At the end of my two-post overview of Hebrews, Sam asked a question that I was trying to avoid in the initial posts. It is a question that ultimately has many people pointing fingers in every direction but their own. That question is this: Which church movements do we see today which could be equated with Hosea’s day?
The only example I gave was the most obvious one of our day, that being the Emerging Church. I used that example as a church that is known for introducing practices and beliefs from other religions to Christianity in the hope that their spirituality may be enhanced. The EC is so post-modern that they no longer seek the truth, but deny that the truth could be made such that we would be able to comprehend it, therefore they reject truth in favor of experience.
This is the example I am giving in its current extreme, but the practice of bringing pagan ritual and seeking an experience more than seeking God is one that you will see in many churches around the globe. Again, I am loathe to throw myself into a huge free-for-all, where anyone and everyone can begin to point the finger at another group of Christians just because they have a different interpretation on one non-essential doctrine or another. I believe that there are many points of view that one can hold while remaining within the bounds of orthodoxy. But there are practices in churches today that have no place within the body of Christ.
Among them are the following:
- Prayer labyrinths
- Burning incense to enhance eastern meditation
- Political sermons
- Teaching psychology over theology
- Stressing individuality over unity
- Unbiblical church government
- Ignoring sin for the sake of peace
- Worship that declares what we will do or have done for God
- Mistaking growth for health
- And the list goes on…
Creating a hybrid of worship and anything else us ab abomination to the Lord, and most of these examples I have come up with are ones that most churches would say they have not done. At the same time, most churches are guilty of a few of these things and of several that I have not mentioned. My aim in this post is not for us to look to the actions of others and proclaim what is bad, but to search the scriptures and proclaim what is good.
I have found in my experience that encouragement toward the good is much more persuasive than crying out against the bad. When I see something that I disagree with, I try not to approach anyone without a Biblical alternative. Granted, there is no direct alternative to a prayer labyrinth, but a study on what prayer is and what it is not is a useful option to promote when you have made your case against the intermixing of paganism and Christianity.
I wanted to give you a little more than a mention on Doug McHone’s excellent site but his servers are down. Check these out when he’s back up … Doug ties together contemporary church movements with the prophetic church inHosea: Interpretation. Doug takes a look at biblical eldership in Elders and Moses … you’ll have to wait to see how he uses Moses as a backdrop for the office. BOOKS / LIBRARIES At The A-Team Blog Roger wants to talk books because he has a lot of them …
a big “AMEN” …when we get to the point that as in John 5:19, “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” i feel the church will no longer be a building with people inside, but people with Jesus Christ inside them.
Blessings..
Doug,
The EC is a reactionary movement. Regardless of it’s ability to mouth correct doctrine or not, its reactionary beginnings are important to note.
Almost all the modern reformer books I read (like Barna, McNeal, and others) are all nailing the problems within modern Evangelicalism. If we take enough time to understand what the EC is rebelling against, we’ll see it’s largely the same stuff that the modern reformers are decrying.
The problem with all of this, though, is that while most critics are seeing the problems correctly, their solutions are even worse. When the “anti-critics” start taking on the Barnas and ECs of the world, they’re so focused on faulty solutions that they completely ignore the dead-on critiques.
That bothers me. The Bible repeatedly shows God using “pagans” to correct a wayward Israel. Many times Israel didn’t listen to the rebuke and subsequently went from hard times to REALLY hard times.
We run the same risk in the Church today if we do not at least listen to the critics to see if there is anything true in what they say about us. We don’t have to adopt their solutions, but we should give serious thought to their criticisms rather than blowing them off in a fit of doctrinal pique.
Here’s a case in point: The EC has long contended that our churches are so insular that it prevents us from actually reaching out to the lost. That’s hard to argue against if we drop the blinders and take an unbiased look at our churches today.
But that doesn’t mean that we have to go soft like the EC has and start saying its okay to be a Buddhist Christian (or worse, just stay a Buddhist), redefining who “the lost” are. The kind of EC self-loathing you described in your post is the natural progression of a doctrinally deficient movement. We don’t have to go that way to find a better way to reach out.
Know what I mean?
I believe so. This provides more reason for us to veer neither to the right nor to the left. We should constantly strive to keep ourselves true to the word of God. This includes many of the objections of the EC and provides biblical solution to their complaints.
If only we would believe…
Doug, I think we are thinking the same thing. Not what we shouldn’t be doing.. but what we should be doing and what we are doing that is correct.
I really appreciate this post.
Thanks,
I understand that as we search for the truth, we stumble upon strange things. Things that other people would consider as utterly abominable. The EC might be practicing things not really approved of by the Bible, but I understand that they’re just trying to make room for everyone, hoping that through that, unity and peace, which we all long to have among all nations, can be attained.
That’s where I would have a problem with the EC… One place at least. They are trying to have unity and peace. That’s great! But how are they trying to acheive this unity and peace? What is the hope of the world, so to speak?
According to your comment, this unity and peace is obtained by including everyone and every idea into their approval.
So if you could speak authoratively on the EC, which even they cannot do because they despise authority, I would say that you are wrong, both in what the hope of the world is and how you should obtain that.
Since you don’t seem to be speaking from an understanding of the EC and have not said that you agree that their (assumed) desired result is in accordance with the Bible, I’ll give you a pass.
What?!?!!
I’ve got to get rid of my Prayer labyrinth! Can I at least keep my prayer rugs that point towards Mecca?
Ok…Back to reality ————>
You bring up some fantastic points. I just finished a sermon by the Big Mac that he gave over at Lawson church. It was called why I love the church. He paints the giant picture that we are just caught up in a story of God giving a bride to his son.
Some of the closing remarks had to do with keeping the world out of the church and making sure that the church is a holy place. We should walk into the church and know that God dwells there.
Here were some of my closing notes that I took.
Matthew 6:10 10 Your kingdom come,your will be done,on earth as it is in heaven. There is only one place where God’s will is done on earth. That is the church. That is where God is adorned. That is where Jesus is lifted up and adorned. We need to bring heaven down and push the world out. We should come into the church and say that God is in this place.
You can get Jmac sermon here.
http://www.christfellowshipbap.....arthur.mp3
I am not supporting the EC philosophy. I just, sort of, understand its endeavors. The truth hurts, and so can stab the wounded and inflict more injury. Understanding the goodness that they intend to do, is what I just did, hoping that I am exhibiting “grace.”
Quite true. Their motivations are good, and they do point out several areas that the church needs to improve. I have heard a concept that many in the EC are in the post-megachurch phase. They went to the large churches that teach a superficial so-called gospel and were dissatisfied with it. So they try to compensate. The problem is in their overcompensation, going outside the bounds.
So many people are dissatisfied with a man-oriented gospel. You don’t go to church to hear the same message you can get on daytime talk TV. You go to hear the word of God. When a church deviates from that word, those who disagree and who do not have a firm theological foundation may seek out their knowledge elsewhere. Depending on where that knowledge is found, you can have all sorts of subjective truth and things that you may believe one day, but not necessarily the next.
This is but one reason why I encourage my own pastor to stay the course.