Emerging in Today's Culture

Hello viewers, I hope you're all doing well! Just decided to post a little something that's been on my mind today. Actually, it's been in the back of my mind for a while, ever since I first saw the "NOOMA" (Greek for spirit) video in my worldview class. I found it intriguing, stylish, and attractive-- especially in comparison with most modern church videos.

In the first little movie clip, Rob Bell (a leader of the Liberal side of the Emergent Church Movement) spoke with passion against hellfire and brimstone preachers. It showed a man holding a bullhorn, in the midst of a crowd, in an attempt to yell at them about their sinfulness.  "Please, I beg of you, on behalf of all of us, put the bullhorn down!" said Bell.

Now while I was watching this, I was careful not to be entirely swept away by the attractive qualities of the video. I didn't allow myself to be convinced by cool graphics and catchy words and phrases. 

But I agreed with Bell on many things. Namely, that we need to reach out to the postmodern culture with Christ's love-- not with the wrath of God. His message about evangelism was backed up with several scripture verses. The culture is tired of hearing words of hate from Jesus' followers. Don't they already know that we think they're sinners? Don't they already know that we believe God hates sin? Clearly, our method of hellfire and brimstone "evangelism" only brings division. No-one is attracted to a God who hates them.

But then a week later, just last Wednesday, I saw a video at youth group in which a preacher showed that God hates sinners. He backed it up with scripture, too. So I was slightly vexed: which do I believe?

I realized, first, that we need to understand exactly why God hates sin. Here's how I would illustrate it: imagine that God is like a husband, who loves His bride (humanity) with unconditional passion. He does everything He could possibly do to show her that she is loved. But she rejects Him, despite the fact that His love went beyond anything else. In fact, she not only rejects Him-- she commits adultery with her own desires. How would you feel in this place? Wouldn't you be wrathful and jealous beyond belief? And you would grieve, too, if you had been treated so.

I believe God "hates" us in this sense. He is angry just like a rejected husband is angry.

But He also loves us. So He proves this by DYING for His unfaithful bride. If this cannot prove to her that He is worthy of adoration, nothing ever will.

If we explain it to our post modern culture in THIS way, I believe we may have better chances of them connecting to the Holy Spirit's call. But if we keep on making the story about US, and what should happen to US (in other words, we should be going to Hell) , then unbelievers will never hear His side of the Story.

So Rob Bell was right about one thing: we certainly need to renovate the way we reach out to people.

But upon furtcombatsearch, I realized that there were things wrong with Bell's beliefs. I saw, for instance, that he promoted homosexual marriage. This, according to Leviticus 18:22, is incorrect. Mark Driscoll explained Bell's movement this way: they are good, attractive people, but they question things that were decided centuries ago, such as "was Jesus really God," or "is the Bible actually God's Word?" 

These questions are okay to ask, of course. No question should remain unanswered. We must always make sure our faith is accurate. But the problem is, Bell's movement never answers the questions, and thus leaves the Bible open to incorrect interpretation. In fact, it leaves room to redefine God. And who are we to define He who made US? That is true heresy, and should not be allowed to roam freely in Christ's body, the Church.

Mark Driscoll, however, showed that Bell's liberal Emergent movement was really only an offshoot of a much larger organization. Here are the other three divisions of Emerging Churches: Emergent House Church Movement, which is doctrinally sound, but rejects the Big Church mentality. This type of church generally consists of 20-30 people. The next kind of emergent church is essentially Calvinist in doctrine, with a strong outreach towards postmodern culture. The next is also traditional in doctrine, but simply seeks new ways to make Christianity and church relevant in today's culture.

Overall, the emergent church had some good ideas, but we must be certain that there are no wolves among us that would ravage God's flock.

Postmodernism. You know?

Hello Reader,

 Recently, I watched a few vids that the Rabbi posted online. They were about a relatively new movement within the church, which is loosely defined as "emergent" church movement. This movement has grown rapidly since the mid-20th century, and has an extreme appeal to a post-modernist culture. In this article, I'll attempt to debunk a few myths about the movement, as well as provide clarity as to how a Christian should handle it.
 Funny thing, though-- the majority of Emergent churches don't even want to be labeled! They prefer to maintain their own anonymity. Some members call themselves "post-modernists," "post-evangelicals," or even "post-protestant." It's difficult actually define the emergent movement-- the best I can really do is describe their people, practices, and philosophy.
 The members of these churches tend to be young and outgoing. They are sick and tired of pews and traditional church methods.They dislike the idea of the spiritual authority that resides in the church-- instead, they decide everything together as one community, without any specific leaders who want to decide everything for the congregation. They want to be heard, and their "sermons" are really just large group discussions about spirituality. They sit on couches, and a discussion leader sits in the center of the auditorium to act as a moderator. Their worship services are very sensory related, and include dj's who mix tracks in order to provide the right "atmosphere" of worship. Some even include ancient practices of worship, which include walking through labyrinths. They tend to mix different worship techniques of different Christian branches-- most notably, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
This is mostly fine-- at least it attracts the modern world to some form of Christianity... right? Well, not necessarily. Unfortunately, This influential movement puts little to no emphasis on the authority of scripture. They don't tend to accept anything as absolute truth, due to the post-modern nature of their views. As D.A Carson, a theologian from Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Illinois, believes, once people remove the authority of truth and scripture, they risk losing a correct view of God.
 Christians need to respond to this movement. The only question is, how do we do this? First, I believe we need to consider their arguments, and make sure that we are not guilty of any of their accusations. They claim that the church is too controlling-- is it? Do we put more authority into the church than in scripture? The truth is, some churches do exactly that. We need to avoid this by looking to God as our ultimate authority, and  be willing to correct the church's views on certain subjects if they dont align with scripture. They also say that our forms of worship are not convicting enough. They say that they don't really feel God's presence in the church during worship services. In response, we need to be certain that our worship services are filled with God-honoring songs that don't put the congregation to sleep. We need to lead people in worship with hearts that are pure before Lord, as well as being excited to be near Him in his throne room. Others claim that we don't allow people to speak for themselves, or ask questions. We need to make certain that we have places like small groups and bible studies where no-one needs to be afraid that their thoughts will be rejected.
 On the other hand, we cannot reject the supreme authority of God and His Word. While we should allow questions to be asked, we must not speak without authority of scripture as the basis for our thoughts. We must not change the clear meaning of the Bible and allow truth  to be twisted. Overall, we must put God's desires first when encountering one of these churches-- as we should in all situations.