Three Vietnam veterans who were held captive for years in the prison known as the “Hanoi Hilton” revealed Tuesday that their Communist jailers repeatedly cited John Kerry’s 1971 Senate testimony branding them as war criminals to justify threatening them with execution and drive down their morale.
That has to hurt.
Wow…now here’s an interesting perspective.
I wonder if the way the modern church has presented the gospel by focusing on life after death has subtly helped produce a consumer mindset. Dallas Willard suggests we have basically taught in the modern church that people get a bar code, like on a supermarket product, which guarantees our salvation. With that mindset, Willard explains, “the payoff for having faith and being ‘scanned’ comes at death and after. Life now being lived has no necessary connection with being a Christian as long as the bar code does its job.”
Willard suggests that our preaching and teaching simply become focused on “sin-management” rather than on kingdom living and becoming a disciple of Jesus now, learning to live as he lived. We thus fall into a cycle of producing consumer Christians who wait to go to heaven and in the meantime turn to God simply to learn how to manage sin in this life.
And it all starts with our evangelism!The Emerging Church—Dan Kimball
Really. Well, first, that’s not a modern concept. Scripture quite clearly teaches that we are to run the race with our eyes on the prize. That is our reward. I feel it’s actually quite the opposite. The church’s teaching that God will reward you in this life and that if you are a Christian everything will be just peachy is more likely the source of this. However, he does raise an interesting point in regards to the theology of barcode christianity. To me, this is a big problem with Armenianism. Excepting the holiness/legalistic folks, if you do your part (believe) then you’re good. You’ll make it, and that’s all that matters.
Because it robs God of his glory in our salvation, gouges his soverignty and deflates his majesty in the minds of those who believe it, I can see how that would create a consumeristic mindset in those who have been taught such things. I mean, if that’s how you see things, what is the big deal really? Is there anything to drive you to proclaim the “good news”? What’s so good about it anyway?
If you had an illness and went to the doctor and got a new medicine that fixed it, would you go and shout from the rooftops that you took this medicine and it cured you? Would you be just burning to tell your friends about how great it was? Some might. Some would talk if asked, others would just not see what the big deal was. I’m not saying all armenians are this way, I know many who are not. However, I would put forward that they are so because they have not considered the reality of their position. Once you start to consider what your beliefs really mean, it can have a devastating effect on you. Believe me, I know.
So I just ran across this in Dan Kimball’s The Emerging Church.
Guard the content of what we sing. Too often while sitting in a church service, I’m asked to sing lyrics that are not theologically sound, that are me-focused rather than God-focused, or that are so metaphorical that the true meaning has been lost.”
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I pray that the emerging church will bring back strong integrity in what we sing. Don’t forget that many hymns have strong God-focused lyrics and are beautiful songs to teach emerging generations.
This book has been an intriguing read. I disagree with some of his conclusions, and I think his grasp of theology is a little weak in places, but the book has been interesting anyway. Despite the constant quotes from Rick Warren which range mostly from Bad to Worse. I can 100% agree with the sentiment quoted here however. A lot of the songs sung anymore are so pithy and devoid of content it makes me ill. We sing this stuff and preach watered down seeker-sensitive messages and then turn around and act surprised at the state of the church. What did they think was going to happen?
One of the things I found most interesting about this book came from analyzing the content as a whole. What I’m hearing from him is that the postmodern (or emerging) church isn’t interested in seeker sensitive. (Big surprise) They want the religious symbols. They want the mystery. They want the awe and wonder of a real relationship with God. They want hymns, hymns filled with the history and sound theology of the church. Now where could they go to find that…..oh! Right! A reformed church! Imagine that.
Yes, they also want to see more ‘art’ dimmer lighting, candles, gothic decor, etc. they want to participate in the service in ways other than just singing. To me, that’s all good if that’s the direction a church wants to take. I would agree with them that dimmer lighting and candles create a more serious atmosphere, one which encourages contemplation. Of course, it also encourages sleeping. So there’s a tradeoff. ;-) But all of that is just incidentals. What I’m getting from what I’ve heard and read on the ‘emerging church movement’ makes me think that all these people are really missing the mark.
If you want to know the Greatness of God. If you want the awe, the wonder, and the mystery of God…then you want to understand God truly. Only when you recognize his soverignty, when you understand how truly powerful He is, what scripture says about him, and his role in this world He has created and in our own personal lives can you truly appreciate His greatness. When I finally came to a full understanding of that it was a blow that drove me to my knees. When you truly understand who He is, and almost as important, who you are and then what he has done for you….there is no greater impetus to worship. There is no need to muster the desire to worship. Every time I contemplate these basic truths, the doctrines of grace, it makes my heart want to explode with joy and worship. God is amazing, he’s awesome, he’s
Anyway, I just wanted to comment on how ironic I thought it was that the church they’re looking for is already here, and has been here, for a long time, just w/out candles. ;-) I didn’t actually intend to go on and on. Now my lunch hour is over and I haven’t finished this book. :-(
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