Chapter 2 – How We Got Into This Mess
In the second chapter of The Sin of Certainty, Peter Enns sketches what he thinks are the historical roots of the evangelical pro-occupation with right thinking.
He begins by observing that we do not become Christians by working things out rationally, and then coming to a decision, but by other means. This being the case, then the emphasis which many Christians place on ‘knowing what you believe’ is misplaced. …
Peter Enns stands in a rather long line of scholars, teachers and leaders (including James Barr, Dave Tomlinson, Brian Maclaren, Robert M. Price, Bart Ehrman, and Steve Chalke) who have, to a lesser or greater extent, turned their backs on the evangelical faith which once nurtured them. In some cases (Ehrman) it has finished up in agnosticism. In others (Price) in doubting whether the Jesus of the Bible even existed. In still others (Tomlinson, Maclaren, and Chalke) there remains a clear profession of Christian faith, while important theological and moral tenets have undergone drastic revision. …
Kent Dobson, who succeeded Rob Bell as pastor of influential Mars Hill Bible Church, has recently announced his decision to step down.
He had begun, he says, with a desire to follow Paul by offering the traditional gospel in culturally-relevant dress. But he had come to question not only the packaging as traditionally offered by the church, but also the message.
…“I have always been and I’m still drawn to the very edges of religion and faith and God.
For too many Christians, vagueness is the vogue; all they have is the courage of their confusions. (Anon)
Doubters invert the metaphor and insist that they need faith as big as a mountain in order to move a mustard seed. (Webb B. Garrison)
Give me the benefit of your convictions, if you have any. Keep your doubts to yourself; I have enough of my own. (Goethe)
Christ distinguished between doubt and unbelief. Doubt says, “I can’t believe.”…
John Ortberg comments that the badge of doubt is often worn with pride (‘honest doubt’), but we seem embarrassed or even ashamed of faith (‘blind faith’).
But of course, he says, there are also such things as ‘blind doubt’ and ‘honest faith’!
John Ortberg’s Book, Faith and Doubt, was published in 2008 by Zondervan.…
In chapter 3 of Why we’re not emergent (by two guys who should be), Kevin DeYoung explains why he loves ‘the person and propositions of Jesus’. What follows is based on part of that chapter.
All Christians claim to have a high regard for the Bible, and emerging Christians are no different.
Brian MacLaren says:
…‘I believe [the Bible] is a gift from God, inspired by God, to benefit us in the most important way possible: equipping us so that we can benefit others, so that we can play our part in the ongoing mission of God.
According to an ancient Taoist saying, “the journey is the reward.”
And Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in Virginibus Puerisque (1881), “to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.”
Not very new, then, the post-modern preference for journey over destination. But it’s a favourite idea of emerging church people.
Kevin DeYoung discusses the emerging preference for seeing Christian faith as journey rather than destination in chapter 1 of Why we’re not emergent – by two guys who should be. …
