BRIAN MCLAREN & the "NEW LIBERALS"
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
EMERGENT CHURCH is SPREADING SPIRITUAL CANCER
-Extracts by Marsha West.
In the Sixties the counterculture rejected consumerism,
individualism, traditional values and ideas, and protested against
their parent's middle class values.... Now a similar assault on
historic orthodox Christianity is underway...
In John 8:31-32 Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you are
truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free."
There is a growing movement afoot in the postmodern Church
that does not abide in God's Word; hence they do not know
the truth. The movement calls itself "Emergent" or "Emerging
Church" (ECM) and it's emerging away from orthodox Christianity,
spreading its spiritual cancer throughout the globe. ECM change
agents have made inroads into evangelicalism, big time. What
they preach is a counterfeit social gospel. They say they bring
a "message of peace." Their hope is to make Christianity more
palatable to the world. Sounds altruistic, doesn't it? But don't
believe it! In order to accomplish their lofty goal, the shifters
must first repackage the Church.
So they're touring the country, promoting their social gospel and
message of peace to the masses. Prominent ECM leader Brian
McLaren is spearheading the "Everything Must Change" tour.
According to McLaren's website the planet is in Deep Shift - A
time of transition rethinking re-imagining and re-envisioning.
You may not have heard about The Shift yet, but you will soon!
Shifters, like pod people, are in our midst... They lecture,
write for Christian news sources and they're all over the Internet.
Now they're touring the country. Many shifters are familiar faces
on TV and have become media darlings. Browse through your local
Christian bookstore and you'll find their names lined up on shelves.
Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Marcus Borg, Dallas
Willard, Leonard Sweet, Erwin McManus, Phyllis Tickle , Rob Bell,
Dan Kimball, Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones, Scot McKnight, Eddie Gibbs,
Ryan Bolger, Jeff & Sherry Maddock, Peter Rollins, to name a few.
Every one of them are theological liberals!
But shifters are offended when they're labeled liberal. And
besides, liberal is so yesterday! And let's be honest here;
liberal has a negative connotation, thanks largely to vociferous
conservatives...
ECM's beginnings
In his article, "Understanding the Emergent Church" Walter
Henenger says that while some of ECM's leaders came of age
in the "new paradigm" churches of the Sixties and Seventies,
"the real starting point was the mid-1980s, when Gen X
ministries began catering to youth culture..."
In my research I ran across a panel discussion on You Tube,
"Let's Talk Post-Modernism and the Emergent Church."[16]
Here highly regarded orthodox theologians R.C. Sproul, Albert
Mohler and Ravi Zacharias had a "conversation" about
postmodernism, modernism, liberalism, and ECM.
The main thrust of ECM, the scholars say, is its rejection of
modernism and its embrace of postmodernism. Why reject
orthodoxy? Because the orthodoxy are absolutists. Absolutists
want to reinsert categories of right and wrong, whereas
postmodernists balk at doctrinal assertions. They gave as an
example Brian McLaren's position on homosexuality in a Time
Magazine interview. Following is the excerpt from Time:
"Frankly, many of us don't know what we should think about
homosexuality. We've heard all sides but no position has yet
won our confidence so that we can say 'it seems good to the
Holy Spirit and us.' That alienates us from both the liberals
and conservatives who seem to know exactly what we should
think." So McLaren suggested a five-year moratorium on making
pronouncements. And what will we do in the meantime? He
went on to say, "[W]e'll practice prayerful Christian dialogue,
listening respectfully, disagreeing agreeably. When decisions
need to be made, they'll be admittedly provisional. We'll keep
our ears attuned to scholars in biblical studies, theology,
ethics, psychology, genetics, sociology, and related fields.
Then in five years , if we have clarity, we'll speak; if not, we'll
set another five years for ongoing reflection."[17]
Um
the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, Brian. (Lev. 18:22,
Lev. 20:13, Rom.1:26-28, 1 Cor. 6:9-10,)
McLaren's wishy-washy comment on homosexuality obviously
did not go over well with the panel. Near the end of the
discussion Albert Mohler commented that his response to the
homosexual question is the very essence of postmodernism.
He then cautioned, "It is the abdication of Christian responsibility.
It is the abdication of Christian conviction and it is a cave in of
Christian courag e. We do have an answer! And it's not like we
don't know what it is!"
As R.C. Sproul said so well, ECM appeals to Christians "who
don't want to have to deal with theological conflict." These same
folks relativize doctrine, and that makes Sproul angry. He then
points out that disagreeing doctrinally is a "bad thing." Looking
rather grim-faced he said, "We can't be satisfied with it. Because
truth is too important to kill it in the streets for the sake of peace!
You can't do it!" Bravo!
The Emergent movement is most definitely gaining currency,
especially with young people and those who are dissatisfied
with mainline evangelicalism. Which is the reason it's
imperative that committed Christians take a deeper look
into the "conversation." Listen carefully to the language to see
whether or not what a person purports is within the pale of
orthodoxy. In other words, check to see if it's biblical. Because
if the "conversation" doesn't line up with Scripture, it's not from
God. And if it's not from God
it's from the pit of hell.
-Even NON-MEMBERS can comment at our site. Please share
your views on this article at the following website-
http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
ARTICLE SOURCE- http://www.newswithviews.com/West/marsha66.htm