No Chains on Me…

Since several here are wondering my thoughts on Friday night’s gathering to hear about “The Emergent Mystics” and “Today’s Church is Going to Hell because of the Music it Uses” I figured I’d put down my initial thoughts here and allow conversations to flow from here, since I always do better at writing out thoughts, and am, in fact, able to actually get my thoughts out in one pass. Please call me out if you think I’m totally off-base and I’m willing to rethink.

My first thoughts, as you might guess, are not very friendly. But that said, I don’t want to come here to bash anyone or tear them down. For one, I am continually being convicted of the need not to throw condemnation at other people, even if they are doing the same. Which is hard. Hypocrisy is really tough to deviate from. So I’m trying to be kind. Both men probably did a better job of presenting their ideas in their books, and I should read them first before giving an opinion. But I haven’t the time (or really the desire now). So I’m probably going to fail at kindness. I’m sure both men are equally passionate and attempting to be helpful to the body of Christ. I just happen to disagree with the way they did it and why.

The authors of the two books about which they were speaking, were really quite generous to come to speak to the small group as was gathered there. To give time like that to a small group of homeschooling families in the middle of Kentucky was very kind of them. Another presence was not quite as welcome however (not to say anything about the people themselves). Two, possibly three individuals from a “ministry” known as lighthousetrailsresearch.com were also present to document the proceedings of the meeting that night. While this may not mean much to many people here, (I don’t know how widely they are known) to almost anyone well connected with the Cedarville scene, Lighthouse Trails has become public enemy number one (maaaybe not quite that bad, but at one time, as possibly still, yes). And what saddens me most is that a “Christian” University’s enemy is a “Christian” organization. Sorry for so many quotes. I suppose I question those titles for all of these groups… So seeing them (see pic 2) here was somewhat shocking (my jaw hit the floor when I found out…) Interestingly enough (although perhaps not so surprising), the authors ate up the fact that a little bit “bigger” media was there, the first dude especially. So that whole thing was a bit of an adrenaline rush. At least to see them in person for once than be blasted publicly from remote, underground locations.

Anyways, the first speaker was an older, sour-faced gentleman with a fiery passion for his topic, which can make for a good sermons. Unfortunately, I also disagreed with almost all of what he said. The gentleman was speaking (and had written) on the topic of music in the church, which has been a big topic for me in the past, but I’m not as driven to speak on as much anymore, partly because I’ve been working on expanding what worship is to me, and I’m pretty sure its a lot deeper and more serious than what this guy focused on, as I think he’d agree. But I don’t think that was his point… I don’t think… it was hard to tell. The guy came off very strongly against seeker-sensitive churches, which was mostly driven by his

focus on aesthetics, namely of music. Now, I agree to a large degree with his rant about the need not to put away the message of God for the sake of trying to draw people in with entertainment. However, to blatantly call the seeker-sensitive church (with big-name churches thrown in there) the anti-church or to say they are ALL geared towards arousing feelings and have become adulterers from God’s true mission, while the small gatherings (as we had that night) are “as close to the NT church as you will ever see here on earth” seems a bit overdramatic and presumptuous. For one, I don’t think his personal preferences, or mine, or anyone’s for that matter, defines what is acceptable and worshipful to God. I do think a lot of contemporary worship does a poor job of directing worship to the one worthy of it. However, calling anything that doesn’t align with our own beliefs about what church worship should be not glorifying to God, seems pretty arrogant (Quote: “Did you know rock music is the music of SEX?!?” ‘Cause we all know sex is from the pit of hell… It connects to voodoo too apparently. Meanwhile Mr. Mysticism-Speaker is nodding emphatically).

He seemed to also be saying that we need to drive out the churches who are not like us or more, I suppose, those that are seeker sensitive. What is the Christian’s seeming need to combat, in a sense “persecute” the seeker-sensitive churches or those who are trying to be appealing? When is the persecutee given the liberty to become the persecutor? Why do we have to try forcing everything into submission when it is not like us? Why is the body of Christ not supposed to be diverse? What’s more, is this man is making broad statements about everything he spoke about. Not only that, but he failed to give any examples of what he was so broadly describing. I’m sure he means well and is trying to get a point across very vividly, but I think he needs some help in the public speaking department. There was a lot of playing on single words from his passages, not looking at what surrounds the meaning behind the full text. Blah blah blah… all more just minor points I won’t hold against him.

But…

What really pissed me off about this guy, to be honest, was during a very short piece of his rant when first, he said music itself cannot bear witness to God, and is therefore worthless. Something I have argued against for a while now, so I won’t go into that. The second, and far more repulsive was when he said, quote: “Liturgy is repetitive and boring: and is in fact MEANINGLESS!!” Some of you more than others know my love of and thoughts towards liturgy. That killed anything else for me that he had to say. To hear something that echos scripture so deeply, that speaks to my heart so strongly about who God is and how we are to worship him, spoken so ill of, for so few reasons? Yeah, so though I agree with him on the underlying point, his means of going about speaking of worship felt really off base and much more like a personal vendetta against anything that didn’t measure up to his standard. Which I’m fine with, IF you label it as that, and not as the standard for ALL CHURCHES EVERYWHERE AND SEEKER SENSITIVE CHURCHES ARE THE ANTI-CHURCH. My summary of his thesis

Also, I must speak very highly of all the rest of the people at this meeting otherwise. They are amiable bunch, who do things like remember your name, cook good food, and engage in more than small talk quickly and with style. I enjoy spending time around these people, so I can’t fill in the blank in the title as “complete waste” of time.

Okay, so second guy. Mostly what I can say about him is he needs better time management skillz. He didn’t make it to the main point of what I was at this thing to hear in the first place… which was completive prayer and the emergent church. He went of on a loooooooooong tangent about spiritualism and those engaged in it, arguably to build his point (which he didn’t get to) about what spiritualism/mysticism actually is in connection with the emergent church. I suppose he was going to get to that stuff… somewhere along the road… Most of these arguments, however came with: “here’s who wrote something about it, here’s how they furthered contemplative prayer and spiritualism; here’s how they’re connected to this person, here’s how they wrote and expanded and are connected with… and on it went for an hour and forty-five minutes… I can haz point plz? My focused consciousness trailed off eventually, just out of a lack of attention and interest on my part.

Now, thats not to say that what he was talking about wasn’t important. New Age stuff is scary stuff. I don’t really want to tangle with it from what I know about what it involves. But some of his dichotomies seemed off, namely the one that he made that people are not to be messing with the spiritual world, but rather to be based in this world only (mainly in the pursuit of Bible study only). To me we are all still called to be aware of the spiritual things around us, consciousness that we are apart of two worlds that mix somehow supernaturally, that the supernatural does exist and that we are somehow mixed in that. Jesus told the woman at the well that God’s true worshipers have to worship in spirit and truth. There is some mystical mixing of the two worlds in human beings. There’s dangers there, because of the “powers of darkness” around us. But there is a union of body and soul in this world. Its a strange and mysterious thing…

Side note: Which, by the way, brings up another point: I think we’ve made too much of the Bible sometimes, honestly… This will be another post soon. What was hilarious, however, is that towards the end of this spiel, someone (him or another pastor) spoke on the need to not rely on the teachings of men, but the Bible alone… wait, and we’re here listening to you teach on this… why then? I laughed about that for a while. Church people are funny. We like the word “only” too much…

ANYways.

There was seemingly a drive (I’m guessing because of the family-centric environment) to demonstrate the need to separate one’s self from people who are involved with this kind of thing. That seems to me, a very bad idea… Explain to me why, when all these people are making such leaps and bounds in creating a following, are purportedly sucking the life out of our churches and destroying the spiritual scene around the world, we are supposed to remove ourselves from the presence of these people? I think its important to teach our kids about these things, yes, and to guard against evil in our personal lives and families. But to cut ones-self off from these people, who arguably need Christ as much as the “common” sinner? Somethings seems deeply wrong with that picture.

And this brings me to my main beef with these authors. Not once did I hear a call to reach out to these people who are becoming so influential in the “spiritual realm” in order to present or live out Christ to them. I very rarely heard a call for us to be lights IN this darkening culture. Rather, I heard the rallying cry to “retreat to the fort and hold it as long as you can against all comers! Keep out anyone who gets close and shoot the wounded so we don’t all get infected!” All this sounds opposite of what Christ did and called us to. Anyone recall what Jesus got in trouble for? Getting too close to those people. And while I hear a lot of talk about the Pharisees among the emergents and other “liberal” groups, I see a lot more of it within those calling names. And the names of those connected with those names. And the names of… so on and so forth

Because he didn’t get to his main point, I can’t critique him on it, so I won’t try to do so on that. What he did mention about the emergent church in what time he had, he did so far too broadly, and defined the whole bunch of them as dabbling in mysticism, which is a mischaracterization of the movement as a whole. He also spoke of it as redefining the church, which is how emergents have defined themselves as well, and I honestly think its an excellent goal. Those who say they think it is a bad thing to do so forget that reformed theology and practice is all part of a redefinition as well. Perspective is vital and is well worth remembering. We are always moving. We are not part of a static faith, because we continue to find out something new about God. While he may be unchanging, our understanding of him evolves.

What was interesting is that early on, he also characterized catholic AND protestant churches as having very deep issues with mysticism. So I fail to see the problem being an emergent-only thang. Sooo… yeah. What was the point of this again? Oh right, to somehow justify ourselves and discount everybody else. Cool…

So on the whole, it was, to fill in the blank, a “disappointing use” of time. Not that it wasn’t expected to be so, but I did come hoping for better. No Q&A time either, which I was really looking forward to getting involved in, as I think others were as well. At least the Lighthouse Trails people got their voice out… And I was surprised there?

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A few closing thoughts, mostly thoughts that came as I listened to the speakers:

I felt as though they were speaking of these things as though these changes are huge transitions in the church and our culture RIGHT NOW, as though nothing of this scale or hostility has ever faced the church before. Some of it is melodramatics I’m sure, coming from the desire to feel as though we are on the forefront of some combat against a new darkness. But I’m pretty sure that most of this has been going on for a long, long time. Calm down people. You keep telling me God is sovereign and then panicking about the Coming and Unstoppable Chaos in the same sentence. You can’t have both…

Much talk about the redefining of God/Jesus. What I wonder is how we get off deciding that we are the ones making the “right” definition of who God is? WE obviously defined him at some point too if we are saying the re-definition is wrong… hmm….

It’s interesting how both sides observe and interpret the verse about hating mother/father/brother/sister to follow Christ.

This is a difficult thing to listen to, mostly because all the knowledge we have is coming through men very hostile to these ideas. They are channeling what knowledge we are receiving.

Can we not have discussions like this without hating people? Without calling names? Without pointing at others to somehow justify ourselves to God as “better than them”? Can we not say truth in love? Are we incapable of love at all? The devil has hit us where it hurts us most: our very identifying mark as Christians, our love, is being stripped away by people who write and speak in this fashion. I don’t doubt these men’s salvation, but I think they and all the rest of us could do so much better.

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And for those of you who know or follow Twitter, here’s what my Twitter feed would have looked like had I had internet access during this time (I actually wrote this in the Word doc I was keeping):

- Lighthouse trail people (all ladies) here!!!!

- Oh frik, they just gave him the laser ptr…. totally unnecessary.

- Thomas Merton: real badass J

- Rob Bell is a crazy mofo

- I wonder if Rick Warren can use a single paragraph with out including the phrase “purpose driven”….

A thought:

Christianity should be a way of life, not a set of doctrines.

I’ve read a lot from the emerging conversation that highlights this. I totally agree.

Just some thoughts here on things emerging…

I read somewhere today that the Emergent church movement is comparable to the Reformation (to which Reformed people will balk at most vehemently), and though I’m not sure I would classify it as being that powerful yet, there are some similarities. The biggest of these that I see is that Emergents see a whole list of problems with Protestant Conservative Evangelicalism and are making a move to separate themselves and “emerge” from that model to something new. Back in the day, you could have termed the Reformationists the Emergents, as they sought to emerge from within Roman Catholicism into something new. So its a very interesting comparison, especially considering the way the reformed people take to the emerging people much in the same fashion the catholic people took to the reforming people. Will it go as far or change as much? Not yet. But maybe soon… I think it might be short sighted not to realize that Reformed people did just what the Emergents are trying to do now. Yes there are different issues being taken up, but I think a lot of them are pretty valid points. I’m not sure if this is what is necessary, so far as the predominant desire to “break away and start something new” versus the working in what exists to fix what has gone horribly awry. Fascinating point of view… I’m very interested to see if this is what happens. It would be sad, to some degree: Yet another split in the church is not desirable. But that’s what seems to be happening.

On a much lighter side, someone posted a listing of the “Top 50 Possible Reasons Why You’re Not Emergent” somewhat in response to the book “Why We’re Not Emergent: by Two Guys Who Probably Should Be.” It’s sarcastic and meant to be humorous, so laugh a little! Take no offense!

Hmmm… this is an edit, I don’t actually like what I wrote earlier. Too confusing and unnecessary really. So I got rid of it! Hah! Instead I’ll say hey, before you can comment or be heard as a voice of authority on an issue, for or against, you’re going to hafta listen, learn, and sympathize with whatever you are agreeing/disagreeing with, not just commenting based on what you think you know or have heard about something. Please don’t cut off other people by simply ignoring the validity of an issue and then thinking you can say whatever you like about it. If you do that, you’re nothing more than a parrot, speaking what it has heard about something formed from someone else’s opinion. Be informed. Listen sympathetically. Listen to the people who are doing the presenting of an idea and not simply those who don’t like it. Otherwise there is no reason for me to listen to you. This goes for anyone, in my opinion.

A Call For a New Day

Brothers and sisters, unite in the name of Jesus Christ, at who’s name, EVERY knee will bow, in heaven and earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Remember that mercy triumphs over judgement. Listen without condemnation, disagree without anger, converse with genuine desire to understand.

Haha, what would be awesome is that if, even though we might disagree if we got to talking about these things, we could actually spend all this argue time in living out what we believe to those who need help, and to those who are our fellow representatives of Jesus here on earth so as to not have time to find out that we disagree. Its a shame so much gets in the way…. I’m as much to blame for some of this as anyone.

Sorry for how disconnected most of those thoughts were. Just my ramblings of things I’ve thought over today.

Be people of peace, love, compassion.

Much love.

Well, not really. The title is just meant to catch your attention I was out on the Emergent Village blog and found a great article that addresses the events in Tibet and China and ties it back home and makes it very personal. Kimberly Roth has an unusual writing style that was a little hard to follow, but the questions she asks at the end are very important things to consider. Listen up, church…

Kimberly Roth and Reputable Peace

So my thoughts have been requested on the chapel message given Monday by our President Dr Brown on the topic of Postmodernism and the Emergent Church. First, I hafta direct your thoughts to my dear friend and DC leader, Derek Hostetter who’s comments I really respect and agree with.

And now here goes.

I was fairly disappointed by the chapel message, but not unexpectedly so. I actually wanted to skip chapel Monday since I was not feeling very well, but on hearing that the topic was what it was, I decided I needed to be there. Before I really get into why, however, I have to say that I still respect Dr. Brown a great deal and am proud that he and this administration are graciously taking so much flack for what they are choosing to do. I wouldn’t want his job in any way right now as he tries to bridge old and new at this very difficult and controversial time. I’ve tried to encourage him the best I can and would ask anyone reading this to do the same rather than criticize him. Too many people are already doing that and it has to be really rough on him and his family as his name and that of the University get dragged through the mud by everyone and their second cousin…

So with that said, I understand why Dr. Brown laid down the lines where he did, what with the time constraints he had and peace he is trying to keep. Where I was fairly disappointed in was the fact that what he did say about the topics at hand was a pretty unfair and and not a valuable or accurate representation of what Postmodernism presents. The arguments he presented to the student body (and an external audience as well) about the Emergent Church were also pretty pointed and negatively focused rather than allowing it validity in its views and criticisms. And I am frustrated due to the fact that now a large number of my fellow students are going to begin or continue to think that Postmodernism and the Emergent church = BAD. What do I do with that when I agree with both to a large degree? Is my side of the story never to be allowed some semblance of validity?

What’s more is that now the whole “Truth and Certainty” argument comes back up and the student body begins to fight within itself again, which I hate!! This is evidenced, oddly enough, by “The Rock,” the one item allowed on campus for graffiti and a frequent location for controversial statements. The day of the chapel, someone wrote something about Postmodernists being the “wolves among sheep” and “postmodernism promotes doubt and thus sin” and other students began to react very strongly for or against that kind of thing, partly because it is so public, and this serves only to divide brothers and sisters. Its heartbreaking to see that happen here, as a representation of what has happened in the Christian world at large. And so everything again begins to go horribly awry and peace, humility, and love are thrown out the window once again and once again, I’m stuck on a campus where everything becomes horribly shallow and not focused on Jesus and the unity he bought for us. Sometimes I hate it here so much…

And even with all this talk, Cedarville is nowhere near what its opponents try to say it is. It is very much still a Protestant, Evangelical, Conservative university, which is okay, in my opinion, as much as I may not be inside of that mindset. Its probably what is needed at this University right now and I’m not saying its a wrong view, its just not the view I’ve chosen to become a part of. What people need to get over is saying that because you or I disagree with something, we are saying it is sin. Disagreement is not, or I suppose should not be condemnation. And support, or at least evaluation, of something controversial is not, or should not be viewed as sinful! People are far too opposed to change and to evaluation of what they believe in circles like this one, and I wonder, what happens when you hold so tightly onto things that are wrong? Francis Chan says we should never assume that we are the good soil mentioned in Matt 13. We should be always evaluating what we believe, always asking the Spirit to fill us and lead us into living the way God defines godliness, however that may be.

So here I am, wanting so badly to be heard as a valid point of view. Sometimes I get the chance, in smaller circles. Other times, I get the full force of anger, fear and judgement. Sometimes I wish things were a lot simpler than they seem to become. Perhaps I really shouldn’t care. I suppose the one thought I want to come down to is this: Despite all the controversy at this University and in the world around me, how much I may disagree with people or how much other people may disagree with me, I want to come down to what Paul says in what is still fast becoming a favorite book of mine:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

I am praying that my only goal in any of this is to show Jesus Christ more powerfully in my life, myself more humble, the Spirit more filling, and God more glorified. May God forbid that I ever see myself or try to become any more than I am: A wretched sinner, saved by Jesus, who died to set this broken, prideful, and marred soul free from sin, for the purpose of living for His purpose and glory because of His life in me. For if I am truly dead to self, and purchased as a slave of Christ, I should do nothing else.

God help me….

Just read tonight that Rob Bell has a new book coming out in October with the awesome title of: “Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile” Its a shame it comes out in the distant future (October)…

The tag-line given for the book is: “There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building. Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty. This is a book about those two numbers.” For DC next year, I finally settled on doing Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan which speaks along some of the same lines (This book also doesn’t come out until later (May) but I happen to have a copy of it… (!!) Pays to have connections… ). This, by the way, is one of my passions. Thus, I’m really excited about being able to teach on the subject of the need among the world today for Christians to wake up from their apathy, put away their hypocrisy, and follow Christ wholeheartedly. I’ve been given such an opportunity as a DC member next year to influence my fellow students and followers of Christ with the message of Jesus and his call to live out the love he has poured into us and told us to allow to overflow into the world. My two biggest prayers for next year are first that God would allow me to reach those in need and influence as many as I can to do the same and second that God would give me humility and graciousness in doing it, since its really easy to get carried away in criticism of people who are missing this. Pray for me in this if you think of me!

Big day.

Amazing day today. Got to work the Junior Jam again this morning/afternoon, which was good but incredibly exhausting. God gave me just enough energy to make it through. Keeping up with eleven kids on my own is not an easy task, especially with a couple of them acting up and trying to split off from the group, not to mention trying to navigate them all through several hundred other kids all in the same small area. God is good, no lost kids and they all had a good time, which I did too.

Then this afternoon, got to spend time with the current DC members and next year’s DC (my group) and it was really refreshing and fun to hang out with such amazing people, all who happen to be fellow believers in Jesus, which is totally amazing. Mark Irving and his family (wife and two daughters (with one on the way!!)) were there as well and the whole atmosphere was just incredible! Amazing fellowship and conversation, and so much fun! I am so psyched for next year people! God is unbelievably good to me in giving me this encouragement/challenge for my last year here at Cedarville. I’m going to need it to make it through. Otherwise I think I’d simply be dragging my feet, eager for nothing more than to be done and get out of here (I’m really tired of school by now…)

Got back after all these events, and slept for two hours. Now I smell like smoke (we cooked hot dogs for the DC get-together), am still really tired, with no homework due early this week, a bed to sleep in, no worries, no pressing needs, peace and contentment, and a heart full of the blessings bestowed on me by my God….

Every day is a day for worship. Tomorrow is a day set aside for rest and remembrance of all God has done this week. Good night all. Be at peace.

If only…

You all probably think I’m becoming a liberal… All this talk of Obama, social Gospel, postmodern thought, etc… Well I am And we all should be: Liberal with our love, our compassion, our time, money, prayers, and the list could go on. Keep in mind that even though I approach a lot of this more liberally than most of you who are my readership, I am not a liberal in the way we’re used to defining it. I am simply left of you on this line:

This picture was drawn for me in my Worldview Integration class by my beloved Dr. Carl B. Smith II (great name). An excellent picture of how it often is (there’s a bunch of similar pictures floating around too). We tend to paint anyone just left of us a liberal, but perhaps we’re still not that far apart. I may lean more that way, but I still believe a lot of the things you do. So don’t feel alienated from me. This goes for my parents, pastors, friends and whoever else reads these posts and thinks I’ve gone of the liberal deep end

And as a fun side note, the liberals are not bad people. We all are. And because of that, Christ can offer free salvation to all alike who would simply follow Him.

Much love and joy.

I was going to respond to a few more of the comments, but people keep reacting to the comments so I might as well post here and get more thoughts.

 Institutions:

When I spoke about removing ourselves from the institutional Christianity, that was maybe a poor wording of what I meant. We can say Christianity or the church was instituted by Christ and that it was put in place for the purpose of unification and pursuit of the truth, and I think that is true. I believe that Jesus started this body in his Apostles and thats usually what we refer to the beginning of the church.

An institutions defined formally is: 1) “a society or organization founded for a religious, educational, social, or similar purpose,”

And I think thats where most of the comments against saying we needed to move away from institutional Christianity came from. I believe that Christ instituted the church in that sense especially in the use of the word “society” in that definition. I used institution more in the sense of how it is used to define the institution that is the Baptist denomination or the Catholic church (meaning the “institution” of Catholicism not in the definition of the word catholic which is the universal church).

Where I think a lot has gone wrong is when we begin to declare this or that “institution” (meant more as a select governing body) has an undeniable or unquestionable corner on The Capital ‘T’ Truth while taking away from the idea that the Church is a body of believers which should stretch beyond “institutional” lines. “Institutionalization” of the church does two things in my mind:

1.  It turns the whole of Christianity into what I was discussing in the previous two posts: a very impersonal set of rules, a box that we put God in or define Him and say: “This is how we understand God, how He operates. This is what we know about Him. Take this book, read it, then you too will know God.” That is a horrible way to get to know God (in my opinion). It takes all sense of personal-ness out of our relationship with God. It gives us very little room to experience God as something beyond those rules, as a God who cannot be boxed, who isn’t “safe” as C.S. Lewis puts it when describing Aslan, the Christ figure in the Chronicles of Narnia series. 
2. It turns the whole of Christianity into an “Us Verses Them” paradigm. For example, so often, including myself, we as Evangelical, Protestant Christians claim to have the Truth, while Catholics have it all wrong. Or we as Baptists have our theological ducks in an orthodox row, while Presbyterians or Lutherans have it all out of order or are missing things altogether. We get this even among denominational lines! This accounts for the number of denominations orthodoxies we have around the world and why there is usually so much animosity between them. When one group suddenly claims it has the ultimate truth, under a Modernist paradigm and thought pattern, all things now ruled out by that truth must be eliminated or reconciled to the true truth.

Perhaps these two points show why “Christians” are among one of the most despised groups among those who are outside it and why “Christianity” is rejected by most as too legalistic or unloving. They see us as a bunch of infighting, nitpicking, hypocrites who cannot find it in ourselves to love anyone because we’re too busy “fighting for the truth.” And if we live like the above, we rightly deserve that title. This frustrates me more than anything with the church today. And this doesn’t imply that every church everywhere is guilty of this. There are many good examples of churches that are following the call to love God and love others. But there are still so many caught up fighting for a truth that they don’t live out, and so I pose this question: does a church living like that really have truth? Or do we simply throw away Scriptures like: “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead”?

So perhaps now it is more apparent by what I mean by needing to move away from, as I defined it, “institutional” (or perhaps “institutionalized” would be a better word) Christianity. Where would I propose we move to? Indeed if we are moving from something, we need to move to something else. I can’t present one way as the way to go, or I’m doing what I just argued against. What I do know, however, is that we need to move away from battling out truth. We also need to stop putting God inside of nice, neatly defined terms. Instead, I think we need to live our faith, experience God for who He is and how He has written us into His story. And then I think we need to tell others that story. Not Four Spiritual Laws, not clean points that make the Gospel feel like a hospital room (sterile and neat, but horribly uninviting), but rather as a living story that, if they will step into, will change their lives.

Maybe its not that simple… but what if it were?

… 

So thats my response to some of the most recent comments Sorry for the length. I’ll continue on this thought line later on too, but probably I’ll be going back to a lot of the philosophy stuff soon.