come and fall more in love with Jesus and learn to humbly follow and rely on Him. I hope that we all learn and live out that Jesus is Lord and Savior.
.all about Jesus.
It is all about Jesus. We as the church need to be proclaiming this all of the time. It is so easy to forget sometimes. Sometimes the message of the church can become moral-ism. Not that the things that are taught are wrong, the things taught are good things. However people are told to just try harder to do good. That however has not worked, has it? The church in America hasn’t grown, we just have moved people around. We haven’t changed America, on the other hand America has changed Christianity in America. We need to proclaim Jesus as the answer to everything. Not just for our salvation but also for our sanctification. We need to humble ourselves and rely on Jesus. When the church in America starts preaching Jesus and teaching people to rely on Jesus and his grace I believe that we will see lives changed for the glory of Jesus. May we make him the hero of everything and in everything proclaim that Jesus is Lord and Savior.
.love and grace.
6. Q. Did God, then, create man so wicked and perverse?
A. By no means; but God created man good, and after his own image; that is, in true righteousness and holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love him, and live with him in eternal blessedness to praise and glorify him.
7. Q. From what source, then, comes this depraved nature of man?
A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise, whereby our nature became so corrupt that we all are conceived and born in sin.
8. Q. But are we so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all evil?
A. Yes, indeed; unless we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.
Isn’t it amazing that when we receive the grace of God by faith in the person and works of Jesus that God sees us as righteous and we can again be in right relationship with God again? That we can worship Jesus and in that be living life to the fullest. See because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we have life everlasting. Life here and now and life for all eternity. That is grace. When we see what we would be without God and then realize what we have in Jesus how can we not help but be joyful and humble before Jesus who is Lord and Savior of all? May you and I realize that Jesus is Lord and Savior.
