Under the advisement of the Holy Spirit, and great men like John Wesley and Steve DeNeff, and friends like Pete Aldin, I have begun to wonder if this idea of "Emergent Venom" is not, somehow, counter-productive, or even counter to scripture. I can rationalize (and perhaps even be correct) that men like John MacArthur are inadvertently describing, by their actions, how they want to be treated, at the same time, I do not wish to address anyone in their fashion.
This first struck me while reading Wesley's A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, and again, while reading More Than Forgiveness, by Steve DeNeff (A MUST READ). But lately, Pete Aldin has been doing a series called Famous Last Words, a study of the last verse of each book of the bible. When he touched on Joshua, he made the following comment:
We live in a day of reformation in the church. As an older style of leadership dies away over the next 15-20 years, lets not adopt a position of "Good riddance!", but let's honor them. And not just honor them, but take their bones - their "presence" and legacy - with us into the future. Click for full text.
And that struck me because, as I said to him in response, This is something that I struggle over struggling with. It is very easy for me to see the passing of certain prominent (yet wrong) leaders of the church as the glorious passing of a tainted era. I rejoice that they are in Heaven where they can do no more damage. And that's wrong of me. There are few, if any, in whom I should not be able to find something honorable and good.
I want to seek love and unity and holiness, not a purging of the people that I disagree with from Christianity's steering commision. So be patient with me while I sort this out. It may be that Emergent Venom will become a grounds of defense, or it may cease to exist altogether, or honestly, I may realize that I was okay to begin with (though I doubt it), and keep right on. I appreciate your patience.
This first struck me while reading Wesley's A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, and again, while reading More Than Forgiveness, by Steve DeNeff (A MUST READ). But lately, Pete Aldin has been doing a series called Famous Last Words, a study of the last verse of each book of the bible. When he touched on Joshua, he made the following comment:
We live in a day of reformation in the church. As an older style of leadership dies away over the next 15-20 years, lets not adopt a position of "Good riddance!", but let's honor them. And not just honor them, but take their bones - their "presence" and legacy - with us into the future. Click for full text.
And that struck me because, as I said to him in response, This is something that I struggle over struggling with. It is very easy for me to see the passing of certain prominent (yet wrong) leaders of the church as the glorious passing of a tainted era. I rejoice that they are in Heaven where they can do no more damage. And that's wrong of me. There are few, if any, in whom I should not be able to find something honorable and good.
I want to seek love and unity and holiness, not a purging of the people that I disagree with from Christianity's steering commision. So be patient with me while I sort this out. It may be that Emergent Venom will become a grounds of defense, or it may cease to exist altogether, or honestly, I may realize that I was okay to begin with (though I doubt it), and keep right on. I appreciate your patience.
5 comments:
Sometimes I wish we could talk face to face and just hash things out. Me brining my questions to you, you sharing your thoughts with me. My kid letting yours crawl all over him and your sweet wife sitting next to me.
On a different topic, I'm reading N.T. Wright's Suprised by Hope.
It's a heck of a read, Jer.
You have made me curious about what we would hash out. Last year, a friend and I sat down over coffee and discussed my theology. Good times. Lots of revelations.
Everything by Wright is excellent. I can't say that I've read Surprised By Hope. I also recommend:
The Last Word
Simply Christian
Judas and the Gospel of Jesus
But right now, I want to recommend to everyone to check out More Than Forgiveness by Steve DeNeff. No one has captured my belief system more eloquently than he.
Hehe. Interesting read. I kinda wondered if you'd rethink that to a degree after you'd cooled off a little. I actually just posted an entry that hits on "The Way of the Master," since you're so fond of them. 0=)
It's not so much a matter of cooling off. It's been a rolling boil for a few years, I suppose. I have the most dispassionate anger you'll ever see. But the idea of Emergent Venom occured to me suddenly and I was really excited about it. I did it without considering what I was doing and to be honest, I haven't turned off the idea. I think I just need to approach it with a slightly different angle. It needs to be addressed. It needs to be hashed out. In some senses, this new type of ecumenism of the church is the Christian equivalent to political correctness. I have a second quote by Steve DeNeff to that effect that I plan to use soon.
I look forward to what results. Tell Amy hi for me.
Post a Comment