Saturday, February 02, 2013

postmodern watershed

The following seemed to be a timely repost:

Here's how a watershed point works. It starts with a subtle and even arguable difference ... and in this case, some good counter balance to some of the error on the other side. But, as the case continues to slide down the slippery slope, it stops being a counterbalance to adjust to the correct middle ground, it becomes error equal or greater that which it was intended to address.

In the Shaping of Things to Come, p49-50, authors Frost and Hirsch see everyone as equally fallen and therefore emphasize our common journey rather than our need for conversion. I get that. But then Pip Piper (Emerging Churches, p131) takes it a step further with, "Evangelism or mission for me is no longer persuading people to believe what I believe. ... It is more about shared experiences and encounters. It is about walking the journey of life and faith together, each distinct to his or her own tradition and culture but with the possibility of encountering God and truth from one another."

Dave Tomlinson continues the slide in The Post Evangelical, p138, with; "The world is not a place where Christians are over there on the right and non-Christians are on the left, with evangelism being the task of moving people from one side to the other." Huh?

And then bottom is hit with Steve Chalke in The Lost Message of Jesus, pp147-152, explaining that Jesus wasn't telling Nicodemus (John 3.1-21) to make a reversal, He was telling Nicodemus to continue on the journey he was already on. The important thing to Chalke is that we are heading in Jesus' direction.

As the kid's today say, "Fail".

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