Wednesday, June 24, 2009

N. T. Wright has taken over the Vineyard movement

If you want proof, listen to the current short series on Romans, entitled Living Right - Romans at the Sugarland Vineyard (the mothership of the Vineyard movement, Bert Wagonner's congregration).

And from my own experience at my congregation, N. T. Wright is liberally quoted as the greatest thing since sliced Luther.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

George Eldon Ladd's The Gospel of the Kingdom

I'm reading George Eldon Ladd's The Gospel of the Kingdom, at the suggestion of my pastor, after I told him my misgivings on the Vineyard movement's position on the Gospel.

So I'll journal my notes here.

In the forward, he says "The Kingdom of God was the central message of our Lord's ministry." Is this true?

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Emergents = Socinians?

Todd Friel says so.

He says Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and Rob Bell are destroying the Gospel.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Straw Man Dichotomies

My friend Brad pointed me to this article at NPR.

It's enough to make one a crabby blogger with nothing positive to say. Well, here goes. This is what I responded with:
Can you say Straw-man Dichotomy?

Stream-of-consciousness follows...

"The man who believes in a god, in a Christ coming again in glory to judge and to punish the quick and the dead," wrote Tolstoy, "cannot believe in the Christ who bade us turn the left cheek, judge not, forgive those that wrong us, and love our enemies."

Okay, so Tolstoy (and Erik Reece) pit the Sermon on the Mount against the Nicene Creed. Well, to be consistent he should also pit the Bible against the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, the same Guy Who said turn the other cheek also said to carry a sword. Hmm...

"The man who believes in salvation through faith in the redemption or the sacraments cannot devote all his powers to realizing Christ's moral teaching in his life."

Forget the sacraments for a second. What is this guy talking about?? It’s not about devoting all my powers to realizing Christ’s moral teaching. But I preach to the choir...

Having a ticket to heaven should be one of the greatest blessings and motivators in this life.

This guy sounds like a Tony Campolo / Jim Wallis Red Letter Christian (TM).

Oy, the Gospel of Thomas. Which said that all women need to become male.

Now he brings up John Dewey. He ruined American education. Gene Scott (TM) said Dewey’s responsible for the Hippie Generation.

Thanks, Brad. This was a fun rant.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

just start typing

been listening to Todd Friel of Wretched Radio. Very intriguing guy. Puts James White to shame in fast-talking. I like him, but I thought he came down hard on Doug Pagitt. He's introduced me to Paul Washer. Very inspiring preacher, and I feel more than a little convicted.
Also been listening to Tony Campolo. Tony really annoys me. Where's the Gospel? He wants marriage to be defined as a man and a woman, and only to happen in the Church, since it's a religious thing. But the state can have any kind of civil union they like. And the two should be kept separate. This is how Tony can have is cake and eat it too. He can uphold marriage, and appease the homosexuals, and be dogmatic about both.

Here's what I'm convicted on. 1. Ending sentences prepositions with. 2. Not witnessing. All my life I've been allergic to this term, as much so as to "accountable". But Jesus said we'd be his witnesses. The Greek for witness is marturon, or martyr. Go figure. You don't have to be a freak to witness--you can make a connection. In fact, it's *all about* making connections. But then it's *all about* bringing the conversation to a point: what are you going to do about your sin, and what are you going to do about Jesus. You can be pointed *and* friendly. You can be humble and keep control.

What does a church need to be healthy. Preach the Gospel. What about the Law? Do we need it? Well, it's a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Well, now that we're in Christ, do we still need the schoolmaster. I think so. We need to constantly get from Romans 7 to Romans 8, and the key element of Romans 7 is the Law. So the question is do we need to get *to* Romans 7, or are we already there, and just need to concentrate on Romans 8? I'm suspecting that we need to realize that in unsanctified parts of our lives, we must realize we *are* in Romans 7, and then we must agree with God quickly, and say, "So then, with my mind I am a slave to God's law, but in the flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."