alright. I'll assume nearly everyone here has had some encounter with the emergent church. it's actually old news. love bunny "Christians" who tell gays to get hitched and have fun. or guest stars on the Barney show, holding hands and telling the Muslim, Hindi, Buddhist, or atheist, "hey brother, hey sister, welcome to the Christian family. yeah, we disagree on a little tiny topic that is roundly blasted by the Bible, but who cares. it's just the word of God. or so people say. it might not be true. but it might be. and in case it is, I'll just tell myself that. and when I die, who knows, maybe the Koran is the word of God. who knows. you know? who knows. welcome to the family. have some tea and Jesus incense."
...yeah, they might annoy me a bit.
of course, any emergent folks that happen to see this will rail about my being judgmental.
one of my emergent friends from college enjoys pushing my conservative buttons. you see. he is open-minded enough to vote for Obama, to promote gay marriage, and to buy Rob Bell's book. he is one dare-devil Christian. man, isn't he B.A. look at him. and to think we're lucky enough to have him join the ranks of many other emergent pastors in America.
this "nonconformist" friend of mine posted a link on facebook. a blog written by J. R. Daniel Kirk. he's a professor, clearly a smart, intelligent, knowledgeable man. however, he's emergent.
now, this is not to say that he is stupid. I never want to generalize the emergent church people as stupid. they're just not thinking. no, they're thinking, their thoughts are just... well. clouded by postmodernism and mostly wrong. the blog post touched on the controversial book by Rob Bell and the outrage that many Christians rightfully expressed at his unbiblical views on heaven and hell.
Kirk basically scolds the Christians that voiced their frustration and slight anger at Rob Bell. they called him a heretic. Kirk, baffled, wonders how on earth any true believer could do that to another brother in Christ. or in his own words:
"what list of theological beliefs must be checked off before someone can be embraced as a brother or sister even if we disagree about other important issues?"I think another characteristic of emergent folks is contorted sentence structure.
now, while I might disagree with a Presbyterian on infant baptism vs. believer's baptism, or a Pentecostal on tongues and the laying-on-of-hands for miracles, I can still say, based on the individual, that they are a brother or sister in Christ. I still consider discussions with a premillenialist or a postmillenialist as fellowship with believers. these are small issues. relatively important, but not explicitly laid out in the Scriptures. they're vaguely outlined to us by God, giving us room for discussion, room for questions, and anticipation for the conversations we'll have about it in heaven when everything will be revealed.
in these "important issues", I agree with Kirk. I wouldn't call someone a heretic simply because they baptized their baby or prayed over a cancer patient and expected a miracle. however, the "important issue" that we are talking about, that Bell is accosted for, is that God loves everyone and has no room in His heart for hell.
...right and uhm. which Bible did you get that from? oh, you didn't use the Bible? it just felt right? oh, it's just a dream. of John's. in Revelation. and Jesus's words on it? oh, they don't matter? ok. gotcha. welcome to the Christian family, brother.
yeah, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna call this guy my brother in Christ. he is a heretic. why? because God sends people who hate Him, who reject Him, who blaspheme Him, who practice sin against Him, who despise everything about Him, who are ashamed of Him, who are gay and lesbian and revel in it, who live with their boyfriends or girlfriends, who rob banks, who murder, who sit in the pews at church, who sing the worship songs, who talk pretty, who strive to change the world, who are kind, who raise good kids, who have good morals to hell. to hell. to hell. all because the Spirit never stirred their blackened hearts and weighed so much on their souls that they were forced to their knees and could only say "praise God, who sent His Son to die for me, a sinner. I once was lost, but now I'm found, and I will live for Him forever."
now, Kirk would call me a threat to evangelism. see, I'm tribal. for calling Rob Bell a heretic. because you know, he deliberately lied about hell. that's all. Kirk quoted Mickey Maudlin:
"But now I think the biggest threat is Christian tribalism, where God’s interests are reduced to and measured by those sharing your history, tradition, and beliefs, and where one needs an “enemy” in order for you to feel “right with God.” Such is the challenge facing the church today and what the reaction to Love Wins reveals."now, I won't disagree that there are people who think like this. but using the term "tribalism" to defend Rob Bell's outright dishonesty about God and what He clearly says about hell and those who go there? no. I am not looking for an enemy to "feel 'right with God'". the Bereans weren't looking for an enemy either, searching the Scriptures to qualify Paul's teaching.
I'm not tribal. I just want to know what the Bible says about this. so, I checked:
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28
"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?" Matthew 23:33
“For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness." Isaiah 38:18
"Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads." Revelation 9:1-4 (and most of Revelation)......if there was no hell, why on earth did Jesus abandon His throne in heaven to live a life of pain, suffering, and humiliation? why did He take on flesh and live among us instead of being worshiped in heaven? why did He die. and why did He suffer in hell Himself for three days, bearing the torture for our sins? and better yet, why did He give us hope by rising again?
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