New Blog

Here's a link to my new blog. I will be posting on this new blog page between now and January 12, as it is then that I will be returning to classes and may not have much free time to write outside of academics for a while. The first fourteen entries are segments from a paper I wrote (entitled "Religion: Missing the Point") last semester for a Lit class. The entries thereafter will come from some of my thoughts over the past semester. Enjoy!

http://critiqueofchristianity.blogspot.com/

And apologies for never having finished the mini-series on postmodern Christianity. Simply because of timing I was unable to publish the remaining segments.

Delay

Sorry for the delay. I recently moved into college, and have been busy the last couple of days, therefore getting in the way of posting the last three of my eight-part series on postmodern Christianity. I will be trying to post them within the next couple of days.

Postmodern Christianity - Stop Avoiding the Question - Part 5 of 8

Postmodern Christians do not like to think in absolutes. They think that by giving a precise answer, you are pinning down God into a nice little box which you are the master of. They are very humble about admitting that they do not know everything. They say that they are merely “furthering the conversation”. At one level this is a good thing: being humble enough to admit that you don’t have it all together and that you do not understand everything. That kind of humility is admirable. But when someone is a leader, whether they like it or not, there needs to be some form of answers for them to give. A pastor is of no worth if he has no answers.

When I was going through what I have labeled as Act III of the past few years, I had a lot of questions going through my mind. The troubles that I had with the church I was going to at the time, only manifested my questions about religion; questions that far exceeded my understanding. Around this time, there was a guy I knew that told me one day that “the search for God does not lead to better answers; it leads to better questions.” With my non-stop questioning-nature, this quote gave me hope that what I was going through was a good thing.

Postmodern Christians have done a good job at avoiding responsibility for what they say and do. And now they are avoiding responsibility in helping those around them. Don’t get me wrong: I understand that they are all about helping the poor, needy and such. But what about the new or growing Christians? Is it really the best idea for older/wiser people to be publically broadcasting their spiritual journey? A spiritual journey that is surrounded by questions and very little answers? Or even worse, a spiritual journey that is surrounded by answers, none of which come from the most pure source about who and what God is. Those that are given more have more expected from them...pastors, authors, bloggers. All people that have been given a voice to use, and the first thing that postmodern Christians do when they are confronted with a question is not to aid the person with Biblical answers, but with either more questions or economically/socially-appropriate answers.

People need to have Biblical answers. Not answers that they could find out of any number of “Christian Living” books, but answers from the Word of God. Don’t give the “let’s ask better questions” answer. I can appreciate the Socratic Method, but for the here and now if I need answers and all you have is a brush-off answer, then what good are you? I understand the idea of “there is a time for questioning and a time for answering, etc.” but if your lifestyle is to ask continual questions and hope that answers will magically appear, then you’re dead wrong.

Postmodern Christianity - Running Away From Responsibility - Part 4 of 8

Postmodern Christians, although commendable for attempting to contextualize a two-thousand year old Bible into a more appropriate present-day model, have found an easy way to relieve themselves of any responsibility for their actions and influence.

Something that bothers me about postmodern Christianity is their lack of confidence in anything they say. Brian McLaren, for example, has a tendency to write all sorts of disclaimers in his books before ever revealing his own opinion, going as far as to completely discredit what he has to say. In an interview that he gave, McLaren stated that he is “no doubt wrong on many things,” that he is “very likely wrong in my personal opinions on homosexuality.” Why would someone completely deny what he has to say? “In the postmodern world of spiritual journey, authenticity and sincerity have become the currency of authority, and dysfunction, inconsistency, and idiosyncrasy are worn as badges of honor (Kevin Deyoung in Why We’re Not Emergent).” I understand that honesty is a virtue to strive for, but when people use honesty about one thing to supersede another of their viewpoints that happens to be atypical, then the honesty quickly becomes manipulation.

So we have a group of people that converse what they are thinking (“furthing the conversation”), preempt any criticism from being effective by admitting their imperfections early on, and then go the next mile by denying the fact that they are in fact leaders. “Emergent authors, bloggers, and pastors do not see themselves as leaders or authoritative theologians, but as talkers.” When someone disagrees with their philosophy on something, they brush it off by saying “we’re not theologically trained, therefore we shouldn’t be held responsible for what we say.”

“It’s one thing for a high school student to be in process with his theology. It’s another thing for adults to write books and speak around the world about their musings and misgivings. I agree there must be space for Christians to ask hard questions and explore the tensions of our faith, but I seriously question that this space should be hugely public where hundreds of thousands of men and women are eagerly awaiting the next book or blog or podcast arising from your faith journey. No matter what label you put on it, once you start selling thousands of books, speaking all over the country and world, and being looked to for spiritual and ecclesiastical direction, you’re no longer just a conversation partner. You are a leader and a teacher (Kevin Deyoung).”

Another attribute of postmodern Christians is that they see themselves more like travelers than tour guides. “As a traveler, I’m free to love and be loved. I’m not worried about taking a wrong step or losing my position. I’m just one more person on the journey – a beloved child of God.” The negative mindset that comes out of this one is with the statement that they are “not worried about taking a wrong step or losing my position” because it’s simply part of “the journey”. I like the idea that life is a journey, but to be apathetic to taking a wrong step or losing position can become a very slippery slope. If the emphasis is less on going in the right direction, then who’s to say that morals or beliefs have any basis on whether or not you’re doing the right thing. Apathy towards direction and the road leads to what postmodern Christians have vocalized hating: doing the “religious” thing on Sunday mornings at church and the rest of the time do whatever you want to.

Postmodern Christianity - Postmodernity, and My Experience With It - Part 3 of 8

As Kevin Deyoung puts it, trying to define and explain what all is included under the umbrella of postmodern/emergent Christianity is like nailing Jell-O to a wall; no matter how hard you try to keep everything together, somewhere or another you’re going to lose something. But here is my analysis of what it is: postmodern (also known as emergent) Christianity is an underground movement of sorts that is very intentional about not putting anyone in the role of leadership. They are intentional about not having spokespeople for someone to ask what specifically they believe, always saying “we’re not experts, just furthering the conversation.” Even Brian McLaren, who coined the phrases “postmodern” and “emergent”, denies being a spokesperson for the group. The people who have been associated with the movement are a group of authors, pastors and bloggers who write about some of the same issues, but because of the lack of uniformity, do not all consider themselves as “emergent” or “postmodern”. The people within this movement look at what they do as having less to do with doctrinal theology and more about furthering the “discussion” or “conversation”. Their mission is to “further the discussion” about how to take Christianity into an ever-changing society. Although Brian McLaren is the unofficial spokesperson for the Emergent Community, other authors/preachers/bloggers who have delved into some of the same themes have been unofficially put into the postmodern Christianity label. Such authors/preachers/bloggers include Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Brian McLaren, Mark Driscoll, Donald Miller, Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Spencer Burke, Dan Kimball, Andrew Jones, Chris Seay, Peter Rollins, David Tomlinson, Leonard Sweet, Stanley Hauerwas, Henri Nouwen, N.T. Wright, Stan Grenz, Dallas Willard, Brennan Manning, Jim Wallis, Fredrick Buechner, David Bosch, John Howard Yoder, Wendell Berry, Nancy Murphy, John Franke, Walter Winks and Lesslie Newbigin. But again, because of the lack of uniformity, some or all of these authors may not see themselves as being involved with any of the others.

Now if the so-called “leaders” of postmodern Christianity won’t even stand up to the role, then it is fairly easy to see that figuring out what exactly it means to be “postmodern” or “emergent” will be even more difficult. Here are a few things that either apply to myself or things that I’ve seen come up through the reading that I’ve done: postmoderns long to be the church without having to go to church; they long to live in a community that is more relational, tribal and primal; they believe that doctrines (and denominations) get in the way of having a truly interactive relationship with God; they do not believe (or simply refrain from thinking in these terms) in a sacred-secular divide; they believe that no one goes to hell and chances are it doesn’t even exist; they believe that truth is so pure that humans are incapable of describing it or comprehending it (thus making it unattainable); they believe that to show your love for God it is more about doing the right things than believing the right things; they see life as being one great adventure, not to be held back by any rules or regulations; they believe that there should be less doctrine and more living.

Leonard Sweet describes the postmodern Way as being more of an “experience” that cannot be defined. “The journey is more wandering than directional, more action than belief, more ambiguous than defined. To explain the journey would be to cheapen it. The Christian faith is not a math problem to be solved.” Postmodernists are travelers and adventurists, not tour guides. Spencer Burke has used the same analogy: “Tour guides don’t feel free to deviate from the ‘route’ other Christians have set. Becoming a traveler however enables you to be true to yourself. As a traveler, I am free to love and be loved. I’m not worried about taking a wrong step or losing my position. I’m just one more person on the journey – a beloved child of God.”

Postmodern Christianity - Summer - Part 2 of 8

Seventy-one…that’s how many days my summer was. And not until seven days prior to leaving for college do I find any means to spiritual progress prior to heading off for college. I work at a Christian bookstore (kind of an accident that I even have that job) on the weekends, and this past weekend I came across a book that the title immediately grabbed my attention: “Why we’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be”. The majority of that “spiritual maturing” during Act II and the preceding juggling act of Act III came in the form of reading mounds of books as well as deep discussion; reading books from authors like Rob Bell (Velvet Elvis and Sex God), Brian McLaren (A New Kind of Christian, The Story We Find Ourselves In, The Final Word and the Word After That, and A Generous Orthodoxy), Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz and To Own A Dragon), Erwin McManus (Uprising and The Barbarian Way), and Shane Claiborne (An Irresistible Revolution). Although I did not know it to the extent that I do now, all of these authors/books have a recurring theme: postmodern/emergent Christianity. It’s not until I started reading “Why We’re Not Emergent” that I realize how postmodern those books were and how postmodern I had become through reading/studying them. My “Sin as long as it’s amongst believers” blog entry was a precursor to my current discussion of postmodern Christianity without me even realizing it.

Postmodern Christianity - Intro - Part 1 of 8

It’s moments like these that I truly appreciate the timing of God. I’ve felt the overwhelming feeling that I’ve become spiritually stagnant this entire summer. I’ve been working forty-five to sixty hours a week for the entire summer with church only being what I do each Sunday between 11am-noon. I’ve had little to no contact with any people with whom I would normally bounce ideas off of, and although I started seriously reading my Bible for the first time in my life over the summer, each read was only ever something that influenced me for a couple of days and then it was back to the mundane workday that occupied my time seven-days a week. That’s why it is only appropriate that the week before I head off to college I discover a book that has been the complete wake-up call to everything that has manifested within me over the past year and a half. I look back over the past three years and can break down those three years into four distinct acts of the play that is my life. Act I ended three years ago when I had just left a church that my family had attended for two years. Act II is when I became acquainted with a Nazarene church which proved to be a blessing at the time. That lasted for two years. The amount of change my personality underwent as well as spiritual maturing probably was some of the most profound change I’ve ever had in my short life. Act II was abruptly cut short when I found out some significant information about the church, at the same as saying goodbye to two families that were the catalyst behind my transformation over those two years. Act III, then, started with a large amount of both anger and frustration with the situation that I was projected from by the previous events. Along with the frustration and hate that I accumulated was the constant juggling act I was doing with numerous theological principles, having been heavily affected by the legacy those two families bestowed upon me. And now Act IV is about to begin, not only because of the lifestyle change that college will bring with it, but also the unique spiritual journey that I feel will come out of the book I just purchased.

Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be

The other day I saw a book entitled “Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be”. The title alone made me want to buy the book. The book is written by two guys, each speaking about postmodern Christianity and the emergent movement within the Christian community. I picked the book up, looked at the description on the back cover, and within about thirty seconds decided to buy it. It’s ironic because two days before I bought the book I had been thinking about this very subject. Needless to say, the book has been one of the most pertinent wake-up calls I’ve experienced in quite a while. The book has shaken me up to look at the whole mindset of post-modernity, how postmodern I am, and the extremes that it is being taken to. It was surprising to find out how postmodern I am in some regards, at the same time as so many aspects of the emergent movement that completely rub the wrong way. The title alone of this blog is incredibly postmodern; a title that I am now thinking of re-titling. But all this to say, I have been writing for the past five days on this subject, each day adding more and more to it, cutting parts of it out, while constantly revising others. So wait just a little bit longer and I should have a very interesting blog coming; something that is actually opposite of anything you’ve ever read of mine before.

Sin is sin, except amongst believers?

I find it interesting the excuses we use to justify our sinful actions. A popular one that I've heard within the Christian community is "Well…as long as you are in the presence of believers who know where you stand spiritually, then you're fine". Here's an example: Two Christians are talking about something that is wrong (i.e. an unfortunate event that has happened, such as the end of a friendship) and in one person's frustration he/she swears. Let's even say that person swears a lot during this conversation. I find myself excusing my sin to some unfortunate event which somehow "gives me permission" to get away with swearing (sinning)…something that is clearly not a good thing within Christian morality. I try my best to keep my frustration bundled up inside. Then, when I get to someone who I feel is safe to vent to, everything comes out…sometimes with an abundance of expletives. I acknowledge that I do this often, and that it is something I should probably not be doing as a Christian. But the salt in the wound is when I start dancing the line of excusing my sin. Aristotle says that "every rational activity aims at some end or good". We think of ourselves as least in some way as right/good…until we have some small doubt. No one wants to think of themselves as a bad person. So what do we do instead of admitting our fault? We have an explanation for each of our actions…painting them as "rational" or "okay". A passage many Christians inappropriate use to rationalize their sinful actions is the following:

"Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brother in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." – 1^st Corinthians 8:9-13 (NIV)

Instead of focusing on not being a bad influence on the "weaker brother", many Christians take this passage as, "that means if someone understands/knows me and we share our faith in Christ, then my visible sin won't so negatively influence them, thus making it alright for me to do". Again, this is a very convenient excuse for our wrong actions. We make up some lame excuse for our actions, painting the picture that we are in "fine" moral standing with God, rather than acknowledging that we are going down a slippery slope of excusing our sins. This eventually makes us believe that sin is not that big of a deal.

I recently watched Ben Affleck's directorial debut movie Gone Baby Gone, starring his brother Casey. The movie's "bad" guys were people that I and others could easily identify as. The "bad" characters try to protect someone, and even go about it in a way most people would think was the best choice…but, in fact, it is wrong. Another false idea that we have is that IF we do evil, in order to accomplish good, that somehow it takes away the evil we did. It was probably the most realistic representation in a movie that I've seen of someone doing the right thing regardless of the unintended consequences. That's something I think we don't quite understand: the fact that doing the right thing is difficult and that it comes with attachments.

The next movie I'll reference is The Dark Knight. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I really don't feel bad for somewhat-ruining the ending, seeing how EVERYONE should have at least seen it once already. But at the end of The Dark Knight, Batman chooses to take the blame for something that he was innocent of doing. The movie ends with a powerful monologue about how he is "the hero we deserve…just not the hero we need right now". He will take the role of a dark knight "because he can take it". I try to make things as easy as possible, whenever possible. This sometimes means that I rationalize my actions regardless. In The Last Kiss, Zach Braff's character must stop what he's doing and put everything into getting something good back. His girlfriend's father tells him, "The way to win is to not give up". He then sits on her porch for days on end in order to win her back. Sometimes doing the right thing takes a lot of time and uncomfortable moments.

Regardless of what we may be able to rationalize in our mind about something not being "that big of a deal", sin is sin. Sometimes we just need to bite the bullet for our actions, despite how convenient it may be to continue to see ourselves as innocent of any wrong doing. I think we need to act the same way in front of believers as we do in front of non-believers. When faced with the fact that we are human and sin, we need to admit fault and change. Jesus did not call those who thought themselves to be righteous, but those who knew that they were sinners. That involves not cowering behind illegitimate excuses for what kind of person we are.

Agree or disagree? Let me know. Comment.

A Different Approach

"Every rational activity aims at some end or good." - from Aristotle's Ethics

In response to my last blog entry about questioning the intentions of my complaining/criticism, I found this quote to be somewhat helpful. I have been reading Aristotle recently. The section that I started reading with was about "goodness", and that each person is in fact aiming "at some end or good". This means that the only thing different between an honorable person in society to someone like a murderer, rapist, terrorist, or bank robber is how they go about attaining their own personal "good". Another variable that Aristotle talks about is that "good" is relative to each person and that those views of what "good" is are far and wide in definition. This last year I have very actively tried to separate myself from what I saw as being "bad" in the church. I saw the shift as being a good thing for me to do, but not until recently have I begun to look back at how things could've been handled differently. The easiest way for us to significantly distance ourselves from God without even knowing it is to never question how we are doing things and see if they are really what we should be doing as followers of Christ.

The conversation that I had with my sister along with the follow-up conversation I had with my father has brought me to realize that although I may have a noble goal in mind, I may in fact be going about it improperly. Maybe all the "good" that I thought I was doing was in fact all undone by the way I went about it. Criticism is a great way to lose respect for something, and if you go about criticizing the same thing for too long you lose all desire to associate yourself with that something. That's the process that I've at least partially been a part of these past few months. My father is always the one in our conversations to look for the good, regardless of how small it is. I have always rolled my eyes at this "positive" comment, usually with me being the "negative" one in our conversations. But I realize now that without him counterbalancing every negative thing I had to say, I would have slipped much farther away from the church than I am even now.

In order to get back to where I wanted to be in the first place, I'm going to have to do a little bit of changing. The church-building should not be my example of what God had planned. That road leads to inevitable frustration. But I need to realize that I cannot leave it, especially in light of the fact that I want to be a pastor...which will certainly have me in the church for quite a while. A quote that I've held onto for a while now says that, "the church is like Noah's ark...sometimes it stinks and smells like *cow manure* but if you get out you'll drown."

Regardless of how noble a goal is, if it is not constantly being assessed and modified, you will lose track of where you're going. The worst thing that you cacn do is lose track of where you're going, because if you wait long enough, you won't even know where you ended up.