EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY'S IMPACT

[Lauralea]

Lauralea says: " Nor am I heaping condemnation"

 

I didn't mean "you" were doing it; I'm sorry if I implied that.  There are those that do; and it's just as wrong for those people to pass judgement on Sunday keepers as infidels as it is for Sunday keppers to pass judgement on SDA's as legalists.

Thank you JoeMo. I agree we should not judge others- our job is to love and share the Gospel, and as we have opportunity to do so graciously, the Sabbath as well.

[JoeMo]

I was reading this weekend about some factions of the Emergent Church wanting dialogue with other major world religions (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) to find common points upon which they can unite and agree. I read that some are even envisioning a 3rd Temple in which all three monothiestic religions (Jews, Islam, and Christian) can worship together in peace and harmony.  I couldn't go that far.  There is not sufficient common ground between those 3 religions to unite.  Islam and Judism would have to accept Christ as the Son of God; or Christians would have to give up Christ.  Not a chance!  This would be a case where, from their individual perspectives,  each of these groups would be committing spiritual adultery with infidels - something that is forbidden in all three faiths. 

[bonnie]

EMERGENT THOUGHT: QUESTIONS AND DECONSTRUCTION

February 18, 2015 Robert Llewellyn

During the 1980’s and 90’s rogue bands of Christian pastors began asking themselves how they could repackage, bend, hacksaw, and sell Christianity to a postmodern global culture no longer interested in the cranky and judgmental values their parents collectively gave them as a society. An unofficial movement that transcended Christian denominational boundaries slowly began to take shape as brash thought leaders explored new and fresh possibilities for reshaping Christianity into one fabricated for Western culture. These daring Christian spin doctors went into overdrive, and a frenzy of ‘conversations’ began to replace much of the traditional Christian doctrines from various Christian faiths. What morphed from this extravaganza of Christian introspection and juicy embellishment has become known as the Emergent Church. Gone are the anti-gay sentiments, gone is the pro-gun ethic. Everyone is pro-choice.  Everyone is Emo.

What if hell didn’t exist? What if Christianity was okay with all other wisdom traditions and treated them with equality? What if the angry Old Testament vengeful God was not accurate somehow? What if the negative and challenging parts to traditional Christian theology just evaporated and went away? What would that kind of Christianity look like in our modern landscape? How would soft-sell, comfy zone, total ‘love currency’ Christianity be viewed then? These and other similar questions were cast about in an effort to come up with something culturally viable to replace the callous vestiges of Catholicism and out-of-date Protestant intellectual tyranny.  The Emergent Church had arrived.  

Walk into any Emergent-flavored ‘church’ today and you will find yourself in the lavish jungles of circus faith experiences. Prayer labyrinths, chanting, votive candles, and mystical- themed journeys await your every footstep. Worship venues have gone Disney, where nothing is too far-fetched. Sermons and dictated theology have faded into the past in favor of participatory adventures and congregational conversations. All accepted norms of doing Protestant Evangelical religion is targeted, deconstructed, and reconfigured to meet our North American cultural tastes. ‘Experimental’ is the unspoken agenda pulsing throughout Emergent sanctuaries doing faith...here and now.    

Emergent church leaders took it upon themselves to question everything in Protestant / Evangelical orthodoxy, including the layout of the common sanctuary in terms of architecture and interior design. Raised stages, podiums, and fixed pews all suggested an overly centralized dictatorial theological establishment that permeated most Christian faiths. How could fresh ideas and fresh experiences within such rigid Christian denominations foster a climate of growth and learning?  Emergent thought gurus assumed these Christian brands were tyrannical and reflected the dying relics of empire-building nations and their organizational dogma.  Thus Emergents decided it was necessary in their venues to introduce couches, eliminate podiums, and make the inward spaces of churches user-friendly with coffee boutiques and daring seating arrangements!

Not only do Emergent church venues redefine everything, they have also retooled the Protestant/Evangelical concept of attempting to convert the unchurched Gentiles. The emphasis has shifted from being missionary to being ‘missional’. The difference is both subtle and radical all at once. The Emergent movement values local causes, rather than sending resources to far-off countries in Africa, or some polarized political venture that leaves some people group marginalized in the long run.  Community-based initiatives, grassroots events, and social justice have replaced the roster of old-fashioned religious objectives.

The crux in missional thinking amongst Emergent adherents stems from the posture that Christianity is not superior to other wisdom traditions ... it is equal. This updated Emergent worldview alters the need to change the secular individual via conversion. If all faiths and philosophies are on the same footing, then the dynamic switches to include, rather than indoctrinate. The missionary man’s services are no longer needed, since marketing Jesus is out. Sharing a common belief or agenda with the unchurched is the new custom of the moment on the Emergent catwalk of love.

At the core of Emergent thought is critical thinking on steroids and skepticism without parameters. Every traditional Christian dogma is questioned and deconstructed.  Doubt is the subtle engine driving the movement. How can anyone really say what the theological intent of an ancient Israelite writer was? Doubt is preferred over faith; and constant skepticism and conjecture vs. trusting one’s personal reactions to Scripture.

Another pet Emergent behavior is dismissing two important books in the Bible, Revelation and Daniel. The problem with these ancient authors is that they frame God in terms of spiritual consequences and God’s universal limitation on sin and the Devil. How can we understand God as ultimately loving and forgiving if He displays wrath towards the Devil and punishes evil people with an eternal death? To the Emergent movement this belief has to be incorrect in order for God to be truly honest in His posture of being loving. Spiritual consequences and punishment require God to be a tyrant and a God embellished by colonial Western culture. Therefore Emergent thought leaders write off these two books as misguided or misunderstood. However once we throw out the concept of spiritual consequences, then Christ’s sacrifice and atonement for our sin becomes diminished and minimized. This suits Emergent church leaders in order to put other wisdom traditions on an equal footing. No more need to be exclusive and superior in our theological overview. Again, the purpose is always to remove messy and unpleasant aspects of Christianity. And, once more, if Christ’s sacrifice was not paramount and totally necessary for mankind then conversion becomes a moot issue. Marketing ‘Christianity’ is no longer pertinent.   Evangelism is a thing of the past.

Thus we have this pervasive and enticing movement replacing the stale old brands of doing Christianity. Guilt and earning salvation don’t even show up on the radar any more. God is ultimately forgiving. His character has been revamped, updated and packaged to meet the demands of the politically correct and morally inclusive culture. God is cool. He’s laid back and wants mankind to begin fixing its own problems with ‘radical hospitality’ using the new ‘currency of love’. Burning Man meets Beaver Cleaver. Heaven deconstructed and redefined is here and now. 

- See more at: http://advindicate.com/articles/2015/2/16/emergent-thought-questions-and-deconstruction#sthash.4k8bnr2j.dpuf

[debbym]

EMERGENT THOUGHT: QUESTIONS AND DECONSTRUCTION

February 18, 2015 Robert Llewellyn

During the 1980’s and 90’s rogue bands of Christian pastors began asking themselves how they could repackage, bend, hacksaw, and sell Christianity to a postmodern global culture no longer interested in the cranky and judgmental values their parents collectively gave them as a society. An unofficial movement that transcended Christian denominational boundaries slowly began to take shape as brash thought leaders explored new and fresh possibilities for reshaping Christianity into one fabricated for Western culture. These daring Christian spin doctors went into overdrive, and a frenzy of ‘conversations’ began to replace much of the traditional Christian doctrines from various Christian faiths. What morphed from this extravaganza of Christian introspection and juicy embellishment has become known as the Emergent Church. Gone are the anti-gay sentiments, gone is the pro-gun ethic. Everyone is pro-choice.  Everyone is Emo.

What if hell didn’t exist? What if Christianity was okay with all other wisdom traditions and treated them with equality? What if the angry Old Testament vengeful God was not accurate somehow? What if the negative and challenging parts to traditional Christian theology just evaporated and went away? What would that kind of Christianity look like in our modern landscape? How would soft-sell, comfy zone, total ‘love currency’ Christianity be viewed then? These and other similar questions were cast about in an effort to come up with something culturally viable to replace the callous vestiges of Catholicism and out-of-date Protestant intellectual tyranny.  The Emergent Church had arrived.  

Walk into any Emergent-flavored ‘church’ today and you will find yourself in the lavish jungles of circus faith experiences. Prayer labyrinths, chanting, votive candles, and mystical- themed journeys await your every footstep. Worship venues have gone Disney, where nothing is too far-fetched. Sermons and dictated theology have faded into the past in favor of participatory adventures and congregational conversations. All accepted norms of doing Protestant Evangelical religion is targeted, deconstructed, and reconfigured to meet our North American cultural tastes. ‘Experimental’ is the unspoken agenda pulsing throughout Emergent sanctuaries doing faith...here and now.    

Emergent church leaders took it upon themselves to question everything in Protestant / Evangelical orthodoxy, including the layout of the common sanctuary in terms of architecture and interior design. Raised stages, podiums, and fixed pews all suggested an overly centralized dictatorial theological establishment that permeated most Christian faiths. How could fresh ideas and fresh experiences within such rigid Christian denominations foster a climate of growth and learning?  Emergent thought gurus assumed these Christian brands were tyrannical and reflected the dying relics of empire-building nations and their organizational dogma.  Thus Emergents decided it was necessary in their venues to introduce couches, eliminate podiums, and make the inward spaces of churches user-friendly with coffee boutiques and daring seating arrangements!

Not only do Emergent church venues redefine everything, they have also retooled the Protestant/Evangelical concept of attempting to convert the unchurched Gentiles. The emphasis has shifted from being missionary to being ‘missional’. The difference is both subtle and radical all at once. The Emergent movement values local causes, rather than sending resources to far-off countries in Africa, or some polarized political venture that leaves some people group marginalized in the long run.  Community-based initiatives, grassroots events, and social justice have replaced the roster of old-fashioned religious objectives.

The crux in missional thinking amongst Emergent adherents stems from the posture that Christianity is not superior to other wisdom traditions ... it is equal. This updated Emergent worldview alters the need to change the secular individual via conversion. If all faiths and philosophies are on the same footing, then the dynamic switches to include, rather than indoctrinate. The missionary man’s services are no longer needed, since marketing Jesus is out. Sharing a common belief or agenda with the unchurched is the new custom of the moment on the Emergent catwalk of love.

At the core of Emergent thought is critical thinking on steroids and skepticism without parameters. Every traditional Christian dogma is questioned and deconstructed.  Doubt is the subtle engine driving the movement. How can anyone really say what the theological intent of an ancient Israelite writer was? Doubt is preferred over faith; and constant skepticism and conjecture vs. trusting one’s personal reactions to Scripture.

Another pet Emergent behavior is dismissing two important books in the Bible, Revelation and Daniel. The problem with these ancient authors is that they frame God in terms of spiritual consequences and God’s universal limitation on sin and the Devil. How can we understand God as ultimately loving and forgiving if He displays wrath towards the Devil and punishes evil people with an eternal death? To the Emergent movement this belief has to be incorrect in order for God to be truly honest in His posture of being loving. Spiritual consequences and punishment require God to be a tyrant and a God embellished by colonial Western culture. Therefore Emergent thought leaders write off these two books as misguided or misunderstood. However once we throw out the concept of spiritual consequences, then Christ’s sacrifice and atonement for our sin becomes diminished and minimized. This suits Emergent church leaders in order to put other wisdom traditions on an equal footing. No more need to be exclusive and superior in our theological overview. Again, the purpose is always to remove messy and unpleasant aspects of Christianity. And, once more, if Christ’s sacrifice was not paramount and totally necessary for mankind then conversion becomes a moot issue. Marketing ‘Christianity’ is no longer pertinent.   Evangelism is a thing of the past.

Thus we have this pervasive and enticing movement replacing the stale old brands of doing Christianity. Guilt and earning salvation don’t even show up on the radar any more. God is ultimately forgiving. His character has been revamped, updated and packaged to meet the demands of the politically correct and morally inclusive culture. God is cool. He’s laid back and wants mankind to begin fixing its own problems with ‘radical hospitality’ using the new ‘currency of love’. Burning Man meets Beaver Cleaver. Heaven deconstructed and redefined is here and now. 

- See more at: http://advindicate.com/articles/2015/2/16/emergent-thought-questions-and-deconstruction#sthash.4k8bnr2j.dpuf

 

who is this guy Bonnie?

[bonnie]

An opinion submission to Advindicate. There is a link provided

[TheCodeMonk]

I really don't know what to make of the last opinion article posted by Bonnie. Part of it scares me for the salvation of people being brought to Christ these ways, the other part of me is glad that at least a new way has been found to reach the worldly. I've always been of the opinion that we as Christians should be reaching everyone no matter how they live their lives and then let God work on them. If we have a worship service with music they can relate to, as long as the message is proper, what's the problem?

As far as Sunday worship goes, does anyone really think there is going to be a law that requires worship on Sunday? With the current landscape of anti religion in general and all God related propaganda being thrown out of government institutions and now the invitation of Muslims to pray in front of Congress, can you really belive this is still going to happen? I just can't anymore. Unless there is some kind of global crusade and the whole world becomes converted to Christianity, I just don't see it. But that's just my opinion and I've been wrong before on so many levels.

[Lauralea]

I really don't know what to make of the last opinion article posted by Bonnie. Part of it scares me for the salvation of people being brought to Christ these ways, the other part of me is glad that at least a new way has been found to reach the worldly. I've always been of the opinion that we as Christians should be reaching everyone no matter how they live their lives and then let God work on them. If we have a worship service with music they can relate to, as long as the message is proper, what's the problem?

As far as Sunday worship goes, does anyone really think there is going to be a law that requires worship on Sunday? With the current landscape of anti religion in general and all God related propaganda being thrown out of government institutions and now the invitation of Muslims to pray in front of Congress, can you really belive this is still going to happen? I just can't anymore. Unless there is some kind of global crusade and the whole world becomes converted to Christianity, I just don't see it. But that's just my opinion and I've been wrong before on so many levels.

I have certainly been wrong before too, but I do believe there will be a Sunday law because the Bible predicts it. In Noah's day, it had never rained. We certainly see a lot of the other things predicted happening. Probably it will happen after some natural disasters when people are desperate and religious leaders promote it as the answer. How desperate? Pretty desperate.

 

 2 Timothy 3 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God...

[Gail]

Hmm... With all the confusion going on, do you really think that those coming out of Babylon will do so because of a mishmash of commonalities?

What about the Rev 18 angel message that lightens the world with its glory?

[B/W Photodude]

Another view of the Emergent Movement in the SDA church: