CRN.Info and Analysis

I woke up this morning to this. I have to say it wasn’t the best thought as I sipped my extra dry cappuccino at Pete’s Coffee and Tea. I actually began to feel incredibly sorry for the many people who read this and will actually believe it. I mean, imagine walking through life wondering if the purpose God has for you is a good one, or one that will lead to total destruction. How would that change how we live… in complete and udder fear of the future. I mean, life becomes one big turn of the dice. Will God give me a good purpose in life, or will He not?

You see, this is the God of illogical predestination. He randomly chooses some to have a good purpose in life, and randomly chooses some who will not. And, you will / can never know which one he will choose for you. We are simply pawns on some divine chess board.

Now, we may not have the ideal life by human standards. I am sure that Jim Elliot was not planning on being speared to death, leaving his family behind at such a young age. But was his purpose still good? Sure. Hundreds came to the faith. And, if you ask Elisabeth Elliot if she has any regrets over the situation, she would probably tell you the same. His life had a beautiful purpose. Pastor Martin Luther King Jr. was probably not planning on being assassinated. But the good and blessed purpose of His life has left ripples in eternity. For those that follow the Lord, there is a great purpose for our lives (and Rick Warren would agree that following God is the prerequisite for having a good purpose in life).

If course, the ironic thing is that most of the people who would hold to this view probably believe that they all have a good purpose in life. This poster and ideology would only apply to anyone other than themselves and their pack of Christian friends.

Over at Apprising Ministries, Ken Silva responds to a letter from a reader. Here are a few excerpts that are quite telling of his attitude when it comes to his status

The following is based on an unsolicited email I received here at Apprising Ministries. Please understand that I do not think any pastor-teacher is above reproach [insert typical Emerging Church whining here], etc. [emphasis mine]
What I wish to bring out is how easy, and I’ll argue arrogant as well, it is for people to simply disregard the teaching of someone like myself who has been studying the fields of apologetics, Comparative Religion and evangelizing non-Christian cults for 21 years….

You said: “I was very surprised to see your negative views on Christian meditation in the article CHRISTIAN MEDITATION WITH MANTRA: DOM JOHN MAIN.” So let me put it another way: I am very surprised to see you so quick in attempting to instruct someone like me whom Jesus has called as one of His pastor-teachers. [emphasis mine]

My dad always told me that you could tell alot about someone based on how they respond to correction or constructive criticism. This correspondence to Apprising was in no way instructional or a harsh rebuke. It sounded like an honest reader that was trying to understand where Silva was coming from. Most of the email was actually the reader asking him questions. But, Ken strikes back with his lofty credentials and how a man of his status should not be quickly instructed. How did Silva know that this reader had not spend some time looking at the Apprising articles and made an educated and simply inquisitive inquiry. On top of that, he sends such mixed statements: no pastor is above reproach, but people should not instruct someone who is a pastor-teacher in this manner.

Anyhow, this all too telling of the attitude of both Apprising and CRN:
We are educated, anointed and experienced, therefore we get to criticize whoever we want, whenever we want. And, you better not say anything about it.

That if you:

A. confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”

B. believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

-The Scriptures

Rick Warren’s Gospel presentation from PDL:

First believe God loved you and made you for His purposes. Believe that God has chosen to have a relationship with Jesus, who died on the cross for you. Believe that no matter what you’ve done, God wants to forgive you. Receive Jesus into your life as your lord and savior. Receive his forgiveness for your sins. So I invite you to bow your heads and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity. “Jesus, I believe in You, and I receive You.”

John MacArthur’s required additions to the gospel presentation for salvation

* Repentance
* Know who the family of God is
* A sense of eternal judgment
* A discussion on hell
* Self-denial
* Laying down the law of God against which the sinner is broken
* A sense of guilt in the person
* Sense of condemnation in the person
* A fear of eternal torment in the person
* An understanding of God’s wrath
* The sinner should be crushed under the weight of his violation of the law of God

One might be guilty of laying it on a little light, the other just might be guilty of turning the already narrow road into a tiny beaten path. Let the crusades continue.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! Rick Warren Denies the Gospel! At least that is what CRN said — and once again they failed to deliver. I laughed out loud when I saw the diagram on the page, explaining exactly how Warren has denied the gospel.

If you have to create such a complex diagram to prove that someone denies the gospel, you are really stretching it. This is one crazy witch hunt we have going on! So, I decided to make some of my own conclusions in life.

* Ken Silva reads books
* books are made from paper
* paper comes from trees
* trees come from the earth
* New-Agers worship the earth
* NEW HEADLINE: “KEN SILVA SUPPORTS NEW AGE WORSHIP!”

* CRN is on the internet
* Al Gore created the internet
* Al Gore supports abortions
* NEW HEADLINE: “CRN SUPPORTS ABORTION!”

Man, oh man… I could go on all day! I guess if you want to make something true, you will stretch all rules of logic to make it so.

I have been reading about how the SBC is slowly becoming catholic for a while now. And, anyone who is a part of the convention knows that this is far from reality. There is a lot you can say about the SBC: irrelevancy to world around it, unbiblical guidelines for ministry, use of funds — all that to say, I am not one who always tows the party line. However, this connection that Watcher’s Lamp makes is strange to me.

They make the comparison between the catholic practices of the stations of the cross and the prayer journey with signs and symbols that will be taking place at the Convention this year. First off, let me say that the practice is very similar. It seems (from the two sentences provided) that participants will go from station to station, be reminded of an aspect of God with a symbol, and stop to pray. How horrible could that be? In either case, no one is praying to the icons or symbols. Nor is anyone confusing Catholic theology with that of SBC protestantism. I am sure it will be a series of pictures from the 10/40 window, baptist churches, and various other images that will remind pastors to repent, give thanksgiving, and pray for the needs of the world.

Why is it that we have such a hard time with symbols and icons in the Christian faith. I mean, it seems like Jesus was constantly using images and symbols when he spoke. Everything from mustard seeds to a lost coin became iconic for who we are to become, and how we are to live. Heck, I don’t think that anyone would argue that we should stop taking communion in remembrance of our Lord because the Catholics have created transubstantiation. I think Jesus understood that so much of our learning process is visual, not just auditory. If he set up symbols and icons to remind us of the truths of God, why shouldn’t we? Or are we dismissing it simply because the Catholics came up with it first?

**Disclaimer:  I am doing an admittedly dangerous and possibly frustrating thing here.  I am defending Brian McLaren.  This should not be taken as blanket endorsement of McLaren’s thoughts.  I will admit, I like a lot of what he says, but there is some that I disagree with.

Well, it seems that Mr. Silva has gotten tired of talking about Rob Bell for a while, and has now set his sights on Brian McLaren.  This is not surprising since McLaren has become a de facto spokesman of sorts for the Emergent movement, but what it surprising, is how so easily facts get twisted in these attacks.

In this piece, we are told that Brian McLaren is “Speaking for Satan” - a pretty serious charge.  Ken gives this quote from D.A. Carson’s book, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, which says:

substitutionary atonement doesn’t address the question of why, if God wants to forgive us, he doesn’t just do it. How can punishing an innocent person make things better? “That just sounds like one more injustice in the cosmic equation. It sounds like divine child abuse. You know?”

Now it would be one thing if this quote were an accurate representation of McLaren’s work.  What Silva is doing is actually quoting someone who is pulling one line from McLaren’s book, The Story We Find Ourselves In.  For those that aren’t familiar with this book, it is the second in his New Kind of Christian trilogy.

These books are essentially semi-autobiographical novels.  They tell the story of middle-aged pastor, named Dan Poole, who has a crisis of faith, and ends up having a bunch of conversations about faith with Neo, a biology teacher who turns out to be somewhat of a mentor to Dan.  The passage that this quote is ripped out of is from the chapter entitled “More Than Even All the Windows Can Show”.  In this chapter Dan, Neo, Carol (Dan’s wife), and Kerry (Neo’s friend) are having a convseration about why Jesus had to die.  Below is an excerpt:

Carol was quiet for a minute, very thoughtful, first looking down at her feet, then over at the mountains that surrounded us, and then back to Kerry in front of her.  “Well, I believe that God sent Jesus into the world to absorb all the punishment for our sins.  That’s what the cross was all about.  It was Jesus absorbing the punishment that all of us deserve.  He became the substitute for all of us.  As he suffered and died, all our wrongs were paid for, so all of us can be forgiven.  OK?”

Kerry smiled. “I know that is supposed to mean something to me, and I suppose I can see it, but it raises so many questions.”

“Go ahead,” Carol said. “What questions?”

“For starters, if God wants to forgive us, why doesn’t he just do it?  How does punishing an innocent person make things better?  That just sounds like one more injustice in the cosmic equation.  It sounds like divine child abuse.  You know?”

Carol looked for help. ”I don’t think I’m doing very well.  Dan? Neo?”

I spoke up. “Kerry, what Carol just tried to explain is what theologians call a theory of atonement.  It’s a possible explanation for how Jesus’ life and death play a role in the salvation of the human race.”

Kerry responded, “Yes.  I can see that you would need such a theory.  It’s just that it…well, Christian dogma and doctrine don’t make complete sense to me.  No offense, but I grew up with this stuff, and it just stopped working for me as I grew older.”

“I understand,” I said. “Really, what Carol explained is just one of six theories.  It’s called the ’substitutionary atonement’ theory.  To me, it’s like…” - I gestured up toward the sky - it’s like trying to see the whole beautiful, majestic sky from one of your hospital windows.”

The chapter goes on to talk about the different theories of atonement, and it doesn’t deny any of them.  It just says that none of them capture the full meaning of the cross.  There will always be part of the beauty that is mysterious.  Brian McLaren never denies substitutionary atonement as a valid explanation in this book or in any of his other books.  If anything, he like other theologians, realize that it has the potential to be misunderstood.  This is a far cry from a denial.

So once again, it goes to show that if you do a little research, like actually reading the book for yourself, you can avoid making a fool out of yourself.

With the recent movie “Expelled” getting some press I assumed that it wouldn’t be long before the Ben Stein “Christmas Tree” email started floating around again. Well I was right!

As of this morning I had 3 messages in my email about Ben Stein and his declaration on “Christmas Trees”. Only problem is the email isn’t true. Of course it has some truth but much of the “commentary” has been fabricated. And some of the items in the letter are outright lies attributed to Ben Stein. You can read the whole situation at Snopes.com

In this age of information you would think that Christians, of all people, would do due diligence if/when launching an email, blogging, or internet slander campaign.

he actually has a sense of humor!

(dun-dun-dun!)

I’ve been blogging through The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard for the past year. Ok, it’s taken me a long time to get through it. I have a stack of books that are sitting by my bedside and I’m working my way through them. Some books have taken a greater priority, like Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts, since I got engaged this past October and so, as a result, I haven’t been able to finish Willard’s book. I am currently on Chapter 8 and intend to finish within the month.

With that being said, I noticed that Ken Silva has decided to review The Spirit of the Disciplines. When I say review, I mean write a review of a review. Silva shows no evidence that he actually read the book. Instead, he bases his thoughts on a review by Bob DeWaay.

Silva (or is it DeWaay) takes issue with Willard’s view of “yoke”. Ken suggests that Willard says that the yoke is as the practice of spiritual disciplines like solitude, silence, and simple living and that:

First of all this view does not take into account the need for regeneration. It also fails because if it was possible for a mere human to live the perfect life Christ Jesus did as the God-Man then it is conceivable for someone else to have been the Savior.

Willard, in fact, is addressing a Christian audience, one who is already “regenerated”. And Willard never suggests that we can become perfect, like Christ. These disciplines simply are ways of us to prepare to live a life like Christ did.

Silva (or DeeWay) then gets confused with Willard’s statement about “theories of atonement” (p 33), saying that:

rather than concerning ourselves with the blood atonement, averting God’s wrath against sin, salvation by faith through grace, we should be practicing spiritual disciplines with our bodies so that we could then be more like Jesus.

Willard is not dismissing the atonement at all. He is simply saying that just talking about the theology of the atonement does not equal living the Christian life. If we just stop at the theology and don’t actually follow Christ, then we’ve missed the point of what Christ wants us to do, which is to follow Him.

Finally, Silva quotes DeeWay here:

Ironically, Willard admits that the Bible does not command us to practice the spiritual disciplines he prescribes. To hear evangelicals like Dallas Willard and Richard Foster tell us that we need practices that were never spelled out in the Bible to become more like Christ or to get closer to God is astonishing.

Which leaves me confused. Willard constantly refers to Scripture to show how Jesus practiced the spiritual disciplines. And what spiritual disciplines are Silva and DeeWay opposed to? Fasting? Reading Scripture? Praying? Frugality? Chastity? Service? Worship? Fellowship? Confession? Scripture Memorization? These are all practices with Willard suggests will help us live a proper Christian life.

In addition to all of this, Willard repeatedly explains that we have salvation by grace alone through faith and that we aren’t saved by our good works nor do we earn God’s favor by our good works (p 119, 136, 138, 139, 142, 143 are a few examples). He evens spends all of Chapter 8 talking about excessive asceticism in the context of history.

There are three more chapters for me to finish. But I find that Willard has definitely challenged me to consider what practices I should be incorporating into my life in order that I might follow Christ more.

“People have a body for one reason — that we might have at our disposal the resources that would allow us to be persons in fellowship and cooperation with a personal God” - Dallas Willard

“While some “Christian” pastors have slipped their Biblical moorings and are now apologizing for opposing abortion, men like Barak Obama are leading the charge to against pro-life legislation.”

This was the opening line in the post entitled It’s a Mad World, at CRN this morning.

It was followed with the statement

Is it really wrong and “Un-Christian” of Christians to call abortion a sin

So, I followed the link to a little leaven where they asked

Is the church wrong and judgmental for claiming that abortion and homosexuality are sins and contending against them?

Wow! A church that claims it is judgmental to call abortion and homosexualty a sin? A church that says it is wrong to call homosexuality a sin!? Where would this be? Well, it doesn’t exist. Here is the original news story and a few quotes that CRN or A Little Leaven will probably not want you to read

Georgia Baptist pastor who pledged to apologize to gays, women seeking abortions, and couples who live together outside marriage…

His apology was not limited to the aforementioned groups but was directed to those in the secular world that drive by churches each day and never consider visiting because of the judgmental posture…

Lee did not yield ground on his conservative beliefs but said the Church’s established methods of judging others for their shortcomings obviously has not worked. Driving people away from Christ is not an effective way of bringing them to Him, he said through a variety of illustrations….

“I am 37 years old and I believe the Bible is 100 percent truth without error. But the Bible tells us we are to judge our own lives and not the lives of those outside the faith”

And while I firmly believe that Romans 1 is true in its discussion of homosexuality I know that it is much easier to condemn when you do not know those in that lifestyle.

So, this would have been a big, huge, juicy story… if it were actually true. Apologizing for how we have treated these people is not the same as apologizing for what scripture has to say about their lifestyle and choices. I find it very ironic that Christians run to the media for an apology when someone treats them bad, but we are unapologetic for gay bashing, abortion clinic vandalism and arsons, and let’s not mention gadhatesfags.com. Don’t see too much outrage over how we have treated those that need Christ the most.

BTW… I LOVE how they had to drag Barack into the equation. Wouldn’t be a good ODM article without blaming some politicians for where the church has fallen short in affecting society.