Those of you who know me, or are familiar with the Restoration Movement know that we are pretty adamant about eschewing systematic (read: man-made) theologies. I’m neither Calvinist, nor Arminian (nor the other paleo-’s, semi-’s, -ists, -ians, and other labels tossed about often by the folks who claim these systematic theologies.

Our (and by “our” I mean Slice 2.0’s) looney Dwayna has once again provided an object lesson on why this is so. In specific, she proves a point I made early this year on my own blog, about how election is an awful doctrine when it comes to orthopraxy, and that our concept of time and God’s are so vastly different, that our trying to explain may well be lethal to the unreached and unsaved. (Interestingly, Calvinist Frank Turk agreed that acting on the doctrine of election was impractical: “If anyone is trying to use this doctrine, for example, to determine how to do evangelism, or how to implement the ordinances/sacraments of the church, that person is tring to set drywall screws with a coffee cup”. Jim Bublitz, of OldTruth, on the other hand, demonstrated where the systems break down.)
In her article from CR?N today, she talks about “Total Depravity and the Doctrine of Election”. In this article, she makes some truly scary comments:

He will use me, or He will get another Christian to witness to the person—I am privileged to be used by God, but God does not need me in the work of salvation.

Furthermore, no one will end up in hell because of a lack of witnessing on my part. It would be arrogant of me to think that I had that much to do with anyone’s salvation!

This is the kind of thinking that gets people killed – forever.

Should Christians be “Green”?
This is a vexing question for me and other Christians I know. 

Personally, as a scientist/engineer/statistician, I find the “evidence” for Global Warming to be highly suspect, and about as convincing as the “evidence” for unguided evolution.  I also find that much of what passes for “green” today poses as many, if not more, problems than it solves.  Just look at the current debate to eliminate incandescent lightbulbs and replace them with Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFL’s) – which have as many, if not more problems, though they consume less electricity.

In Genesis, man is made to be a steward of God’s creation, which He declared “good”, yet many Christians treat environmentalism as “liberal”, lumping it in with a number of ungodly causes, and dismiss it.  Some Christians take the fatalistic view that since God will make a “new heavens and a new earth”, what we do here does not matter.  We’re riding a borrowed mule, so why should we waste the effort on caring for it when there are bigger fish to fry?

As Rob Bell recently noted, if we, as Christians, do not take the lead in stewardship of the world God made, we risk telling the world that we don’t care about it, regardless of what the book we believe tells us.  And he is right – when we ignore/reject problems with the environment, the world will take over and make us irrelevant in the debate.  What we will end up with is vividly illustrated in the sad article linked to by CRN yesterday, where the Bible has been replaced with Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”.

Where is the balance between worshipping the creation and being good stewards for the Creator?

One of our frequent commenters, Julie Neidlinger, who runs the Lone Prairie Art Works blog (which I recommend as a nice down-to-earth and often quite humorous place to visit, whether she’s talking about graduation slogans, drawing cartoons, skewering the watchdawwgies, or her own personal wall of shame) recently made this observation:

["Pastor" Ken] Silva single-handedly introduced me to Rob Bell. He can’t stand Rob Bell, and I took that as a recommendation.

I have to agree with her sentiments, as I’ve found a number of excellent Christian writers (Erwin McManus, Dan Kimball, Mark Driscoll, Bob Hyatt and others), conferences and resources that I never would have found without Ingrid, Ken and company. Their scattershot (and shoddy) approach to attacking Christians hits so many God-honoring and Christ-serving men and women (along with those who truly are questionable), that they do offer a service they probably do not intentionally provide.

Today, the mysterious “Editor” (who hypocritically hides behind anonymity, which was a key point in Ingrid’s meltdown and the disappearance of Slice 1.0 – but that’s another topic for another time) pointed out an excellent resource for artistic and production volunteers and staff – the 2007 Willow Creek Arts Conference, entitled: “Halleluhah: What’s Right With the World”. From the conference website:

The world we live in has many dark places, and artists are often more sensitive than others to the pain of our broken world. That is our burden, and our gift.

It’s easy for artists to become cynical and tired. But as men and women who also follow Jesus Christ, it’s imperative that we continue to use our gifts to open a window of hope to others.

This year’s theme, hallelujah: what’s right with the world, is a powerful reminder that artists must overcome the tendency toward cynicism and weariness; artists must choose to look through the darkness and glimpse the light, and then reflect that beauty to the world. At the Arts Conference, you’ll be surrounded by other artists who are tackling this monumental task every week, just like you.

Together, we’ll be reminded that fostering life transformation through better weekend services is worthy of our very best efforts. Come—and bring your entire worship/programming team—for an unforgettable experience that will refuel your heart and soul to accomplish that job with excellence.

Now, the implication from the “Editor” is that we shouldn’t be focusing at all with “what’s right with the world”. After all, we know there’s a lot wrong with it. Right? Granted, I expect the apoplexy level at Slice 2.0 to go up as we get closer to mid-June, as the speaker line-up is a “who’s who” of CRN’s “Most Wanted List” – including Dan Kimball, Erwin McManus and Donald Miller plus music from David Crowder.

I will not argue that there is much going wrong with the world that we, as Christians, are called to confront. However, there is a time for every season, not only a time to mourn. After all, this world is a place that God created and called “good”, and it is a place that he will “renew” or “make new” again. Paul even points to the evidence of God in His creation.

I greatly appreciate artists like Laura Story who capture this in song and verse:

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation’s revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Ominously, Mr/Mrs “Editor” concludes the Slice 2.0 article with:

Is your church a member of the Willow Creek Association?

Mine is, and the local/state churches I see on their list for Indiana (my state) are the ones who are thriving and making a difference in individual lives and in the community and world around them. If you’re isn’t a member of the WCA, maybe it should be…

Hey Guys,

I am on the production staff for a conference taking place this week.  Alot of emerging (and emergent for that matter) leaders from around the country are here through Thursday.  I have actually met several people that read CRN.info on a daily basis!  Many here have told me that countless others look to this site for logical answers to the charges against the emerging community.  Many of these young pastor are facing the same attacks from dead and dying churches in their area that Silva throws out.  I just thought that this would be a little boost, reminding us that our work here is impacting such a greater community.  Continue to pray for the movement of Jesus Christ that is taking place all across our country and the world!

In one of Ken Silva’s recent miss-ives, “The Emergent Church Hates the Light”, he once again (expectedly) lies and slanders brothers and sisters in the “emerging church” movement, presenting equal amounts of slander from Phil Johnson and Johnnie Mac.

In this article, JMac states:

One of the big issues is homosexuality in the emerging church; they don’t want to take a position on homosexuality.

This is a lie (amongst others in the article).

As we have noted in the past, this is not a product of the ‘emerging church’ – as many do not endorse participation in a homosexual lifestyle.  The EC is too diverse to say “this is what the Emerging Church believes about homosexuality”.  Why?  Because the ECM is a similar response to post-modernism coming from multiple denominations, where many of the underpinnings are those which came from the original denominations.  Do some EC churches (incorrectly) condone homosexual conduct?  Certainly.  Do other EC churches welcome homosexuals (as guests) but require an change in their lifestyle if they want to become a Christian?  Just as certainly.  In fact, most of the big-name “EC” churches fall into the latter camp than the former.

Bob Hyatt, the lead pastor of an EC church in Oregon, writes:

I think our stance would be what Stan Grenz called “Welcoming, but not affirming.” If people do not know Jesus, I don’t much care who or what they are sleeping with when they come to our community. I want to welcome them and tell them about Jesus.

When they become a follower of Jesus, however, the story changes somewhat in that there are many things that God wants to change in us, our sexual ethic included. Though our elders have decided to take an individual case-by-case approach with everyone and their situation, our general stance is that same-sex sexual behavior is not compatible with being a Christ follower and needs to be left behind.

[...]

By the way, I can name at least one well-known emerging church that has no issue with committed same sex sexual relationships… but I honestly don’t think they are representative.
However, many individuals who identify with the emerging church movement, whose background is the mainline church will share this view…

But I agree- the broad stroke “the ECM” believes this is silly. It’s a nonsensical statement most of the time it’s made, since on other issues and this one in particular, at least half of the “ECM” people you ask will express a different view.

I suppose it’s like saying finding a group of southern baptists who are KJV Only and assuming the Rev Silva must be as well. Or saying that since Mosaic and Saddleback are SBC, that Silva must be down with McManus and Rick Warren.

He snorts, but this is the type of thing he does to the emerging church all the time.

We’ve written about this topic before, refuting the slander, but Ken doesn’t care – he’s got mouths to feed, and if that requires lying about brothers in Christ, so be it…

[Reader Warning: Frank discussion of a sexual nature likely in this article and discussion thread.]

Issue: How should Christians respond to pornography and addictions to porn?

Slice/CRN Take: No doubt they see pornography as clearly sinful (as do we).   The solution: avoid it.   If you’re addicted to it?   Get help by going to a good (aka Reformed) church.

What about ministries like xxxChurch?   Mock them for their tactics, offer no real alternatives.

My Take: While I think that Craig Gross, founder of xxxChurch, sometimes takes it too far in driving home his message (like with the inflatable phallus), I think that we often go too far the other direction in not discussing (or even acknowledging) the issue, which creates even more problems in rooting out and dealing with this sin.

Pornography is 100% wrong.  This is clear in scripture.  THAT is what these guys are confronting.

I find it to be a good thing, though, that men like Mr. Gross confront this multi-billion dollar industry which is leading millions into hell, and that they are willing (and able) to confront them on their own turf, while maintaining personal purity and giving a Christ-like witness:

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:10-13)

I have recommended the X3Watch software, available from xxxChurch, to a number of men, who I know use it with their accountability groups.  Here is how it works:

Let’s say you’re browsing the Internet and you’re looking at porn. The software makes a log of the porn site, and then every two or four weeks your two designated accountability partners will get an email listing all the skin sites you’ve been on. Oh no-busted! Now that’s what we call real accountability. No more secrets!

I also know men who have used xxxChurch’s online’s recovery program, along with attending the Celebrate Recovery program, developed by Saddleback and run at hundreds/thousands of churches, to help men and women escape addictive behaviors – leaving them behind while growing closer to Christ.

The guys from xxxChurch have also been criticized for going to all of the porn conventions in the US and Europe, where they have a booth that gives out Bibles and answers questions from people attending those conventions.  They also have a program to help people in the pornography industry to escape from it.  (I also find it interesting that the same crowd that oozes love for open-air confrontational preachers has disdain for Christians whose very presence in the “lion’s den” is confrontational).

Would Jesus have done this?  Actually, he did.

When Jesus took his disciples on a 16-mile (one way) hike to Caesarea Philippi, he took them to a place that all of the Jewish religious authorities of his time forbade people to go (read more about the context behind this story here).  From the context of the account in Matthew and Mark, it also appears that he was actually within the city complex, which sits at the foot of a cliff called the “Rock of the Gods” with a huge cave in its face, from which a stream flowed, called the “Gates of Hades”.

Caesarea Philippi, culturally, was a place most like the Greco-Roman pagan cities of Asia Minor to which Jesus’ disciples, likely aged 12-20 at the time, were within walking distance.  The open air shrine to Pan, at the base of this cliff, and a goat-woship shrine next to it held pagan rites in which men and women would have sexual relations – in plain view, if we are to believe writers from the time – with each other and with goats.  And what did Jesus say here?

But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:15-18)

When these young men went out into the world, they went to places far more disgusting that this to reach people caught up in the filth of that world.

Apparently, there is an event coming up where Craig Gross will be debating a prominent figure in the world of pornography.  This event is, predictably, being mocked by Slice 2.0.  I think that events like this, and the “porn and pancakes” breakfasts where Gross works with Christian men to get them to confess their problems with porn and to help them confront and repent from this behavior.  While some of their methods do seem over-the-top, this issue is such a deep-rooted (and often well-hidden) problem that this may be what it takes to expose and confront hidden sin so that it may be dealt with and removed from those it is killing.

What makes something Christian; not someone, but something? 

What makes someone Christian is obvious, but what makes a non-personal thing worthy of the adjectival “Christian?”  We use it all the time; Christian fellowship, Christian website, Christian music, Christian business, Christian this, Christian that, Christian the-other-thing… but what presuppositions allow us to add “Christian” as an adjectival modifier to a noun or verb?

In some cases it’s easy. A bookstore carries only Christian books (rats – “I did it again, used “Christian” as an adjective for a noun) – some bookstores carry only books written by Christians about Christian themes “ therefore we call them a “Christian Bookstore.”  In other scenarios it’s more difficult. A company that sells widgets was founded by a Christian man who runs it on Christian principle, and as far as the law allows employs mostly Christians. We call this a “Christian Company,” but why? Widgets are neither inherently good nor evil; in fact they could be used to either end.

Taking an even more emotionally controversial subject – music. What makes music “Christian?” Some would say if the musicians are writing to the glory of God it is Christian music.  Others would say being written by a Christian is not enough, to be Christian music it must overtly glorify the Lord. Some would argue any style of music may be employed to glorify the Lord and therefore is a candidate for the coveted modifier. Others would say that certain styles of music are inherently evil due to their beat or the culture from which they arose. What qualifies music as “Christian music?”

How you answer this question will have a far-reaching domino effect on how you view the interaction between Christ and culture and particularly what elements of a culture are “Christian” and those that are, nor cannot become “Christian.”

Here’s a great clip from Tony Dungy and the National Day of Prayer Task Force.

He is a great Christian example for men in and out of football; an example of how to bring Christ into the way you work.

Ken Silva is constantly attacking the Southern Baptist Convention as being man-lovers, doctrinally unsound and in his latest post, “rapidly apostatizing”. The funny thing is, Ken Silva has chosen to be a member of the very same organization. He subscribes to their doctrinal statement, belongs to a state association… heck, he even is the pastor of Connecticut River BAPTIST church. You can click on the New Hampshire Baptist Association Website and find his name on the roster of men who are a part of, and support the SBC. Does it make sense to anyone why Ken would choose to be a part of a denomination (that he can leave at any time) that he considers to be falling into apostasy.

One might say that he is trying to “fix the situation” from the inside. But, if that is the case, he sure has a strange way of going about it. It doesn’t seem to help when you call the president a “man-lover” and then write public blogs about how doctrinally off base they are for the world to see. In another article today, he said it is like “wading through a spiritual cesspool.” Now that Ken has worked up enough nerve to call his organization apostatizing, one has to wonder… why ya still there Kenny boy?

“It is always better to light a candle than to sit and shout at the darkness”

On Mike Corley’s Blog, he is asking for people to write in five questions that they would ask emerging churches. In his radio show, he opened it up for people from the emerging side to ask the discernment ministries / traditional church five questions. Head over there and ask some thought provoking questions for people to consider!  However, please respect Mr. Corley’s wishes and just ask questions.  Hopefully this will later turn into a discussion.  Remember, they are our brothers and sisters, even if that mindset is not reciprocated .