This falls under the (sad) blanket of condemnation that masquerades as discernment in the Christian Church in America. Instead, we need to engage ideas, even ones antithetical to our own.
McLaren is flat-out wrong on the homosexuality issue. End of story.
But he is right about evangelicals wanting a scapegoat.
We can still throw out his first assertion and listen to his second.
Too much of contemporary evangelicalism operates out of a need to label something "evil" and then fight against it. The problem is that we're not too good at labeling, nor are we good at thinking through the consequences of our battle. The (failed) culture war is a good example of this.
Worse, our need to scapegoat never becomes self-examination. By placing all evils outside the Church, we fail to account for our own house. As a result, garbage fills our own house and yet we complain about the other guy's. This only hurts our credibility and the right we have to speak to the culture and to the lives of others.
Where the Emergents got it right was by their declaration that our own house was a wreck. Where they went wrong is that they threw out all the priceless furniture and household goods and left a lot of the garbage where it was.
As Francis Schaeffer so wisely noted, we must engage people who have ideas contrary to ours. Not everything they say will be wrong, and they may offer a picture of us that, while we may not want to see it, is nonetheless worth examining.
In the case of homosexuality, the American Church worked so hard to shun gays that we went contrary to Jesus' methodology of dealing with sinners. Rather than reach out, we pushed gays away and labeled them the enemy. The outcome was inevitable. We have a great divide now that is far harder to cross.
One doesn't have to embrace sin or soften a traditional stance to devise a way of dealing with people that is more in line with the Gospel. That we end up being the bull in the china shop on so many culture issues is our fault alone.
Dan - I'd rather listen to those who understand the nature of sin and the solution provided through Christ than to the McLaren's. I have found plenty of properly motivated sources rightly discerning we need correction. Therefore McLaren should be ignored in the sense of his recommendation (the point of this post's title) and confronted for his error (the point of the last portion of the article).
Net - I found the article to be doing what you recommend and I don't find the condemnation you reference.
3 comments:
Isn't that a lot to write/read about someone we should ignore? ;-)
Next week: "Don't Think About Polka-Dotted Elephants".
Rick,
This falls under the (sad) blanket of condemnation that masquerades as discernment in the Christian Church in America. Instead, we need to engage ideas, even ones antithetical to our own.
McLaren is flat-out wrong on the homosexuality issue. End of story.
But he is right about evangelicals wanting a scapegoat.
We can still throw out his first assertion and listen to his second.
Too much of contemporary evangelicalism operates out of a need to label something "evil" and then fight against it. The problem is that we're not too good at labeling, nor are we good at thinking through the consequences of our battle. The (failed) culture war is a good example of this.
Worse, our need to scapegoat never becomes self-examination. By placing all evils outside the Church, we fail to account for our own house. As a result, garbage fills our own house and yet we complain about the other guy's. This only hurts our credibility and the right we have to speak to the culture and to the lives of others.
Where the Emergents got it right was by their declaration that our own house was a wreck. Where they went wrong is that they threw out all the priceless furniture and household goods and left a lot of the garbage where it was.
As Francis Schaeffer so wisely noted, we must engage people who have ideas contrary to ours. Not everything they say will be wrong, and they may offer a picture of us that, while we may not want to see it, is nonetheless worth examining.
In the case of homosexuality, the American Church worked so hard to shun gays that we went contrary to Jesus' methodology of dealing with sinners. Rather than reach out, we pushed gays away and labeled them the enemy. The outcome was inevitable. We have a great divide now that is far harder to cross.
One doesn't have to embrace sin or soften a traditional stance to devise a way of dealing with people that is more in line with the Gospel. That we end up being the bull in the china shop on so many culture issues is our fault alone.
Brendt - LOL as the kids say ...
Dan - I'd rather listen to those who understand the nature of sin and the solution provided through Christ than to the McLaren's. I have found plenty of properly motivated sources rightly discerning we need correction. Therefore McLaren should be ignored in the sense of his recommendation (the point of this post's title) and confronted for his error (the point of the last portion of the article).
Net - I found the article to be doing what you recommend and I don't find the condemnation you reference.
Post a Comment