Emergent Conversation

Emergent: Whether it needs stating or not, I consider myself emergent, but not Emergent. I don't know a lot about the Emergent movement, though I am familiar with many of the players. Some of them do feel arrogant to me (I won't name names, but it doesn't seem that hard to figure, and I also admit I have my own healthy dose of arrogance), though that may be because they felt oppressed in more traditional churches. On the other hand, it may be because... they are arrogant.

Absolute Truth: I admit that the academic historical quoting is daunting to me. I do not have a degree in either philosophy or religion, though I welcome that to the conversation, as long as it is done in a gracious way. But for me, I think it was Brent (or maybe Doug) that hit on something for me. Absolute truth for me is the person of Jesus Christ. To debate whether the Bible is inerrant or creation a literal six days are more difficult conversations for me.

I do believe in many moral absolutes but I am swayed by the fact that some of these moral absolutes do change as the culture changes. You may think they shouldn't, but slavery for instance, was at one time supported as a moral absolute by many Christians. Torturing people into commitments of faith was once a moral absolute. Buying people out of purgatory was a moral absolute. Faith by works was a moral absolute. Those have now changed. The way men and women dress is very cultural, but some Christians always have to try and lock it into some era and then beyond that style of dress, it becomes inappropriate.

It has struck me more and more that Jesus Christ Himself is the Truth. He is The Word. I can know Him personally, and therefore I can know the truth, but not so much as objective truth, but that He is The Way, and I am called not to understand fully, but to follow. My objective becomes to lead others to this Person, Jesus Christ, and to help them see that He is worthy to be followed. I then read the Bible in light of that personal relationship. Many fear this because in my mind they don't trust God. They don't trust God to make clear to His followers that they should believe like I believe. I have found God is worthy of trust in exactly this situation, and that people who have journeyed with me following Christ have come to some fairly conservative, orthodox views.

It has also struck me that this isn't necessarily what happens on Sunday morning, though I'm convinced it should. People come to our worship to meet Jesus. We create somewhat arbitrary ways of facilitating that, but it is always much less effective than we hope.

Emerging: The reason I consider myself emerging is because I see some flaws in the traditional system of faith that feel like barriers to me, and I am trying to emerge beyond those barriers.

One is the idea that at a point in time, you "get saved." My idea (certainly flawed) is not that "getting saved" is a point in time, but it is a direction. You are either "on the Way" or you are not. Or maybe it isn't that clear. Maybe many have set up camp at a certain point along The Way. They defend their camp. They think they have arrived at a destination, perhaps the City of God.

I don't want to be a camper. I want to be a journeyer. Christ is on the move. I don't see how you can set up camp at all. I feel like I fight all the time, religious people coming into our church, and wanting to get fixed, once and for all. They don't see a journey; they just see a line that they must not have crossed because if they had (memorizing Scriptures, being a better person, having a more positive attitude, speaking in tongues), their lives would be more blessed (read "easier"). They know that if would just do something right, they wouldn't have to struggle with health, relationships, and money any more.

I have a problem with what I think is the traditional view of heaven. It feels much more like a popular belief made up mostly of cloud sitting, reminiscing with old friends, singing in the choir, fishing, golfing, and having my own home (mansion). I don't think so. Hell seems to have the same problems. Isaiah pictures heaven as the wolf lying down with the lamb. Our service to God becomes more intense. It is not a vacation spa.

I have a problem with the depiction of end times as an epic horror movie that gets worse and worse, and I tend to think that God may want to resolve the end by things getting better and better.

These may not be well stated, but I do find that in most of the traditional churches I'm familiar with, these are conversations that only a few of the younger people are having, and they are having them rather quietly because they know it wouldn't be a well accepted conversation. They might be called a liberal, and they aren't even sure how to engage that conversation.

Absolute Truth as a Worthy Conversation: Doug may have us beat on this one because he lives in Sweden. I have a feeling it is an essential conversation for him and may be becoming essential to the US, at least in caucasian/european cultures. I'm assuming in Haiti, it isn't worth much of a conversation, though I can't wait to find out. Any Haitian bloggers lurking here? But I would still think, as I mentioned above, that Jesus as a Person, knocking on the door of the church, is the essential way to pursue faith. Not just realizing I'm a sinner, but the second step as well, to answer God's question, "Who will go for us? (Isaiah 6) and to hear the master's response "Well done good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25).

Can we just "Be the church" as Dan suggested in his blog? Probably not. And the reason is because people keep setting up camps. I'm not familiar with Emergent Village and probably shouldn't comment except to say, "Don't set up a camp." When camps get set up, they argue there is no reason to go any further and also argue that any camp set up not as far along the path is also unacceptable. I constantly have to fight the urge to set up a camp.

Missional: I love the idea of being missional, which for me means that Jesus is still working in the world, and as I attempt to follow Him, I begin to have a mission that is fruitful, lives obviously being changed for the better. We are far from missional. Most people I encounter, religious and non-religious, give little hope to anyone changing, therefore fruit is an unlikely option to them. So they trust God to get them to that "spa" heaven after they suffer through this life.

Kingdom of God: I'm actually too cynical to believe that the world could ever "evolve" into God's final Kingdom, though that is my hope. How can I be hopeful and cynical? I am truly postmodern, that's how. It wouldn't be a leap of faith if I wasn't cynical.