Michael Horton on Emergents

I have been reading Michael Horton's excellent book, Christless Christianity. Much thought-provoking there, but I wanted to give those of you who know something about "emergent" a few paragraphs he wrote that describe my own thoughts (with apologies to those who feel like they are walking into a conversation for which they have no context):

"McLaren would no doubt agree with the criticisms in this book of modernity's programmatic, technique-oriented, consumer-driven, and individualistic influence on the church. Having been reared in similar backgrounds, we share a common reaction against mere assertions and slogans and the often unreflective, unquestioning dogmatism that assumes that we have all the answers and everyone else is wrong. I share his interest in the wider horizon of the kingdom of God for our theology and his concern that the gospel is often reduced to a quasi-Gnostic promise of saving the soul (i.e., "going to heaven when we die") rather than ultimately, in the words of the Apostles' Creed, "the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting," which includes the whole creation. This leads to a world-affirming, world-embracing kind of Christianity rather than to a merely negative, reactionary, and reductionistic piety.

"However, I encountered this "new" paradigm by stumbling into Reformed Christianity. It was from this tradition that I learned that questions were good and that sometimes "I don't know" is the right answer; that the Bible is not simply about "me and my personal relationship with Jesus" or merely a doctrinal or moral textbook but a story in which we find ourselves--and the whole creation of which we are a part. In addition to being overwhelmed by God's amazing grace, I was also given a new sense of being called into a communion of saints and a new rationale for responsibility in the world--not to save it, but to love and serve my neighbors and to be a steward of a creation that will be renewed rather than to be simply a consumer of a creation that will be destroyed.

"However, McLaren seems never to have found an alternative kind of evangelical faith to the more pietistic and legalistic background in which he was raised. When he recoils from the doctrine of Christ's atoning death as bearing God's righteous judgment in our place (i.e., penal substitution), I know the distortion he is reacting against. Yet it was a wise and elderly systematic theologian at the seminary where I now teach who warned us never to present this precious truth as if a vengeful Father was taking out his anger on his Son. Rather, he instructed us from the relevant passages, the Father gave his Son because of his love, and the Son was not a victim but a willing substitute who gave himself in love as well." (Michael Horton, Christless Christianity, chapter 4; don't know the page number because I am reading it on my Kindle)

Calling in Campgrounds

As we travel, we often make reservations or requests at campgrounds. This opens a window on the matter of calling.

I can usually tell in the first 30 seconds of a phone conversation whether the campground is family-run, or run by an absentee landlord. Whether the person who answers the phone is committed to her work, or is merely a bureaucrat, a hireling dealing. The former are friendly and express a desire to serve; the latter are more concerned with whether they (or you) are doing things by the book.

As we were going through Iowa I had narrowed it down to two campgrounds. I called both of them. At the first one I got a bureaucrat. At the other I got a friendly welcome with a personal introduction (i.e. not just "Sleepy hollow Campground," but "Hi, this is Beth!"). I chose Beth's campground--no brainer. Sure enough, Beth was part of the family who had taken over the campground some years ago, and was committed to its well-being.

It is, I think, a matter of calling. I don't know that I would be good at answering phones at a campground--but Beth was, because the campground was her calling. She was not merely a "hireling." I fear that far too many people--and all too often I with them--are merely doing a job, not pursuing a calling. We are all worse off for it.

Blog for Western Trip

This Monday morning my family leave on a trip out west. I'll put that on a separate blog, not wanting to presume on anyone's interest in that. You can find that blog here:

proudfootwest.blogspot.com

By way of explanation, "Stoltzfus" is German for "proudfoot" (a name featured also in The Hobbit, you may recall).

Mystery and Objectivity

That is the title of an interview World Magazine's Marvin Olasky did with Stanley Fish in a recent issue. I stumbled on Mr. Fish's fine columns in the New York Times a few years ago, and have often read them--with great pleasure (as a writer, he is superb) and to my benefit in understanding what some of the brightest and more thoughtful minds are contemplating. So I was happy to see Olasky interview him.

Fish understands, from his reading of Augustine and John Milton, what many Christians do not, alas: that much (if not all) sin is at heart a violation of the first commandment; that is, whenever we try to find life in anything but God (and worshiping is in one sense a seeking after life), we tend instead toward death. I hope you will read the interview.

Forgiveness: Indifferent vs. True

A French philosopher famously said (and I paraphrase): "Of course God forgives. That's his job." That is the attitude we often have about God and forgiveness (I ought perhaps only to speak for myself, but I would guess you, the reader, share with me in this). It is an attitude that fails to take into account who God is: that he is holy and just; that the sin we glibly take for granted he will forgive, is abhorred and despised by him; that by all rights we deserve not forgiveness but condemnation. Moreover, when we come to God with that mind-set, his forgiveness does little for us--it does not produce a good deal of gratitude (after all, how much gratitude do I feel toward the garbage truck driver when he is doing his job by collecting my trash?), nor does it motivate me to change. It leaves me indifferent, and feeds a contempt for God.

By contrast, true forgiveness involves a grasp, and an embrace, not only of the fact of forgiveness, but of the way that God forgives. At the heart of the gospel is the wonder that a righteous and holy God forgives. That when God forgives he does not merely glibly dismiss my sin with a "no big deal." He is not like us--nor is he simply a more powerful rendition of us. He is God--infinite, eternal, and unchangeable (not finite, temporal, and changeable) in his justice as well as his goodness. His forgiveness is not merely immunity from punishment (sometimes that's all we really want, after all). But God's forgiveness has a higher aim, as Psalm 130:4 says: "With you [God] there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." True forgiveness results in overwhelming gratitude; and in a fervent desire to honor, obey and fear God.

John Owen writes: "There are none in the world that deal worse with God than those who have an ungrounded persuasion of forgiveness." By contrast, "Great love will spring out of great forgiveness."

Let's face it--we are usually somewhere along the spectrum between having an "ungrounded persuasion of forgiveness," like the French philosopher, and a fully grounded, assured conviction of true forgiveness that leads us to greater fear of God. Let's recognize that--and ask God to give us a more fully grounded sense of his forgiveness, that comes to us through Jesus Christ.

The Next Story free as MP3

I've been plugging along in the book The Next Story, about how we are shaped by technology. Just wanted to let you know it is available free this month in MP3 format from www.christianaudio.com. Now you will have to register, and you will get monthly emails with advertising for their free book-on-audio specials, along with other recommendations. But that is all--they are not going to fill your inbox with spam. So especially if you have a decent commute, I suggest you check it out.

I've just finished reading the chapter called "Tune off and Tune in" on the way our digital technology contributes to a weakening in our ability to concentrate on one thing (something the Bible calls "meditating") for extended periods of time. We are simply always looking for the next distraction--the next thing to fill our minds with "new" information. It was for me a very convicting chapter; I miss out on a great deal in my desire for "new" data. If you do too, read it, or listen to it. And then stop to reflect, and see if there is good advice for your own sanctification.

Does it all end this Saturday?

Harold Camping and Family Radio's shenanigans are usually so far out there that I hesitate even to comment on them--and this year's is no exception. But I was at the barber's recently, and one of the barbers joked about it "all ending this Saturday." She, too (yes, this barber was a "she") was joking about it--but I was surprised to hear mention of it at the barber shop (Anthony's on Penn Street in West Reading).

It reminded me that people do hear about these things. And while on one hand it brings Christ's name undoubtedly into disrepute when people make wrong-headed predictions about very serious and significant events. But on the other hand, it also provides opportunity to point people in the right direction--winsomely, but with a humble boldness. It is the same with Rob Bell and his denial of hell (behind which is, even more significantly, a denial of God's perfect justice. Can you worship God if he is not perfectly just? Does God's love mean anything without his justice? The unfathomable glory of the gospel is that it combines God's perfect justice--and yes, his wrath--for sin and sinners with his perfect love in the work of Jesus Christ).

This is a time to think: if someone asks me about these things, what do I say? What do I believe--as in, what do I trust in? And can I speak that winsomely and clearly when someone asks--without seeming reactionary or defensive? Let's "be prepared to give a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in us" (1 Peter 3:15). After all, God is always at work.

Shallow Small Group

Here's for a laugh: