Though I have had this conversation many times, recently a friend of mine told me that he checked out the “emerging church thing” but thought it was too weird and too liberal. He said that he didn’t agree with the positions. Then he said something to the effect that it was dangerous and/or unbiblical. Anyone who is familiar with this thing knows there are no positions! It’s a conversation that welcomes different perspectives. I think what frustrates me is when people Google “emergent” or whatever and either only read the criticism of emergent or find it to hard to understand so they settle for the articles entitled “Brian McLaren is the devil”, or “why Tony and Doug are going to the literal fiery pit of hell”, or “emerging heresies … and the false prophets who are teaching them”. I’m not asking for acceptance, but let’s have some integrity before we label someone/something as heretical or unbiblical.
Among the things I really love about the emerging church conversation is that it is the humblest long-term conversation with Christians I’ve ever enjoyed. My hope in writing this post (and one day, maybe even another post) is not to convince anyone to “join” emergent. I do no think that this is the “only” way of understanding God or Christianity or life or truth or whatever word you want to use here. I have simply found it to be a great conversation that I am gaining many insights from. So, praise God, or shout Hallelujah, clap quietly, or however it is you express your gratefulness to the Lord.
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