Problems with Jello

Okay, okay, you've had enough of the jello.... Well, just a little more! By the way, I am in no way claiming to be an expert on the emerging "conversation" (that is what many like to call it). I am merely commenting on what I have read and heard. If you want a thorough, well-balanced evaluation try Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church by D.A. Carson. It can be a bit difficult to follow sometimes, but it is a good book.

Today I would like to point out what bothers me about the movement.

1. The emerging movement is to be commended for their desire to make Christianity effective. However, in doing so they move to an extreme. Instead of following objective doctrinal truth they tend to follow shallow, relative methods. This leads to such things as a refusal to accept the biblical statements on homosexuality as sin, and the doctrine of hell because they are "weapons of mass distraction" (Brian McLaren). Ever heard of, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for everything?"

2. The movement generally fails to see the exclusivity of the gospel. In other words, there is a failure to see faith in Christ for salvation as the only means of gaining entrance into God's heaven. The movement is lax on this issue, even to the point of arguing that for the sake of dialogue with other "faiths" we must downplay faith in Christ as the only way. Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary writes,

When it comes to issues such as the exclusivity of the gospel, the identity of Jesus Christ as both fully human and fully divine, the authoritative character of the Scripture as written revelation, and the clear teaching of Scripture concerning issues such as homosexuality, this movement simply refuses to answer the questions.

If there is a refusal to answer questions, we must wonder why.

3. A rejection of the propositional truths (statements that affirm something as being true or false -- absolutely) of Scripture to be culturally relevant (see Titus 2:1 for the command to teach these truths). This borders on, if not crosses over the line of, rejecting the belief in absolute truth. In other words, this movement is characterized by a compromise of biblical truths for the sake of culture. D.A. Carson writes,

Is there at least some danger that what is being advocated is not so much a new kind of Christian in a new Emergent Church, but a church that is so submerging itself in the culture that it risks hopeless compromise?

That is my fear.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:
preach the word;
be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort,
with complete patience and teaching.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching,
but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves
teachers to suit their own passions,
and will turn away from the listening to the truth
and wander off into myths....
2 Timothy 4:1-4