"Jesus didn't come to make us Christian, he came to make us fully human."
-Hans Rookmaaker
"As much as I detest it, zero time and energy should be spent on curbing 'the pop economy that is evangelicalism' Instead our time should be spent changing appetites, which requires going deeper in God. It also requires recovering a theology of creation that accurately defines salvation as the restoration of God’s spiritual, intellectual, creative, relational and moral image imprinted on humans, instead of defining salvation as protection against hell. Hans Rookmaaker said Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian, Jesus came to make us 'fully human.' Those who are fully human have no appetite for the crap pumped out in culture and the Christian subculture. Fully human—created in the image of God—such souls hunger for God and a richer culture and set about producing it. This remnant of fully human individuals is the hope."
-Dick Staub
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Friday, June 05, 2009
Thursday, June 04, 2009
what to do when "nothing at all Christian about this man's action..."
Gotta love a (1999) book that begins:
"Rarely, if ever, in the annals of human history, have so many with so much to give to their society actually given so little and done it so maladroitly as have American Christians over the past fifty years. Speaking as only one Christian, I feel the need to apologize."
(p.5)
Even more shocking is the inner flap that declares it is "Briner's posthumous book" !!
(:
I do wonder though, if Briner, the lion-teddy bear behind ""Roaring Lambs," and this uh, posthumous sequel, "Final Roar," had not died in 1999, Squint would not have imploded.
And we wouldn't need this book clamant call a decade later!
"If Squint works, it could help change the focus of Christian music companies. So far it's worked pretty well."
(p, 145)
Bad news. It continued to work well for a few months after Briner passed, and then it was eaten by the Matrix.
Here we are.
But back to 1999.
No surprise I found the book on a discount rack at a Christian bookstore.
Better news: it's a penny on Amazon.
Sigh:
The 1999 Presidential Prayer Breakfast, of all events, was the occasion for another debacle for American Christians requiring another apology from sensitive believers. This time, the leader of the so-called Christian Coalition refused to attend the breakfast because Yasir Arafat, the PLO leader,was going to be in attendance.We miss you, Bob.
This is an event where Scripture is read, where sincere prayers for our nation and leaders are prayed (well., maybe , some insincere, showboating prayers are also prayed....It is one of the last major national events where Scripture is honored and prayer is seen as something real and efficacious, For the egregious state of affairs Christians all over the nation need to apologize to our contemporaries fpr the thoughtlessness of one of our number.
You don't have to be any sort of theologian or Bible student to know there is nothing at all Christian about this mans' action....It is roughly akin to holding a revival meeting, and then when unbelievers show up, the very people for whom the event is produced, the organizers boycott it!..
No one needs to blast the head of this organization. What is needed when one of these shameful distorting events happens, which they do far too often, is for every Christian to feel the need to correct it where they live. For some this would be with fellow workers, our barber or beauty operator, or neighbor.....op-ed pieces in major publications should be the norm..Again, it is not necesary to attack the perpetrator, but it is very necessary to attack the errors and mispreceptions...
The basic, undberlying, perplexing problem with (this episode) is that it demonstrates two
of the very biggest failures of American Christians vis-a-vis our fellow citizens: the designation of those with whom we disagree as enemies, and allowing ourselves to be tagged as something other than simply followers of Christ..
Obedeient Christians do not have enemies, and cannot see anyone else as an enemy..
I believe the enemies referred to in the fifth chapter of Matthew are not people Christians are to see as enemies but rather those who see Christians as enemies...
Thinking Christians should be quick to voice concern to the leaders of those very worthy ministries we do support when we see then drifting into scrorekeeping and the purveying of overly negative views. Chuch Colson's Prison Fesllowhip and James Dobson's Focus on the Family ministries are both godly works led by two of our greatest evangelical lreaders. When Prison Fesllowhip stays true to its mission statenment and when Focus on the Family really does focus on the American Christian Family..theyy provide wondertful services...When they drift off into scorekeeping, the purveying of overly negative news, and the creation of enemies, they need to be called into account..
The only enemies obedient Christians are oermitted to have are those who see us as enemies, and we are to love and pray for them. The only labels or tags Christians need tiohave are those that designate us as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The others load us up with baggage we don't need and cant use."
(25, 35)
Makes you wonder he was sill here, Chuck Colson might not have written his "shameful and distorting" letter ("You don't have to be any sort of theologian or Bible student to know there is nothing at all Christian about this mans' action") to Christianity Today...or at least would have apologized.
He never wrote back to me, for some reason.
I don't feel too bad, though, he never wrote back to Brian McLaren, either.
And he's not my enemy, even though I hope to continuallyy apologize for him in the gracious Briner-recommended
way..
More:
pastor: leader or shepherd?
Scott Cormode:
Thanks to Len for finding this.
'Should a pastor be an entrepreneurial leader or a loving shepherd,' the popular Christian magazine asked, 'a person who casts a vision or cares for broken people? The editors had assembled a special issue on leadership development and they wished to know which leadership style was more appropriate for a minister. So they set up a debate. The first..
continued here
Thanks to Len for finding this.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
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