Losing Distractions
I really found resonance with Brian's comment
I also hope we can as soon as possible stop talking so much about certain notorious personalities (either semi-fictional ones or real ones) and certain notorious buzzwords (postmodern, emerging, etc., etc.), and instead get on with the more important mission which the Lord gave us: being and making disciples, in authentic community, for the good of the world.
in the third installment of his three part Response to Critics (part one here, part two here)
Through this ongoing conversation, I keep thinking about Paul's comment:
10I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
1 Cor 1:10-13 (ESV)
It's so much more fun and less intimidating for us to discuss the borders of the stuff than the stuff itself. David Brainaird used to differentiate between those who talked about the shell of religion and those who talked about the nut. Surely I have done this.
It can almost be a hobby, a pleasant and intellectually stimulating passtime, for us to discuss "what is emerging?" and "are you emerging?" as if mere emerging were the point. (Pls understand that I am including myself in this gentle indictment).
God is too scary so by all means let's focus on mere religion instead.
Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.
We need to be careful.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
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1 comment:
No offense intended, but if the Emergent movement spent more time with hermenutics and trying to understand the biblical text the way the expositors do, you wouldn’t be so caught in the confusing and often irritating nomenclature often associated with this group. It’s always easy to say something difficult to understand!
I’m so unclear what the Emerging church is about that I’ve given up. I don’t have the energy and time to understand what its leaders don’t seem to even know.
I mean, look at Brain’s efforts as of late. His trying to capture an eschatological philosophy is to refocus those in movement. If this view is off, then movement is off by the Saints…right? So, what is needed? Go back to the text…to do biblical exegesis to understand what he really believes. If you’re off on this starting point, you’re off on any end points of application.
I really think the Emergents needs to humble themselves and learn from the expositors—to take their knowledge of Scripture—and then to take a new heart, that of passion that those with lots of knowledge seem to lack. There’s nothing wrong with having a tremendous knowledge of Scripture. The issue is moving from head to heart and this takes leadership.
In my opinion, the Church in general has lost its heart—that is, meeting as a village and building from the inside-out.
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