Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet

Continuing with people who have nailed the emergent village/conversation, here is a gem from Bob Dewaay. Note the "we cannot know" mantra which is another form of "there are many truths so which one is true? Gee, we cannot know."

The Emergent mantra concerning the Bible is “we cannot know, we cannot know, we cannot know.” Furthermore, in their thinking, it is a sign of arrogance to claim to know. For the postmodern theologian, sola scriptura is as dead and buried as a fossilized relic of bygone days.

____Bob Dewaay

Source: http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue105.htm

First up, do take the opportunity to check out this week's Christian Carnival up now at A True Believer's Blog. This is Ken's first time as a Christian Carnival host and he did a really great job.

Today, I want to continue the discussion about emergent. Lately, I've read some really good descriptions of what makes it tick. Here's an excerpt from emergent villager Doug Pagitt from his book, A Christianity Worth Believing,
"Jesus was not sent as the selected one to appease the anger of the Greek blood god. Jesus was sent to fulfill the promise of the Hebrew love God by ending human hostility. It was not the anger of God that Jesus came to end but the anger of people. This world God created is one of peace and harmony and integration. Through Jesus, all humanity is brought into that world. And that is the point of the resurrection.
The story of Jesus Christ, of Joshua the Messiah, is about the healing of all creation. This was God’s promise from the start–that people would be God’s partners in the world… The Christian faith finds its center in the story of Jesus not because this is where the problem of God’s anger is solved. Jesus is the core of Christianity because it is through Jesus that we see the fullness of God’s hopes for the world. (194, 195)"

Source:http://christianresearchnetwork.com/?p=5352

This is a good illustration about what I've been telling you for months now. That is, the emergent villagers (most of them, not all) are mounting an attack on the concept of substitutionary atonement. By the way, does this remind you of an era in our history? Like the hippie era? "Love, Joy, Peace," perhaps?" Maybe it's because IMO and in the opinion of a few others I've read, the emergent "conversation" is bringing the '60's into the church. Actually I'm amazed that the 60's didn't come flooding in sooner, but somehow the church has held it off--that is, until recently. I'm wondering if that is because now the Baby Boomers are getting into leadership positions. And that is fine, except, our churches, while keeping the '60's out, didn't quite get the "'60's mentality" out of many Boomers. Now these are in leadership and they bring in their 1960's values as well as their "clown youth group" training.

I feel these two quotes, one from Michael Horton (professor at the western campus of Westminister Seminary) and the other from Tozer (who is becoming very popular lately, especially with Young Calvinist type)s.

Pastors, teachers and elders are not "life coaches" who help us in our personalized goals for spiritual fitness, but gifts given by the Ascended Lord so that the whole church might become mature and less susceptible to being spiritually duped (Eph. 4:1-16).....not surprisingly, ministers today are regarded more as "life coaches" who facilitate our self-transformation than as ambassadors of Christ, devoted to the Word of God and prayer, so that they can spread a feast on behalf of the King for His people in this world.

____Michael Horton in Modern Reformation magazine (July/August 2008 issue)

The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it. The old cross brought tears and blood; the new cross brings laughter. The flesh, smiThe ling and confident, preaches and sings about the cross; before that cross it bows and toward that cross it points with carefully staged histrionics–but upon that cross it will not die, and the reproach of that cross it stubbornly refuses to bear.

A. W. Tozer in The Pursuit of Man (Source: http://christianresearchnetwork.com/?p=5500)

In the last post I said that over all, Christian adults today deserve a much higher level of teaching than they are presently receiving. But what about our Christian youth? What are they getting? For the past 35 years, churches and youth pastors feel that to get and retain teens in church we have to make everything fun and "relevant." In many churches there has been little Bible teaching and little good application. And presently, we have the emergent doctrines and thoughts flooding into many of our youth groups, much of which is very similar to liberal Protestant thought, as I've written here before ad nauseum.

I believe our youth deserve more. Let's look at the results of all of the years of "pizza" church youth groups and see how they have fared as adults. That would be approximately the 25-50 age group.

1. Polls show that there is a big problem in the Biblical literacy of this group
2. Divorce rates are now almost 50% among Christians, most of them in this age group.
3. Worldiness has come into the church in unprecedented ways mainly through the leadership of this age group.

The evangelical movement is in the worst shape that I've ever seen. If we don't do something in our churches to reach the youth better than we've done, it will get much worse. I've also said here that as the church goes, so the country goes. If the church goes down, and it will if we don't get back to the foundational truths, then the country goes down.

Our youth deserve better. So do our churches.

As I've visited churches and adult Sunday School classes in my area of California (USA) over the past year, I am shocked at the low level of teaching. No wonder Christians are floundering in these times. In many churches, and in most churches with lots of young adults - most of the members don't have the slightest concept of what happened for them at the cross, what prayer is supposed to accomplish, faith, healing and so forth. The latter two aren't even mentioned in most churches, probably because of some of the crazy Word of Faith teaching going around. A few months ago I called for a New Kind of Faith Teacher (see link here). I've come to realize more than ever how badly these New Kind of Faith Teachers are needed. When the calamities come more and more, I'm not sure what Christians are going to do. And, I'm not sure what the leaders are going to tell them to do except the same tired out old worn-out phrases - "Well, just pray." "Well, just trust da Lord." These are good phrases but without proper understanding of what they mean, the phrases become just that - phrases - and essentially useless.

This condition in our churches would be tragic enough if it was confined to the young. But the elderly, some of whom have been in church for 60+ years, don't seem to know much more than the clown-youth-group-trained young adults. The elderly Sunday School classes seem to be just a rehash of everything they have heard for the past 20+ years. No wonder Christians here in America don't practice their faith often. They don't know anything. How can you practice something you don't know. If you've only putted balls on the putting green, but never played a game of golf, you probably will flounder in playing the game. If you've only practiced first year pieces on the violin for 20 years, then after 20 years you won't be playing too well.

Churches today want us to "do something," usually for the poor. Anyone can help the poor. So what is supposed to set apart Christians? They know something others don't. And they're CONVINCED in their hearts and spirit of it. They are supposed to share their knowledge so others (for Arminians) can make a decision to follow Christ;(for Calvinists) so others can become Christians if God woos them, But if we don't have any foundation, how can we tell others, and especially, how can we disciple those who do come to Christ. In Hebrews 5:12 we read,

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

I am convinced that God has raised up plenty of mature, relevant, Biblically-based teachers. So what is the problem then? Churches refuse to allow them to teach. The churches continually use the same people or newer ones who aren't mature enough in their own faith to adequately teach. The same thing goes for the real-deal prophets too. Too many false prophets are allowed into the church to speak and teach. Or, no prophets are allowed. I guess only God can open the doors to these God-ordained true teachers and prophets, almost forcing churches to accept them. But I wonder what God will have to do to get churches to open those doors? Bring the churches to their knees? It'll be most interesting to find out.

I found a gem at the Scott Brown Online blog. This is a great contrast between true Christianity and what passes for "Christianity" today. Brown contrasts the original Five Reformational Solas with seven that could pass for today's solas.

First I explain what the original solas are. This is from a post I wrote in 2004:

The solas were formulated by the leading 16th century Reformers to unify their theology. Sola means only or alone in Latin. Latin was the "business" language of the day, just as French was in the 19th and early 20th century, and English is now. Therefore, so everyone would understand the solas back then, they were put into Latin.

I've put everyday lay people's definitions to them as well as the journalistic "W's" and "H" which I found at another site.

So here are the five solas:

1. Sola gratia-by God's grace alone we have our salvation-the Why.

2. Sola fide-by faith alone we have our salvation-the How.

3. Sola Christus-by Christ alone and His atoning substitutionary work on the cross we have our salvation-the Who.

4. Sola Scripture-by Scripture alone we understand where to find out about our salvation-the Where.

5. Soli dei gloria-to God alone be the glory for our salvation-the For What Purpose.

Now, here is "today's solas" given at Brown's blog:

Layman's guide to the key drivers of the 21st century church

1. Sola Cultura - let culture define church life

2. Sola Successa - let numerical success legitimize activities

3. Sola Entertaina - let entertainment be the guiding principle

4. Sola Edificia - let the edifice be the center of church life

5. Sola Programma - let programs dominate the peoples time

6. Sola Thralldoma – let the people be enslaved by whatever thrills them

7. Sola Processa – let the church be managed by business philosophies and processes

Source: http://www.scottbrownonline.com/ScottBrownOnline/Welcome_to_Scott_Brown_Online/Entries/2008/7/15_Seven_Sola%E2%80%99s_of_the_Modern_Church.html

So, how would your church look like if we change it to meet all age groups' expectations and philosophical outlook/thinking? First, it isn't about the music. I hope you see this now after reading the first four parts of this series (links at the end of this post). Music is one component, but not the only one. I can only offer insights here but do want your feedback too. I want you to understand that we are working with three major generational groups--the WWII generation which includes those a little younger and those a little older, mainly those over 63; the Baby Boomer (BB's) generation (including the younger Baby Busters), mainly 41-62; and the Postmodern (PM's) generation, mainly 18-40.

Here are the major components of most church services:

Worship Through Music
WWII people want hymns. BB's want 1970's-80's praise music. PM's want - I'm not sure how to describe this without singing it to you, but here goes:
"Jesus!!!" (heavy metal guitar twangs and lots of drums banging). "We love you Jesus!!" (Bam, Bam; Boom; Boom.; Crash; Loud twang, twang).
But the postmoderns also like hymns and Gregorian chants or anything Roman Catholic (anybody catch what I jsut said?).

So, we probably need all three types of music for the three generational groups. Churches would need to work with each generaltional group to help them accept the other styles they may not like. And from time to time, why not include youth musicians or a youth band if your church has one in the service.

Worship through Offerings of Money
PM's want to come up to the front and give their money, not sit in their seats. PM's like to participate. This might be a bit disturbing to the WWII generation although I think the BB's will not mind. So, perhaps have both? Those who want to come up can and those who want to sit in their seat--hey! We'll pass the bucket too.

Announcements and Sharing of Testimonies (The PM's Call This Stories)
Have lots of people making announcements, not just one person. PM's like to participate. I don't think anyone would mind this. BUT, we need people from all generations to do these things, not just from one generation. And why not include the youth too (12-17) at times.

Sermon/Teaching
A short message (story--not a lecture) with discussion and questions asked during or afterwards. PM's like to participate. The WWII's won't like this and lots of BB's won't either. If these two generational groups get antagonistic, then do a mix and try to work with the PM's to accept this. Point out to them it is a trade-off. If they will sit through the 45 min. "lecture," they have the opportunity at least to do church with other age groups and they get to see what is meaningful to those groups. This approach just might work.

Other Things PM's Like
Lots of art and audiovisuals to enhance the "experience." They like to mill around at different places in the church looking at art and going to prayer stations and stuff like that. PM"s like to participate. This definintiely will upset the WWII's and probalby many BB's. Again, churches need to help other generational groups to be patient and allow some change and innovation. Perhaps you could do this slowly about once a month and have "regular" church the other three weeks.

Seating
Tear out the pews. Put in chairs and arrange them in a semi-circle. Take out the platform as the speaker and worship people need to be on the same level. No binaries--everyone equal...no one is marginalized.
I think that WWII's might not like this at first as they might see this as irreverant. But eventually they and many of the BB's will get used to it and perhaps even like it.

DO NOT CHANGE THIS
Do not change the content of the gospel. There is a great post at a blog that I saw today and I will share it tomorrow. It really illustrates this point. It's like changing the presentation and illustrations of Campus Crusade's Four Laws without messing with the content message. That is what I think we will eventually be doing, or we 'll lose our churches. Some think this is a fad. But in my reading and talking to a few postmoderns I don't see this at all. I see it as the BIG philosophical change I talked about in the first four parts of this series. And I think it's here to stay.

(You can read the other parts at these links:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4)