I’ve got to admit that the new Mac commercials are a brilliant piece of marketing. Apple® is doing such a good job at this that their computer sales are actually up 54% from this time last year. The commercials feature a young, scruffy, quasi-Emo guy and a nerdy, overweight, middle aged man. Of course the young guy represents the Mac and the old guy represents the PC. One of my favorites is the newest one with the support group that contains four other nerds and the one that begins to repeat, “I’m pleased to report that I’ve been error free for nearly a week.” What Apple® has done is market to a younger, hipper audience of trendsetters and it has translated into success across the board.
If you are involved in church life at all right now, I think another commercial could be made with the same characters but having them representing “Traditional Christianity” and the “Emerging Church.” Right now, the Emerging Church is led by people such as Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones and Erwin McManus who have a “Hipper-Than-Thou” attitude and are in touch with the cultural climate. What the Emerging churches are doing, at least the one I have had extensive involvement with, is defining their churches by what they are not instead of what they are. Most leaders and members of these churches would say that they have been scarred by “Traditional Christianity.” Christian bookstores, church structures, and even the “fruits of the Spirit” are made fun of as disgusting to these new trendsetting churches.
The problem I am growing to see with the theology being put out by this movement and taught in these churches is that they are overcorrecting problems and diverging from orthodox Christianity in many cases. C.S. Lewis was quoted once saying that Christians are like drunks, who get up from one ditch only to fall into another ditch on the other side of the road. I believe this is happening once again as the pendulum begins to swing back the other way in Christian practice and thought.
For instance, Rob Bell says in Velvet Elvis that he believes, “I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God.” This sounds cool and was actually appealing to me personally for a while until I examined this train of thought rationally. Roger Olson explains better than I could why this is incorrect and actually damaging. He says in The Mosaic of Christian Belief, “If “Christianity” is compatible with any and every truth claim, it is meaningless. It would then be indistinguishable from, say, Buddhism or atheism. Truly it would be chaotic, shapeless and devoid of identity.” So, while saving enough money to build a house in order to not incur debt is a good principle and a Muslim practice, it does not need to have Christianity’s stamp on it for you to practice it.
What tends to happen with guys like Rob Bell, Doug Pagitt and Brian McLaren is that they use the argument that “blank” word never appears in the Bible. I have either read or heard both of these men say that the words “personal relationship,” “spirituality,” “second coming,” “Trinity” and “eternity” as a timeless state are not in the Bible. (Side note: neither does the word “recycling.” While I am going “green” more and more daily by downsizing to a car that gets 34 mpg and recycling, I can do this in the name of being a responsible citizen and human rather than because God commanded it in Genesis. It’s just funny that they will throw out the second coming or eternal life, but say that the Bible tells you to recycle. See my blog called “Changing of the Guard” for more on this topic. Side note is now over.) In fact, it has gotten so bad that one Emerging Church leader reportedly called the Trinity B.S. This is what happens when Scripture is not the lens through which you gauge experience, reason, and tradition. What I fear is that the Emerging Church is actually a Diverging Church. This is no more obvious than in McLaren’s book title called Everything Must Change. Really ? Everything? And just listen to other titles by Emerging authors: The New Christians, A New Kind of Christian, and A Christianity Worth Believing. That sounds a little drastic and more than slightly arrogant to believe that in 2000 years of Christian history, our forefathers and foremothers have screwed up everything.
So the question becomes, what do I do as a Christian who wants to stay sound biblically and traditionally while also being relevant to the current cultural climate? I’m not talented enough to be like Paul, “all things to all people.” So I guess the only other option is to be the dorky PC guy from the Apple® commercial because I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater while also being a compromising letdown to the fundamentalists on the other side. Or maybe there is a group of Christians who will rise up that will continue to follow orthodox Christianity while reaching the world around them with the love of God. I believe the guiding principle of people like this will be what a mentor of mine told me once: “It is better for your ministry to be warm instead of cool.” Is that what you believe?
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Heaven on Earth? by Brady
There are things I have to do as a minister that are just part of the cross I must bear, and one of them is living in Waco, Texas. My brother and sister-in-law live in Vail, Colorado, and my sister and brother-in-law live in Laguna Beach, California. I am actually visiting my family in Vail as I write and looking at some of the most gorgeous mountains in the entire world. The reason Becca and I are up here is to see our new niece who is now two months old. All around me is incredible scenery and loving family. Signs of new life in creation and my niece are capturing most of our waking moments. But in the midst of these incredible moments, I can’t help but let my mind wonder to the idea of heaven on earth.
In many Christian circles, especially amongst “Emerging theologians” such as Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, there seems to be a push to promote the idea that we as Christians are called to bring heaven to earth. While I fully understand their motives and completely affirm not checking out and watching the world go to hell in a hand basket, I still cannot get beyond the problems which arise out of this “progressive” line of thought. N.T. Wright sums up this belief system when he says that heaven is “a further dimension of our world, not a place far removed at one extreme of our world. It is all around us, glimpsed in a mystery in every Eucharist and every act of generous human love.” (Following Jesus) Wright goes on to say that we are reminded of it when we see beauty in God’s created order.
So is this idea of heaven on earth correct? Is heaven achievable and capable of being found on earth by embracing beauty and doing acts of love? As incredibly beautiful the scenery is here and as much as I would love to spend every moment connecting deeply with family and friends in community, the reality of the world still seems to me that we will never be able to achieve heaven on earth. I cannot simply believe heaven is earth without wars, violence, and sin. I know that I, personally, am too easily dissatisfied with the world as it is even when I am experiencing little “pieces of heaven on earth.” You may believe that this is due to my sinful nature, but I tend to follow C.S. Lewis’ line of thinking that we long for something more because we were created for something better. Lewis says, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” He goes on to say, “These things - the beauty, the memory of our own past - are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited . . . Here, then, is the desire, still wandering and uncertain of its object and still largely unable to see that object in the direction where it really lies . . . Heaven is, by definition, outside our experience, but all intelligible descriptions must be of things within our experience. The scriptural picture of heaven is therefore just as symbolical as the picture which our desire, unaided, invents for itself . . .” (The Weight of Glory, emphasis mine)
Heaven on earth also seems to be a ludicrous idea because of the depravity of our own lives. I believe that wars will not cease on this side of eternity because we cannot even stop warring against our own selves. Even if we stop sabotaging our own personal, spiritual and emotional lives, a disease called cancer can set in that pits our physical body against itself. The bottom line is that humans have been attempting to play God since the fall of creation. We see this today in how we create video game worlds, are attempting to clone animals and humans, and also believing that we can actually create heaven on earth. The beauty of the cross is that there is nothing we can do about our own salvation. Our redemption comes solely through God initiating relationship with us.
The Bible lays out a clear description of what heaven will be like in sections such as Isaiah 11 or 65. These passages show a total DNA change of both humans and animals. The wolf and the lamb will coexist and children will be able to crawl amongst poisonous snakes. Babies, like my niece, will no longer cry for no other reason aside from a deep dissatisfaction that is inborn at conception. The only way I see this happening is by Christ’s return, from somewhere where we are currently not inhabiting, and making all things new. The only way I believe heaven can and will be achieved in my life is by Christ’s return or my death, whichever comes first. Maybe I am checking out by saying this; perhaps I am just partaking in oppressive religion by hoping for a future kingdom that is not here and now. But I will let Paul’s words in Romans 8 be my hope concerning this subject. “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)” (Romans 8:23-25, NLT, emphasis mine)
In many Christian circles, especially amongst “Emerging theologians” such as Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, there seems to be a push to promote the idea that we as Christians are called to bring heaven to earth. While I fully understand their motives and completely affirm not checking out and watching the world go to hell in a hand basket, I still cannot get beyond the problems which arise out of this “progressive” line of thought. N.T. Wright sums up this belief system when he says that heaven is “a further dimension of our world, not a place far removed at one extreme of our world. It is all around us, glimpsed in a mystery in every Eucharist and every act of generous human love.” (Following Jesus) Wright goes on to say that we are reminded of it when we see beauty in God’s created order.
So is this idea of heaven on earth correct? Is heaven achievable and capable of being found on earth by embracing beauty and doing acts of love? As incredibly beautiful the scenery is here and as much as I would love to spend every moment connecting deeply with family and friends in community, the reality of the world still seems to me that we will never be able to achieve heaven on earth. I cannot simply believe heaven is earth without wars, violence, and sin. I know that I, personally, am too easily dissatisfied with the world as it is even when I am experiencing little “pieces of heaven on earth.” You may believe that this is due to my sinful nature, but I tend to follow C.S. Lewis’ line of thinking that we long for something more because we were created for something better. Lewis says, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” He goes on to say, “These things - the beauty, the memory of our own past - are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited . . . Here, then, is the desire, still wandering and uncertain of its object and still largely unable to see that object in the direction where it really lies . . . Heaven is, by definition, outside our experience, but all intelligible descriptions must be of things within our experience. The scriptural picture of heaven is therefore just as symbolical as the picture which our desire, unaided, invents for itself . . .” (The Weight of Glory, emphasis mine)
Heaven on earth also seems to be a ludicrous idea because of the depravity of our own lives. I believe that wars will not cease on this side of eternity because we cannot even stop warring against our own selves. Even if we stop sabotaging our own personal, spiritual and emotional lives, a disease called cancer can set in that pits our physical body against itself. The bottom line is that humans have been attempting to play God since the fall of creation. We see this today in how we create video game worlds, are attempting to clone animals and humans, and also believing that we can actually create heaven on earth. The beauty of the cross is that there is nothing we can do about our own salvation. Our redemption comes solely through God initiating relationship with us.
The Bible lays out a clear description of what heaven will be like in sections such as Isaiah 11 or 65. These passages show a total DNA change of both humans and animals. The wolf and the lamb will coexist and children will be able to crawl amongst poisonous snakes. Babies, like my niece, will no longer cry for no other reason aside from a deep dissatisfaction that is inborn at conception. The only way I see this happening is by Christ’s return, from somewhere where we are currently not inhabiting, and making all things new. The only way I believe heaven can and will be achieved in my life is by Christ’s return or my death, whichever comes first. Maybe I am checking out by saying this; perhaps I am just partaking in oppressive religion by hoping for a future kingdom that is not here and now. But I will let Paul’s words in Romans 8 be my hope concerning this subject. “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)” (Romans 8:23-25, NLT, emphasis mine)
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