All I expected and more
I just finished Why We're Not emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) by Kevin Deyoung and Ted kluck. Deyoung is senior pastor of University Reformed Church in Lansing, MI and writes for (among others) ESPN . It was, in short, all I expected and more. It critiques the emergent movement and footnotes everything, which makes it less likely that their critique is of the straw man variety. The critique is from the both Biblical and practical viewpoints.
My copy is all marked up so it is difficult to choose a single representative quote but this one is a good representative of the Biblical critique, comparing the emergent movement to one of the seven churches of Revelation:
Maybe the Christians at Pergamum were saying, "Hey, look, the important thing is that we
all love Jesus. Don't get hung up on secondary matters." Maybe they were in dialogue with
the Nicolaitans, attending lots of warm fuzzy meetings where they tried to understand one
another and gain an appreciation for their differing perspectives. Most likely, the cultural
pressure was simply too strong. Idolatry and sexual immorality were so rampant that they
became like high places for the church at Pergamum. They didn't see the danger and the
wickedness of what the false teachers were promoting, and so they became overly accommodating.
This is an example of the practical side of the book. Commenting on the emergent movement's infatuation with "injustice":
A quick look around the room at Mars Hill Bible Church (where Rob Bell of Nooma fame is
pastor) , at the five thousand or so other middle-class, suburban white people, and I really
wonder what injustice it is they're singing about? Not finding their size at the Gap?
If you're wrestling with the emergent church movement, I recommend this book as a good Bibilcal critique.
My copy is all marked up so it is difficult to choose a single representative quote but this one is a good representative of the Biblical critique, comparing the emergent movement to one of the seven churches of Revelation:
Maybe the Christians at Pergamum were saying, "Hey, look, the important thing is that we
all love Jesus. Don't get hung up on secondary matters." Maybe they were in dialogue with
the Nicolaitans, attending lots of warm fuzzy meetings where they tried to understand one
another and gain an appreciation for their differing perspectives. Most likely, the cultural
pressure was simply too strong. Idolatry and sexual immorality were so rampant that they
became like high places for the church at Pergamum. They didn't see the danger and the
wickedness of what the false teachers were promoting, and so they became overly accommodating.
This is an example of the practical side of the book. Commenting on the emergent movement's infatuation with "injustice":
A quick look around the room at Mars Hill Bible Church (where Rob Bell of Nooma fame is
pastor) , at the five thousand or so other middle-class, suburban white people, and I really
wonder what injustice it is they're singing about? Not finding their size at the Gap?
If you're wrestling with the emergent church movement, I recommend this book as a good Bibilcal critique.
It doesn't seem fair to go after the so-called emergent church without looking at why people are disillusioned with the mainstream evangelical church. As for the 'infatuation with injustice,' maybe a better term for it would be 'repulsion by endemic hypocrisy in the evangelical church.' People are looking for a church that has consistency between its message and its actions. The evangelical church doesn't offer that any more. They build a church building with the fanciest toilets in town while turning a blind eye to hunger in their communities. Or how about that pro-life stance? Only if it's convenient. My friend slept with her boyfriend in college, became pregnant, and chose to marry the father and keep the baby. She was kicked out of the evangelical bible college she was attending for having sex outside of marriage even though she made a 'pro-life' choice to deal with the consequences of her actions. Thirteen years later and she's still putting together the pieces of her life with the evangelical community nowhere to be found in supporting her. I could list dozens of more examples, but the point I'd like people to see is the evangelical church needs to clean up the filth in its own house before attempting an extreme home makeover on someone else.
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I don't see how anyone could seriously disagree with your comments here. Certainly grace was scarce in the situation of the young lady you describe. Ron <
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