The Final Straw: The Problem With the Emerging Church - Postmodernism Part 2b

In Postmodernism Part 2, we looked at how the Emerging Church's desire to be accepted by the culture has destroyed it's orthodoxy. A movement that wants to be liked rather than authentic will eventually loose it's orthodoxy and the Emergent Church is guilty of this great sin. It's fear of becoming outcasts compels it to give up the pillars of the faith.

Well, I want to revisit this issue. As I continue to think about it and be exposed to Emergent Theology, I see a pressing need to revisit this issue and provide more insight.

EMERGING POSTMODERNS

The law of the angle means that if two lines are to be parallel, they must begin parallel. And, if two lines wish to overlap, their starting point must have the same horizontal trend to it. But if one line is off by a fraction, as the two lines continue to expand, they will be farther and farther apart.

When it comes to examining a theological trend, it is often wise to begin at where the two lines begin. In Christianity, this line begins with issues like theology, soteriology, Christology, anthropology, Bibliology, etc. If we get these issues wrong, then the rest of the theology will be wrong. Usually, this is the best approach when examining a movement or a theological system.

But perhaps when dealing with the Emerging Church, we should start at the other end of the angle. Rather than begin with the pillars of the faith (all of which they would argue are orthodox. But as we have seen, this is the postmodernism talking), we should begin with their main goal: acceptance of the culture. I would want to argue that the Emerging Church's desire to be loved by culture requires them to give up orthodoxy.

I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CULTURE AND EMERGENT

The Bible frequently uses marital language to describe how God relates to His people. Any student of Scripture will quickly realize this and find that it is a most fitting illustration.

First, let us begin with a quick survey of this idea in the Old Testament. Throughout the Old Testament, God tells Israel that He is divorcing her because of her unfaithfulness to Him. By this, He means that since Israel is worshiping other gods, like an adulterer, they are being unfaithful to Him. They have, in a sense, broken their marital vows. Or, to put it in another way, Israel was guilty of breaking their covenant with God. Therefore, God issues a certificate of divorce.

For example, Jeremiah 3:8 says, "And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also."

The language implies that God sees His relationship with His people like that of a husband and a wife. Both are to remain faithful to each other. And in Israel's case, God remained faithful to her, but she played the role of a harlot and chased after other gods.

The New Testament picks up on this imagery. However, we go from God the Father as the groom to Christ being the groom. In the Gospels, Jesus hints at this imagery:

• And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. -Matthew 9:15, also Mark 2:19, Luke 5:34
• He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice So this joy of mine has been made full. -John 3:29

Though these text suggests such imagery, it is really in the Epistles and the Apocalypse that we see this imagery most clearly. In the Epistles, the writers say:

• For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. -2 Corinthians 11:2
• 'for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. -Ephesians 5:31-32

And in the book of Revelation, we see the consummation of that marriage. Finally, the groom (Christ) and the bride (the Church) sit together at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb together in perfect love and sacrifice of the husband and the submission of the wife. John writes:

• 'Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.' -Revelation 19:7
• And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. -Revelation 21:2
• Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, 'Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.' -Revelation 21:9
• The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come' And let the one who hears say, 'Come' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. -Revelation 22:17

The picture is clear: earthly marriage serves as a picture of what heaven will be like. No, not the arguing, debating, and picking up each others underwear off the floor, but rather about union and love. Like a husband who gives up everything, even his very life, for his wife, so too, Christ has given up His very life to redeem her (Ephesians 5:25).

Therefore, our theology and hermeneutic of Scripture and our daily devotion to Christ should be that of a wife submitting to the will of her husband. We must be married to Him and no one else. To chase after foreign gods is an act of adultery. And I feel this is exactly what the Emerging Church has done.

Instead of remaining faithful to Christ, Emergents have ran off with culture. Their God isn't Christ, but culture. They, like the Church in Scripture, have become submissive to the will and desires of the culture. They adopt their commands, their precepts, their doctrines, and their practices.

First, their commands. Things like what to wear, what not to wear, how to talk, how to carry oneself, what worship must look like, short sermons, shallow spirituality, emphasis on works without the doctrine, etc. Therefore, the Christian life becomes easy. No need to worry about self-denial and self-hatred, one must rather hug their inner child. The culture emphasis the self, not deity. God is there for us, we are not there for Him.

Second, their doctrine. Things like do not be intolerant, do not judge, etc. Therefore, doctrines like hell, exclusive gospel, sin, and judgment are cast aside and these new doctrines are adopted. All, of course, with the purpose of getting the culture to like us by being just like them.

Finally, their practices. Many Emergents use vulgar language, rationalize sex before marriage (oftentimes encouraging oral sex as an alternative), stress entertainment, etc. The emphasis is not on the judgment to come, but on process made during the here and now. Emergents take the love of God and the forgiveness of Christ, sometimes, as a license to sin and be proud of it. Many Emergent authors mention, almost proudly, their life before coming to Christ. And quit honestly, with some, there is not much different now. The emphasis is on social action and deeds of kindness, not truth and doctrine.

On Derek Webb's, someone we could possibly consider as part of the Emerging Church movement, whether he likes the label or not, he is very influential and loved by Emergents, first album he wrote a song called "Wedding Dress." The chorus go:

i am a whore i do confess but i put you on just like a wedding dress and i run down the aisle I’m a prodigal with no way home but put you on just like a ring of gold and I run down the aisle to you

I find Webb's words prophetic of his own beliefs. The Emerging Church, like Gomer in Hosea, is playing the role of the harlot and is chasing after other gods.

But shouldn't we expect this? The history of Israel and of the Church reflects this. It was easy to fall for pagan practices whenever you live in a pagan culture. Perhaps this is why the Israelites adopted Baal worship while under captivity. It is much easier to go with the flow than fight the tide. But what is interesting about their worship of Baal and other gods is that they began to fall on their knkneesefore foreign gods before they became foreigners. It seems that as Israel felt safe while at times threatened, she was willing to abandon her true lover, God, and run off with Baal instead.

Is the same not happening now? While we sit here safe, we are running from God. At the same time, as things begin to get more difficult for the Church, and they will, will Christians flock towards cultural acceptance and flee from God? The trend is already happening. How many Christians will flee from their so-called faith whenever it becomes illegal to believe in it? The trends we see in Israel, we are now seeing today. While we remain in our safety, we run to other gods as if God wouldn't notice. At the same time, when times of fear and uncertainty come, will we return to our husband, or be like the Israelites and go with the cultural tide?

I pray that we can all be Daniels in our culture. Daniel couldn't care less about what the cultural trends or what political pressures there might be upon him and his faith. Both him and his three friends, commonly known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were fearless in the face of difficulty and relentless in their love for their husband. Almost every chapter of Daniel gives testimony to this.

For example, in chapter 1, while encouraged to go with the flow with Babylonian food regulations (that was, if it's there, eat it) they both knew and obeyed the dietary laws of the Mosaic covenant. In chapter 3, while demanded to bow down and worship an idol, the three friends stood alone amongst the entire culture. I wonder how many other Jews might have wiwhisperedn their ear, "Sin now. Repent later. God will ununderstand Nonetheless, they were willing to die for their lover. And then, in chapter 6, Daniel refused to obey the ordinance of the king and was thrown into a lions den for it.

If I were to assess the Emerging Church, I see a movement of harlot's chasing after the wind rather than faithful Daniels going against the flow.

And so we return to our angle. Dedication to culture means we must trash Christianity's pillars. In the area of theology, God is not a sosovereignictator in control, rather He is a loving teddy bear there to serve us. In the area of Christology, Christ is memercifulnd forgiving giving us an example of sacrifice on the cross. In the area of soteriology, we are saved by our works, not by our doctrinal affirmations. In the area of ananthropologyman isn't born in sin and unincapablef redeeming himself. Rather, man is good at heart and through free will can reach God half way. Finally, in the area of Bibliology, God has given us His Word, but who are we to say we have it figured out? The Bible is a living document always needing to be reinterpreted. To those issues that culture has objected (such as women in ministry, homosexuality, etc.) we have misunderstood those texts for all of these years, it is time for a new understanding.

We used to call this liberalism. And we used to reject this as heresy. And now, it's lies have crept into our churches unnoticed. And we are losing our faith in the process.