CRN.Info and Analysis

Source: Lone Prairie Art Works

Comments: Julie gets a bit exasperated with the guilt-by-association and its forms in the Christian blogosphere (and the microcosm that is SoL).  She also has a thing for asterices and post-scripts that I love…
Memorable Quotes:

After all my reading and listening and studying, I believe there is no more bitter or pointless argument to be in than one made up of a bunch of Christians trying to prove or disprove the specifics, and no more embarrassing one to be caught in, either.

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Teacher A discredits B, while C praises A. D praises C and B but discredits A. Then A slips up and endorses the book of E when E has been known to endorse the book of F who had endorsed the book of B. Real life example: I like Francis Schaeffer. Os Guiness is connected to his L’Abri. I like Os Guiness (his book Prophetic Untimeliness will knock you down, it’s that good). Os Guiness is connected to The Trinity Forum. This leads to a connection to Dallas Willard and boom! Red flag. The whole contemplative prayer thing. If Willard endorses a Guiness book, does this mean I no longer should partake of Guiness, and consequently anyone connected? But wait! Bob DeWaay is connected to the same publisher as Ray Yungen who is against contemplative prayer but DeWaay has spoken at the Rochester branch of L’Abri. Crisis! What to do?!

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Want a taste of this? Just go here, take some notes, then start looking through your own books, think about your own beliefs and whatever else has positively influenced you in your Christian walk, and let your head implode. And just in case you’re up for it, go be poked fun at by other Christians, because that’s cool, too (HT: TRW). Once you’ve made up your categories - something I am unable to do because of the GLARING IMPOSSIBILITY OF THIS, go set up your own website and proclaim to the world you’ve figured it out while modestly saying you haven’t, like here or here. You can even publish your own books. Claim yourself to be a watchtower being sure to quote from Ezekiel, or claim to be part of the remnant, although there’s enough people claiming to be the remnant out there that I think we can sew together a pretty big sheet of cloth.

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And then, for one last bit of fun, get involved in the search for the perfect and appropriate worship music. I read one guy on Slice* saying how holy and much better his Sunday went with its Lutheran liturgy as opposed to the vileness of modern worship or whatever, while I’ve know people who have all but slipped into a coma during just such a time. On the other hand, this post is a perfect example of the excruciating 3-4-5’s (three words, four chords, five hours) that drive me nuts; it talks about a song called Breathe**. For those white Germanic folk up here that have never been to another country or culture where Lutheran liturgy just doesn’t cut it, you might consider that making a joyful noise to the Lord varies across cultures and denominations. As with everything, we all gather at the fine line where something is crossed and it isn’t about true worship, and we point fingers at each other to the sound of the drums, organ, piano, call and response, Gregorian chant, or nothing (Church of God - they don’t have instruments, right?) while missing the bigger picture.

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So no, I don’t want to argue your five points, argue about Finney or argue Arminianism or Pelagianism or cessationism or an -ism. I don’t want to raise a virtual blog altar to MacArthur*** and create a perpetual link to the great preacher Spurgeon. I don’t want to nod my head with the rest of the ducks who are looking at the geese, both waterfowl, agreeing that because the geese like the Alpha Course or wear pants or are Pentecostal, they’re definitely going to hell.

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*If you’re not a five-pointer or sour-faced, Slice might be rough going. I no longer leave comments because the whole bunch jump on the ugly duckling, and sign off with “In Christ.” Can’t do much with that. I once left a blunt rebuttal and signed it “In Christ, Too” but it was one of many comments that didn’t make it, though it may have been my Firefox acting up again and losing my comment. It’s just as well.

**Breathe is a song that our Pastor doesn’t like so much because in his previous church some girl sang that chorus for about three weeks as a “special number.” Simply awful, I imagine. There should be Biblical discipline involved here i.e. taking the mic away. Another song with little meaning is that Draw Me Close one. Huh?

***I like MacArthur, who, by the way, supported Dr. Dobson and which, by the way, throws up red flags for some who would normally support MacArthur and that is my point here: When you follow men (humans, for my feminism challenged readers) you will most likely find confusion. Why, on Slice they mock the Left Behind series which has Kirk Cameron as the actor in the films who is also now in the Worldview Weekend rotation of speakers and shares an online column presence with other Christian authors including the “owner” of Slice, Ingrid.

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