Christ IS Risen. What a thought for an Emergent.
Yesterday was the greatest day of the Year. Easter Sunday. The single day of the year that gives hope to every other day. I woke up way to early to go to the SONrise service at my little reformed southern baptist fundamental traditional church where I am the only college aged student.
I had a thought. Wow. I said as I pondered to myself, shivering as I sat outside watching the moon go down. (We have a beautiful Church right on the water, however it faces the east...beautiful Sunsets, empty Sunrises)
The idea of a SONrise is pretty emergent. It's just the sort of brain-thought that Rob Bell should make a video of. A play on words, the Sun Rises, get it..The SON Rises...as he talks to us as if were in the second grade and unable to understand complex theology such as substitutionary atonement.
Well I laughed. Us Southern Baptists' have done this here thing for a long time. +1 Creativity for the SBC.
Anyways, on to the point. I am not Emergent so I do indeed have a few.
As we finished our amazing breakfast buffet after the service, I ran upstairs to hone my chalk and creativity skills on the "paint on" chalk board, when a Youth asked if she could help. I said yes, and I wrote the Bold Words "He Is Risen"
I told her she can write "He is Risen Indeed..." on the other side.
She then asked a question, in which I have never thought of the answer, nor pondered the statement.
Why is it "He IS Risen, and not He HAS Risen?"
Such a question did not require me holding a conversation, meeting with and among other scholars, or setting up a stool in a round. I knew the answer immediately.
He is Still Risen. He is Still Alive. He Has Risen can only refer to Lazarus who is dead.
The statement He Is Risen, can never be up for discussion. He is, and will always be Risen. Forever.
The Statement He IS Risen is very boldly a statement of Fact. It is not something that can be pondered, questioned, examined, or inquired. He simply IS.
There is no conversation on what is is. We Know. Our Faith rests upon that Statement of Three words. He IS Risen.
Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15:19
"If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."
Which of course begs a question.
How can the Emergent Church stand on wavering thoughts, when the "everything" of Christianity rests on a word so absolute, so fact filled as IS.
Without that IS, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, performed many miracles, died on a cross for the sins of mankind, and it all means nothing.
Without Easter there is no Messiah, There is no Joy in Christmas, nor Hope in the Future.
But because He IS Risen...There Is.
Marcus Pittman
www.transplantministries.com
www.oomaoo.com
Labels: Easter, Emergent Church, Evangelism Team, Jesus., Rob Bell, Truth
posted by Marcus Pittman at
10:47 PM
13 Comments:
Marcus,
Thanks for writing. I have two questions related to something you said. You said, "There is no conversation on what is is. We Know. Our Faith rests upon that Statement of Three words. He IS Risen."
If we know, why do we need to have faith? Isn't faith acting on what we don't know for sure, but believe to be true?
And if you believe it to be clearly and completely true, why wouldn't you welcome conversation about it, as any conversation would inevitably lead to the clear, plain truth?
Just some thoughts to think about. Good luck with your oomaoo.com project!
Jason
My Pastor mentioned this subject on Easter Sunday. He mentioned the angel that appeared to the woman at the tomb.
The Angel told them that the Tomb was Empty because Jesus IS Risen. She then asked them to come in and see.
The greatest evidence of Christ. Is his Resurrection. The Empty Tomb is a great apologetic.
However, there is a difference between discussing truths, and a postmodern discussion of thoughts.
Religion is not a Blind Faith of unknowns, it is a Solid Faith on Facts. Absolutes.
These "Facts" are hard for emergent postmodernist to understand.
Marcus,
Thanks for your quick response. I don't think you actually answered my questions, so if you want to, they were:
If we know something for sure, what use would we have for faith?
If you believe something is clearly true, conversation about it would only lead to the conclusion that it's true, right?
As for what you said in your last comment, "The empty tomb is a great apologetic." But since we can't show anyone the empty tomb, we can only tell them about it. And since we didn't see it ourselves, we can only tell them that we believe it was empty, that we have faith that it was empty. I don't see that as a bad thing at all.
Thanks again for your response.
Faith is the Reality of things hoped for.
Many things require Faith, not just Religion.
Every time you go through a green light you have faith the other cars stopped at the red light. Otherwise you would be killed. You Faith is not blind, it is based on solid information of past events and knowledge.
Your second question is typical of emergent thought. Let me address this simply.
Conversation is ok. I never said Conversation was a problem. It becomes a problem when there is no solid ground for the Conversation. Most intellectual debates have moderators. The discussion of the Emergent church has none. So what happens is you get idea, after idea that are not biblical, or based on solid doctrine and people are being confused and blinded.
The emergent Church is a wide umbrella, and no one places labels on the Heretics. This is the problem. The idea that everyone no matter how far off their theology is correct.
Also with the Emergent Church there is no Goal of truth. The conversation never ends. No one gets closer, no one gets father away it all meaningless discussion with no point.
The person that drives through a green light and is side-swiped by an oncoming car certainly had faith that no one would run a red light and hit him. But he didn't know for sure, he believed that no one would, and he acted on his belief by driving through the green light.
That's a perfect example. His action is based on what he's experienced from driving through hundreds of green lights in the past, and from what he knows about laws and rules and traffic. But he can't prove that no one will drive through and hit him. He has faith that no one will, and believes it.
Jason,
If you believe scripture, you should believe that Jesus expects us to examine all things and to make logical decisions based upon the evidence that is before us. For instance, Jesus told doubting Thomas to place his fingers in the holes of Jesus' wrists and side to see that Thomas was really seeing Jesus. This is basically what Jesus was saying to Thomas, "Make a logical decision based upon the evidence I am showing you."
It's okay to question things, but it's more logical to fall on the side that holds more evidence. The Bible is a historical document with eyewitness accounts and facts all through it... and it's inspired by God.
The critics need to do more than just criticize. And the airheads need to accept the facts that are there, realize that logic is the process of God's mind, and realize that Christianity is not a faith-based religion. It's a relationship with facts and evidence all through it.
If Christianity was merely a faith-based religion, then God would be fine with us having faith in whatever we want to believe in. However, that is not the case. Not even close.
Zach, you said, "Christianity is not a faith-based religion."
That could be one of the most fascinating claims I've ever heard a self-described Christian make!
I think I might blog about it myself at some point. Feel free, both of you, to join me there whenever you like.
http://kidwonder.blogspot.com
Jason
Marcus, I have a few thoughts. Please take them as questions and do not ever feel the tone is attacking, if you take it that way, delete it, block me and I will never return.
The first thing you felt in this post you had to do was define yourself as a "reformed southern baptist fundamental traditional church (goer) where I
(you are) am the only college aged student. That is an awful lot to wade through from the get go. Emergents recognize that we all come from a different perspective and different religion and we do not feel the need to define ourselves so strictly. You also say you are the only college student, I am sure that is because you are in a small town, but maybe it is because of the rigidity of that definition?
Marcus, there is not an emergent worth his salt who would tell you that they do not believe He IS Risen, that is the fact that all our religion, reformed, emergent, evangelical and so on rests on. Anyone who makes that claim is wrong and does need to be censored.
You might be asking yourself who censors the ones who go off the theological deep end without a life jacket? The answer is... the body. The life giving, life reaffirming, life driving church. Emergents are trying to encourage people where they are at, teach them to think for themselves, reach out and make an impact. If someone makes an outrageous claim that just does not pass muster, he will not have an audience.
Church, top down and hierarchal is dying. George Barna and others can confirm that over and over again. Church by relationship, in relationship doing life side by side is growing and active. Barna can also tell you that.
Thanks for the post.
Thanks for your humble response.
Your statement that the body will stand against false claims is a true statement, however how is this possible when there is no stnadard of Truth among the Emergent Church.
Also there are several in the Emergent Church who have made claims that Jesus has not risen from the Dead.
Rob Bell quotes Borg, who is part of the Jesus Seminar, as you know they deny the existence of anything miraculous...
These quotes can be found on Page 19 and 60 of Velvet Elvis.
How come the body is not attacking Bell for praising Borg?
The answer is because there is not standard for truth in the Emergent movement. Thats the entire point of post modernity...
Without Truth, Without Fact...How can anyone be discredited.
He is risen, indeed! And NT Wright and every emergent Christian I know affirm this heartily.
Thanks for the reminder,
Mike
zoecarnate.com
"Rob Bell quotes Borg, who is part of the Jesus Seminar, as you know they deny the existence of anything miraculous...
These quotes can be found on Page 19 and 60 of Velvet Elvis"
Here is where I admit it.. I have not read velvet Elvis. I will at some point.
You are equating quoting someone as an endorsement. I can quote someone, maybe you for an example, when what you are saying is advancing what I am trying to communicate. It does not imply we are on the same theological boat all the time.
"How come the body is not attacking Bell for praising Borg?" Because we know that attacking each other is going to make us weaker, not stronger. If we find something wrong with a fellow brother we follow the biblical mandate to restore the brother as best as we can, and IN PRIVATE.
In the wiki article on Rob you find this criticizm: "In his writings, Bell affirms truth regardless of the source, saying "I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God." [10] However, he acknowledges scripture as the authoritative source of truth in the Mars Hill Bible Church statement of narrative theology" This highlights something that I want to emphasize, that is that Emergents look for wisdom everywhere, not just the Bible, not just the Church, but in everything. What we know and practice is that in the end the Bible holds the final answer.
Proverbs 2:2 (among many others) tells us to turn our ears to wisdom and apply our hearts to understanding". We realize there are people and places and things out there in all of the creation of God that can show us more about him. Never does the bible say it is the soul source of wisdom. However, everything we do and think is to be held captive to it as the final word.
-Shalom
Gyro:
You stated The Body will rebuke false teaching, but then you said it shall be done in private.
and yes someone can quote without endorsing, however this is not the case in Rob Bell's book.
I encourage you to investigate Rob Bell. Google Apprising Ministries and see the ton;s of information they have in regards to the stuff he has said...
We could debate forever on this, but here is my final thought.
The body censors bad theology by seeing the teacher and walking the other way. If the person persists in what they are doing it is incumbant upon the leadership of the church or from near by churches to intervene not in silence, in directly dealing with it. That is two very different things.
Rob Bell is one of thousands of emergents. Have you investigated Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones, any other voices in the movement? I encourage you to do so. I became aware of you because of Tony Jones's blog.
We are not heritics, nor are we trying to buck against the trend. We are not conservatives nor are we liberals, we are a momement of Christians who are trying to model the life of Jesus in all that we do, and doing it by going to the ends of the earth with the knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth who lived and died and was raised from the dead. We are not as unalike as it seems.
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