If someone where to tell you that Nazi ideology should not all be done away with because it has some good aspects like teaching a solid education to youth and a commitment to a strong national defense, what would you say? I am hoping you would not say this is a good reason for keeping it as an ideology. First, the ideology brought horrible results upon the Jewish nation (killing millions), and second, we do not need Nazi thought to justify of a solid education for children or a strong national defense for our citizens.
The same can be said for the Emergent Church movement and it’s post-modernity. The Emergent conversation will bring destructive results to the Christian faith. I must admit I have said there were some good things about the Emergent church in the beginning, but in reality I was wrong.
Those good things were always there and do not need a movement that is harmful to Christ for us to know them. J.P. Moreland says in Kingdom Triangle, “Its harm to the cause of Christ and human flourishing far outweigh any advantages that may accrue to it, and whatever those advantages are, they do not require postmodernism for their justification.”
As with post-modernism the same can be said of the Emergent Church. This is not a case of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” but throwing out a movement that is dangerous to those that come in contact with it. If the baby is the Emergent Truth and the water is post-modernism then in reality we should throw “throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
All the truth that is within the Emergent movement was already there within the current church. What is not within the current movement in many ways is trying to incorporate relative truth and utilizing pagan rituals to worship our Lord, as the Emergent Church does.
If we use the saying that there is some good within the Emergent movement then we would have to say the same of Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons and any other religion that claim to be Christian in its beliefs. They both teach morals that could be seen as “good,” but in the end their practices are not of God.
How does Satan best destroy the church from within? By wrapping apparent good with destructive lies, as relative truth and questioning all truth doctrines of Scripture (hell & salvation), and even questioning the truth of Scripture itself with what are some good things, as helping the poor and remembering the those who are different from ourselves.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 says, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”
The Emergent Church is one baby that needs thrown out with its bathwater.
No comments:
Post a Comment