Drive-through church, this is pretty funny and sadly true

The Emergent church - I guess this is the continuation of my crappy series a while back that I never did much with...so Part 2

Doug Pagitt makes this statement in the perspectives book Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: “The idea that there is a necessary distinction of matter from spirit, or creation from creator, is being reconsidered.” (pg. 142)

Earlier in this section, Pagitt relates this “reconsidering” of historically accepted Christian doctrine (specifically of God being separate from his creation, as in Genesis 1:1) to the discoveries of quantum physics and their partial overturning of understood Newtonian science in the modern world (specifically, the idea of the wave-particle behavior of light is addressed). In doing so he makes the assumption that Christian doctrine is much like science, in that its “discoveries” are merely products of human ingenuity, rather than revelation from God. Therefore he warrants the idea of a theological evolution of sorts since this opens the door for Christianity to no longer be defined solely by Scripture, but instead by any which way that the prevailing culture may take it.

It seems to me that these emergent folks, in efforts to try to see value in other religious ideas (of which I would say I agree with), are actually stepping over the boundaries of Christianity and into what we might just be able to call heresy.

It seems like they do so only for the sake of rebelling against accepted tradition, and to try and forge a new path and new traditions. The funny thing is that 50 or 100 years down the road, I would bet that those that are following this emergent trend (if there are any left) will be firmly established in the “new” traditions of the apparently-still-emerging church. It is impossible I believe to avoid tradition in any organization. Even if you’re trying at all costs to go against the tides of how things have been done in the past, your tradition then simply becomes rebellion. And if your organization is based on rebellion, on always trying to find a different way to do something, then in the end you are left only with questions and empty hands rather than answers and hands full of God’s words, since the real business of trusting what God says is never gotten around to and is pushed to the bottom of the priority list. I am fully for asking questions and demonstrating humility by having the courage to say “I don’t know,” but when all you have are questions and loosy-goosy theology, when your beliefs are challenged and pressed, you may find that the foundations of sand have washed away. In order to get somewhere, there needs to be a solid foundation to walk on, and not as Rob Bell says a “trampoline” of theology. Instead of jumping up and down on the trampoline of theology, and in effect getting nowhere but back to where we started, we need to stop playing around, set our sights on Christ, pack our bags, and walk to him. Just an opinion though J.

Religious Nuts

I recently met a Buddhist lady. But she was not a Buddhist simply because she was drawn to the particular teachings of this religion, but (as I assessed it) more as a rebound from some bad experiences she had in “Christian” churches (I use the term loosely). She was subject to some serious abuse from what sounded like preachers of the “prosperity gospel”, meaning that members of the church should give all their money to the preacher and in turn they will be blessed all the more. Meanwhile, the pastor is driving a Ferrari and living in a mansion, while those givers are left with nothing but desperate faith in the preacher’s rotten character. She was very hurt from these experiences and ended up leaving the church and Christianity as well.

But she took it too far and denounced all of Christianity as evil, based on her few experiences in a small, hick Texas town. Surely the perspective of the cultural transcendence of the Gospel from the backwoods of Texas can be blurred a bit. She said she liked Jesus (even loved him), but “couldn’t stand his crazy-ass friends.” I would be very prone to agree with her that there are plenty of people who claim to follow Jesus that are nuts, and sometimes even wolves in sheep’s clothing. But to dismiss them all by a blanket generalization is just plain reckless. I think there’s a lot of people that are nuts from other religions and worldviews, but I can’t judge the truthfulness and value of their substances based on the character of their proponents. I can look at atheists I would say seem nuts, as well as Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, etc. Really, the only common denominator in the nuts of all these groups is that of humanness. People are nuts! And sinful. People do terrible things, regardless of their religious affiliations. This is just one way of expressing the Christian doctrine of total depravity, which says that no one is righteous (Psalm 14:3) and we all do evil, as it is the nature of our unregenerate hearts.

She became Buddhist when she was invited to a temple and felt a feeling of great peace when she prayed there, contrasted to the spiritual chaos that she had experienced in church. While she admittedly had no idea what Buddhism teaches, her affinity for it developed from what she perceived as possessing value, as giving her peace and a sense of acceptance and non-judgment.

But the thing is, like all humanistic religions, that her religion is essentially her preconceived preferences, not particularly Buddhism or Christianity. In effect, she is not appealing to Buddhism and rejecting Christianity as if they are absolutely mutually exclusive (at least in some moral principles). She is merely appealing to what she already believes, indeed knows, is true. She has already formulated her beliefs prior to investigating Christianity or Buddhism, or whatever. It is whatever gives her peace, acceptance, warm feelings, etc. And this is sort of the prevailing wind of this world pertaining to spirituality. In effect, it is just paganism—a certain breed of selfishness that props up its own religion, worldview, and preferences above what is revealed from God. What characterizes man-made religion is that it always originates from the person. It is always man looking up to heaven speculating about what God (or whatever) is like. If this is, in fact, all that religion is (including Christianity), then it is logical that the tenets of relativism are true: there is no religion better than another; in fact, they are all useless in the end since none of them can knowingly make contact with reality. But humans don’t behave this way. Religion is built into us, even when we want to claim relativism. Take these three common sayings claiming relativism from our religious culture:

• “I don’t like this religion; I like THIS one”: This saying essentially appeals not specifically to the religion of the speaker’s liking because it’s superior, but to himself and his own beliefs. This is the opposite of Christianity which says truth comes from God and not from religion or from our perspectives and preferences.
  
  
• “All religions are the same”: This statement says so in an attempt to be accepting and tolerant, but this is actually just another statement of belief/doctrine and immediately defeats the point it tries to make if applied to itself. The insistence that all religions are the same is, in effect, itself a religion, and the chosen one of secularism.
  
  
• “Doctrine isn’t important, let’s all just love each other”: This statement of the unimportance of doctrine is actually making a doctrinal statement, since I could make the opposing unprovable statement that rather we should hate everyone. Love (the real type of love Jesus demonstrates by dying for his people, and for his enemies) is very much a Christian doctrine, and not to be confused with the emotional type of love that an American “Christian” may purport.
  
  

All this is in effect simply pride in oneself instead of in God. It’s all elevating the human ability to discover truth, instead of in God’s ability to reveal it. Surely it’s an arrogant view that props up the religious musings of the fallen sinner’s depraved mind over the mystery-revealing, all-knowing mind of God who created all.

Critics and Laziness

I find it extremely easy to be a critic, someone who throws rocks at the houses others have built. It’s really convenient to sit in your recliner and make judgments over people, churches, organizations, pastors, etc. It’s really handy to critique a bad teaching or a church policy (such as a “seeker-sensitive” model), all done while sitting on your rear, and completely consign someone or something to the junk drawer of embarrassing, shameful, or cheesy Christian subculture. It’s a common practice among those that would wave the flag of American evangelicalism, or conservative Christianity. But I find a lot of it is complete crap, simply because I’ve done it so much and have sensed the emptiness and deception involved here. It is empty because it leads nowhere but to cynicism about church, Christianity, and those that may actually be doing a lot of good. It is deceiving because it makes you feel like you are a great Christian simply because you can poke holes so easily in another’s theology or church government or whatever.

What I’m not saying is that the standards for where you spend your church time should be lower, or that you should simply think it’s ok that people are spreading a lot of nonsense in churches that is not biblical or good. But I am saying that we probably shouldn’t be as concerned with judging the person and work of others, but more with judging ourselves and repenting by working hard to build something good, or by contributing and serving somewhere where it is needed.

I find it extremely difficult to be a builder of something, someone who helps build a house instead of standing back and throwing rocks at those that are working. I believe that is what Proverbs speaks of when it calls out the “sluggard” and the “scoffer.” It is someone who won’t pick themselves up off the couch, but will bark criticisms and scoffs at others that have put their hands to something. And it is someone who makes constant excuses for their own laziness: “There’s a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets” (Pr. 22:13)

While I do not advocate an attitude of ignorance and dismissal about those silly caricatures of what you could call “robust Christianity,” I also think that I should be hard-pressed to find much time for devotion to throwing rocks at them. Instead, I should pray for them, and perhaps do something to reverse the tide. I should be too busy loving them to tear them down.

On the other hand, they used to burn heretics…just kidding.

Men and Worship

I don’t think we ever really grasp the weight of what we claim to believe as Christians. We make statements routinely like “God loves me,” or “Jesus rose from the dead,” or “God will judge sinners in the end,” as if they are old hat and just commonplace to say these things. Now they may be commonplace in a culture such as ours that has been so profoundly influenced by Christianity, in our little church world that we live in. When we make off-hand comments like “let’s go worship God in the church building,” there’s a lot that we take for granted and that we subconsciously downplay I think. Do we really understand what it means that we worship the King of the universe? Would this change how we worship? Can we imagine physically standing in the presence of Christ and still mumbling the words to the songs we sing and the prayers we recite with little to no emotion? I can’t, and yet I still fall prey to this often. I’m as conservative theologically as anyone, but most of these kinds of churches can generally tend to be pretty dull. This goes for all aspects of worship, not just music. It’s really confronting at my church since it’s not huge and we meet in a recreation center gym. It is tempting to just try and be silent and not stand out, and just sort of go through the motions without getting too excited or involved. It would seem a little startling and tacitly unthinkable to yell out “Amen!” to the preacher, and I think he senses this also in the congregation. But Bill made a comment last time I was there that caught my notice and made me think of a verse in 1 Timothy where Paul expresses:

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.

(2:8)

This verse is in the context of praying and giving thanks for all people, even those in high positions that have God-given authority over you (2:2), even those that are false teachers (1:3), even blasphemers (2:13, 20), persecutors (2:13), and insolent opponents (2:13), all of which Paul formerly was but was delivered by His mercy and grace (2:13-14); and certainly the women (wives, mothers, children, etc.) in the church (2:9-15), of whom God has made men stewards and leaders. This letter is written specifically to the church in Ephesus, of which Timothy was a pastor, and Paul commanded that men raise hands to the Lord Jesus, the mediator between God and all men. So Paul was commanding that men take the lead in the church, to initiate a worshipful response to God and in so doing encourage the women to follow likewise, not adorning themselves in trashy and inappropriate apparel and thereby dishonoring Christ and the appointed stewardship and leadership of godly men in the church, but

in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

(2:9-10)

It is not my intention to get into the issue that vs. 2:9-15 bring up, which is that of women in the highest position of authority in the church (pastor, teacher, elder, etc.), but suffice it to say that women are repeatedly told to respect the authority put over them in the church. So is the command to men in the same passage, to make intercession and prayer for those in authority over them and to lead well their wives and families by looking to Jesus, the mediator between us all and God the Father. This is why Paul planted all of his churches, including the one at Ephesus, and why he was appointed by Christ

a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

(2:7)

Paul did this to instill in men leadership and a sense of responsibility for the direction and well-being of the church, including the office of overseer (3:1) and teacher (3:2) of the family of God. Women are likewise told to submit themselves to this and to learn quietly (2:11) in this context. Obviously this is one of the most hotly debated verses in all of Scripture, but again it is not my intention to get into that here (perhaps another post).

My point is that what Pastor Bill commented on briefly brought this to mind, and convicted me that I and fellow guys do need to feel a sense of responsibility for how the church responds in worship. In most “conservative” churches, where generally the Bible is taught well, there is not much liveliness in the congregation on Sunday. People tend to try and stay quiet and unnoticed, presumably from a desire to not stand out and to not draw attention away from the worship of God in the sanctuary. But I would submit that this is not necessarily the right way to go (even though I am grossly aware of my rampant failure here). What does it say about us as worshippers of Jesus that it often seems lifeless during what is supposed to be our celebration and heartfelt thanksgiving to our great God and King? Do we fully grasp what the redemption of our souls implicates? When we stand with our hands in our pockets, mumbling words to songs, checking our watches because God forbid the service goes long, and having a general attitude of complacency, do we equate this to actual knee-bending, on-your-face worship to the exalted Lord of Heaven, or is it just a “worship service” with neat and/or cheesy guitar songs, a few pithy statements made about God’s love, some prayers scattered throughout, and a cheap and inaccurate imitation of what the Reformers had in mind for the worship of God? Do we really worship during “worship”, or is it just another day of complacency that we call the Holy Sabbath?

Are we really interceding for others, offering prayers of thanksgiving for God’s blessings and appointed leaders, and are the men in the church really leading their churches and their families and their wives, pointing always to the great Mediator and lifting holy hands to Christ to intercede for this broken and desperately needy world? I haven’t been. Lord God help me repent and to follow the leadership appointed above me and those that would be entrusted to me, to always look to the Mediator in prayer for all people, without resisting or getting angry about it (2:8), but sensing the need and putting the joyful burden of responsibility on myself. I pray others would do likewise. Amen.

Between the Sheets

Kaleo Church in Houston is starting a look into Scripture's most risque display of sexual liberation. Pastor Bill Streger is going through the Song of Solomon, and apparently going to be as frank as possible without crossing the line into the world of crudity and crassness, a feat certainly not accomplished more impressively than the American sex-perverted culture where sex is simply a vehicle for self-gratification and is all but detached from love, marriage, children, and God. It should be interesting. Perhaps I will write more of my thoughts on this topic at a later time.

There are banners you can click on on this blog, or you can go to www.whatsbetweenthesheets.com for the fancy official series page.

Additionally, something I've found very enlightening about this topic is a similar series on the Song of Songs preached by Mark Driscoll. He is a very effective communicator and doesn't shy away from speaking the truth, especially when it's not what we want to hear. See links below.

Part 1. The Virgin and the Vineyard I - Waiting for Love
Part 2. The Virgin and the Vineyard II - Falling in Love
Part 3. The Damsel and the Dream - Growing in Love
Part 4. The Queen and the Quest - Reflections on Consummating Love
Part 5. Recollection and Romance - Reflections on Growing in Love
Part 6. Romance and Reality - Reflections on Mature Love
Part 7. Homestead and Honeymoon - Reflections on Rekindling Love
Part 8. Tenderness and Tragedy - A Final Reflection