I was checking out the Mars Hill website tonight and came across their vital links section on Jesus. Even though Mars Hill cops a lot of crap form both liberals and conservatives, the one thing I hold them in high esteem is their undiluted surrender to the authority of Scripture.
As a “moderate” Christian, I can relate to this take. I have reservations to Christian tradition and liberalism - choosing instead to remain relevant to modern society while grounded in ancient doctrine.
But one thing that struck me tonight as I checked out their Jesus section was the following passage:
“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” 2 Cor 11:3-4
Apparently it’s totally possible to be a follower of Jesus and still be susceptible to “receiving a different spirit” from the one we receive when we accept Christ. This sends shivers up my spine - the fact that although we are “sealed by the Spirit” we can still be influenced by an outside influence in the following manner:
You actually chose to accept another spirit
You do it without questioning
You put up with it
You are being conned just like Eve in the Garden
When we read the Genesis account, internally we may think, “Eve - why were you so dumb?” We do this not realising that we do the same thing ourselves when we accept as “truth” things which border on truth but which have been slightly skewed.
I know I may come across all “fundie” with this post, but I strongly believe that some of what the Emergent church promotes comes from this “different spirit.” As I’ve said before, I think it’s great to question fundamentalism and traditions, but there’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed when you start questioning doctrine.
The above verse has brought this reality to my mind even more and that’s why I appreciate even more Mars Hill attempt at presenting Jesus from Scripture. Be sure to check out their section here.
In it, he targeted the views of Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt and Rob Bell. While I have very little respect for McLaren and Pagitt, Rob Bell I don’t know too much of and haven’t made up my mind on yet.
But what bugs me most about this Emergent crowd is the constant need to question everything. For example, Rob Bell, in his book “Velvet Elvis: Repainting The Christian Faith,” he writes:
“What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archaeologists find Larry’s tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if as you study the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being “born of a virgin” also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse?”
This is a disturbing view in my mind and totally contradicts scripture as early as Genesis 3 where God talks about the “seed of the woman” - way before any Mithra’s or Dionysian cults ever existed. Any serious Bible student would know that God is alluding to a mysterious event here as genealogies in Scripture are usually discussed along male lines and not female.
Furthermore, Bell seems to belittle the Isaiah 7 passage regarding the virgin birth in his attempt to address this issue and ultimately pokes a finger in the face of the Gospel account. To me, the pursuit to reach the unchurched is not worth it is you trash scripture. After all, even God exalts His Word - even more then His Name.
But out of the three Driscoll targets, Bell is the least of my concerns. It’s McLaren and Pagitt who concern me in their views and activism within Christianity today. Form your own opinion of what Driscoll says. Here is the iTunes podcast link for the conference and have a listen to what Driscoll has to say.
Well it seems as if the Emergent movement has had it’s feathers ruffled as a result of this and a series of bloggers have formed a “wink club.” Fuelled by people like Adam Walker from pomomusings.com, this group of bloggers are posting a series of “wink” posts at Driscoll to show their dissatisfaction at Driscoll for what he shared at the above mentioned conference.
OK, now here’s my rant. This wink club - take it’s collective ability and impact and it doesn’t register a blimp on the radar of influence or impact in changing lives. This group of “bloggers” are emergent friendly and tend to pledge their allegiance to McLaren et al and their rebellious questioning of everything done in the name of Christianity.
Sure, there are heaps of stupid things done in the name of Christianity and the modern church needs to change in order to address this. But to question scripture and to modernise it in a way to embrace all kinds of whacked out ideas makes this group akin to the mindset of the people from the ‘Jesus Seminar” where the Gospel is assessed according to modern ideas as to what Jesus actually said and done based on a humanistic and carnal attitude.
The net effect of this this movement is to assess the life of Christ and to categorise the probability of the events actually happening to red, pink, grey or black “beads” of probability of these events actually happening.
The result of this is that the vast majority of the life and teachings of Christ are ultimately questioned instead of believed. Bell’s quote above is an example of the same attitude within the emergent movement.
Driscoll on the other hand has distanced himself from this movement. Initially a part of the movement, he tore away from it alarmed at where this group was heading. He now pastors a 6000 plus church and is among the fastest growing and most influential churches in the USA.
Among the reasons for this is that Driscoll holds Scripture in high regard. He often gets slammed for his stance of “God says it, we need to obey.” Apparently, those in the emergent movement forget the words uttered by Paul:
“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,” 2 Cor 10:5
So to the winkers I say;
I know much of what WE as the church represent is questionable to an unbelieving world and I know that we have been a bad example.
But in our attempt to converse with them, we need not attack those who hold on to scripture in high regard for even our God places His Word higher then even His Name.
For example, Adam at pomomusings lists a bunch of “ridiculous” snippets from Driscoll’s message and one of them is:
“If Rabbis don’t love Jesus, they have a bad hermeneutic.”
Well Adam, you are a student of scripture and you should take note of the following passage where Jesus says:
“You diligently studythe Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” John 5:39-40
So if a Rabbi does not love Jesus, he indeed does have a bad hermeneutic. You bring that up with Jesus if you have a problem with that - not Driscoll.
You winkers amount to pretty much nothing in the grand scheme of things and have very little impact on spreading the Gospel. Driscoll does. So get over it.
Good to see more action in regards to Mark Driscoll lately. He Pastors Mars Hill Church in Seattle and is one of my favourite teachers.
Mark draws heaps of criticism and praise at the same time from all over the Christian spectrum. Christianity Today has just published a feature article on the guy and I liked the description as to why Driscoll creates such a response.
Driscoll “comes off as a smart-aleck former frat boy,” according to The Seattle Times. Guilty as charged. If he hasn’t offended you, you’ve never read his books or listened to his sermons. On any given Sunday at Mars Hill, it’s possible that a visiting fire marshal will get saved. But it’s just as likely that a guest will flip him off before walking out.
The spectrum of response speaks to his sharp tongue—his greatest strength and his glaring weakness. But Driscoll also disturbs many fellow evangelicals because he straddles the borders that divide us. His unflinching Reformed theology grates on the church-growth crowd. His plan to grow a large church strikes postmoderns as arrogant. His roots in the emerging church worry Calvinists. No one group can claim him. Maybe that’s why they all turn their guns on him.
And another good quote talks about his split from the freaky little “Emergent” crowd - headed up by Tony Jones and Brian MacLaren.
Driscoll, while still emerging, no longer belongs to Emergent. Starting in 1995, Driscoll traveled around the country speaking for events hosted by Leadership Network, out of which grew Emergent Village in 2001. That’s when Driscoll split. He began to suspect that Emergent leaders wanted to revise Christian orthodoxy. Since then, Emergent Village has advocated an experimental, open approach to theology. Emergent Village coordinator Tony Jones has not sat down and talked with Driscoll in five years, Jones told me. Though they have sparred over theology, Jones spoke highly of Driscoll’s leadership gifts.
“He is uncommonly intelligent,” Jones said. “He is uncommonly articulate and humorous. He could have been a stand-up comedian. He could have been a great actor probably.”
But Driscoll seems to have tired of debates about the relationship of theology to postmodernism. Knowing his erstwhile Emergent friends will not be persuaded, Driscoll nevertheless references 641 Bible verses supporting his view in just 14 pages of Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives.
I’ve got the above mentioned book sitting on my bookshelf and indeed noticed the vast reference to scripture while the Emergent crowd barely even mentions it.
That’s what I admire about Driscoll. The guy sticks to scripture like gum to your soles and refuses to budge from it - even when it means that many people trash him for his views. The other aspect I like about him is his passion mixed with his comedy. Thanks to a fellow blogger, check out this snippet from a sermon Driscoll did a few weeks ago.
Mars Hill Church recently held a mass baptism on Alki Beach on the Puget Sound. And in typical Driscoll style, a baby seal beached itself right where the baptisms were to be held. Even though the Church had a permit for the occasion, Federal Law stated that anyone venturing within 100 yards of the seal would incur a $2,000 fine.
As you can imagine, the media and animal activists arrive and everything has now gone crazy. The setup team prayed for the seal to move but eventually they decided to move a few hundred yards away to set up elsewhere when lo and behold, the tide comes in and the seal moves.
This allowed the event to go ahead as planned and the media hung around and reported it on TV, radio and newspapers - God ordained publicity - for free! In all, over 220 people were baptised that day with 3000 people in attendance.
Check out the TV report here. And check out the photo’s on Flickr here.
Like him or lump him, Driscoll is a guy sold out to God. Sure his techniques may ruffle a few feathers but his message stays true to scripture. I suggest you check out the Christianity Today article and watch the above mentioned clips. While you’re at it, read his blog here and subscribe to his sermon podcast here and get a glimpse into the heart of a guy on mission for Jesus. Then when you see the world rage against him, and in particular the Christians, you will have a better idea as to what’s going on.
I was checking out the Mars Hill website tonight and came across their vital links section on Jesus. Even though Mars Hill cops a lot of crap form both liberals and conservatives, the one thing I hold them in high esteem is their undiluted surrender to the authority of Scripture.
What you have said