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Dwaynesworld
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Name: Dwayne
Gender: Male
Interests: People, Places and Anything that is FUN!
Expertise: Wouldn't this be assuming?
Occupation: Operations Manager
Industry: Agriculture
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Member Since:
6/16/2007
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| While listening to a presentation at a business conference the other day I had this thought... Boys seek reward in folly. Men gain reward from disciplined action. That's it. Just a thought. | | |
| debacle: something that ends in a disastrous failure, esp. because it has not been properly planned (as defined by www.thefreedictionary.com)
The following statement is taken from a blog from Tony Jones, National Coordinator, Emergent-U.S. (see http://emergent-us.typepad.com/emergentus/2006/05/doctrinal_state.html for the full blog)
From LeRon Shults:
The coordinators of Emergent have often been asked (usually by their critics) to proffer a doctrinal statement that lays out clearly what they believe. I am merely a participant in the conversation who delights in the ongoing reformation that occurs as we bring the Gospel into engagement with culture in ever new ways. But I have been asked to respond to this ongoing demand for clarity and closure. I believe there are several reasons why Emergent should not have a "statement of faith" to which its members are asked (or required) to subscribe. Such a move would be unnecessary, inappropriate and disastrous.
Why is such a move unnecessary? Jesus did not have a "statement of faith." He called others into faithful relation to God through life in the Spirit. As with the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, he was not concerned primarily with whether individuals gave cognitive assent to abstract propositions but with calling persons into trustworthy community through embodied and concrete acts of faithfulness. The writers of the New Testament were not obsessed with finding a final set of propositions the assent to which marks off true believers. Paul, Luke and John all talked much more about the mission to which we should commit ourselves than they did about the propositions to which we should assent. The very idea of a "statement of faith" is mired in modernist assumptions and driven by modernist anxieties – and this brings us to the next point.
Such a move would be inappropriate. Various communities throughout church history have often developed new creeds and confessions in order to express the Gospel in their cultural context, but the early modern use of linguistic formulations as "statements" that allegedly capture the truth about God with certainty for all cultures and contexts is deeply problematic for at least two reasons. First, such an approach presupposes a (Platonic or Cartesian) representationalist view of language, which has been undermined in late modernity by a variety of disciplines across the social and physical sciences (e.g., sociolinguistics and paleo-biology). Why would Emergent want to force the new wine of the Spirit’s powerful transformation of communities into old modernist wineskins? Second, and more importantly from a theological perspective, this fixation with propositions can easily lead to the attempt to use the finite tool of language on an absolute Presence that transcends and embraces all finite reality. Languages are culturally constructed symbol systems that enable humans to communicate by designating one finite reality in distinction from another. The truly infinite God of Christian faith is beyond all our linguistic grasping, as all the great theologians from Irenaeus to Calvin have insisted, and so the struggle to capture God in our finite propositional structures is nothing short of linguistic idolatry.
Why would it be disastrous? Emergent aims to facilitate a conversation among persons committed to living out faithfully the call to participate in the reconciling mission of the biblical God. Whether it appears in the by-laws of a congregation or in the catalog of an educational institution, a "statement of faith" tends to stop conversation. Such statements can also easily become tools for manipulating or excluding people from the community. Too often they create an environment in which real conversation is avoided out of fear that critical reflection on one or more of the sacred propositions will lead to excommunication from the community. Emergent seeks to provide a milieu in which others are welcomed to join in the pursuit of life "in" the One who is true (1 John 5:20). Giving into the pressure to petrify the conversation in a "statement" would make Emergent easier to control; its critics could dissect it and then place it in a theological museum alongside other dead conceptual specimens the curators find opprobrious. But living, moving things do not belong in museums. Whatever else Emergent may be, it is a movement committed to encouraging the lively pursuit of God and to inviting others into a delightfully terrifying conversation along the way.
This does not mean, as some critics will assume, that Emergent does not care about belief or that there is no role at all for propositions. Any good conversation includes propositions, but they should serve the process of inquiry rather than shut it down. Emergent is dynamic rather than static, which means that its ongoing intentionality is (and may it ever be) shaped less by an anxiety about finalizing state-ments than it is by an eager attention to the dynamism of the Spirit’s disturbing and comforting presence, which is always reforming us by calling us into an ever-intensifying participation in the Son’s welcoming of others into the faithful embrace of God. | | |
| Matthew 5:17-20
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Not long after being led out of Egypt, God called His people to come near the mountain so that he speak to them, but they were afraid and stood afar off (Exodus 20). God's desire was to reveal His desire for them, but their fear kept them at a distance. His desire was to have his words on their hearts and minds rather than stone tablets so they would receive blessing from Him.
Moses speaks about this in Deuteronomy 30:14-20
But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
As God reveals himself, our condition in light of His holiness should lead to repentance. This is the purpose of God's law, though it has no power for salvation. Having no power for salvation it is incomplete. So, God sends his Son to fulfill it rather than destroying it. Through faith in Christ's provision we are saved.
The Law reveals, we repent, the Son redeems and we receive the living word written on our hearts. | | |
| Why as a Christian do I seem so heavy at times? I take life way too serious. So serious that I know I seem irritated, bothered and virtually unapproachable. Frustration with the world systems (politics, economics and even our religiosity) leave me feeling defeated and depressed. Where did joy from my hope in Jesus go? Did I lose it in the rigors of daily living? Was this light He gave me so weak that a few encounters have snuffed it out? I think not. Is it under a basket? I know it exists, but I have to remember to not allow systems, people or even my theology to put a basket over it. I need to remember that I have been given this light so that "all who are in the house" may see my good works and glorify God. My good work is my faith in Him. As I believe in Christ's provision, I am certain of his power to overcome all circumstances our world systems create which becomes the substance and evidence of God. (Hebrews 11:1). Christ said his yoke was easy and his burden light. The worlds yoke is heavy. So, I can choose to take up his yoke and lighten my heavy load. This in turn will also produce a ray of joy that will lighten our house. So it is time to lighten up, and lighten up! “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16) | | |
| I like salt. I can't imagine what my Chilli Cheese Fritos would taste like without it? But, I'm glad I don't have to worry about, because they are ohhh so salty. Speaking of salty... I could be defined as being salty. Having spent four years of my life poking holes in several of the seven seas, I've earned some salt. Not as much as my first COB (Chief of the boat). He was a salty old master chief. He had more stories and knew more worthless trivia than any other person I've met in my life. Somehow his experiences made him interesting to be around. Sometimes, I wonder if I am salty? Am I interesting to be around? Has my life experience made my presence desirable? Immediately after teaching about the right attitudes (beatitudes), Christ continued, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." (matthew 5:13). I've heard a lot of sermons about this passage using the different characteristics of salt, but why did Christ use the analogy of salt? I believe it is because he wants us to be experienced in Him... A salty Christian. To walk and talk with Him to the point we are a source of the same peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control for others that He is to us. The more time we spend with Him the more time others should want to spend with us. Think about this for a moment. If not salty, then what? Bitter? Sweet? Should we as Christians be so bitter toward the world that we push them away? Or, should we be so sweet that we lack any real conviction or substance? See what a wonderful choice salt is. Salt is meaningful, useful ... it adds flavor to life. I hope I am being salted with His spirit, so I can continue to be salty. I certainly don't want to be good for nothing.
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