tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9632072.post114573398726549303..comments2023-09-25T09:37:40.536-07:00Comments on kairos : kisses: Why I Do/Not Care For Bible StudyAndrew Dowsetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05417088521258450446noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9632072.post-1145993250977264372006-04-25T12:27:00.000-07:002006-04-25T12:27:00.000-07:00Sorry you see arrogance. That is not my intention...Sorry you see arrogance. That is not my intention. But I must respond to your comments "Every generation thinks it can do Christianity better than the generation that preceded it. Good luck with that project." and "be careful about supposing that your spiritual forbears got it 100% backward. Just maybe they had some valid insights, and you're throwing out the baby with the dirty bathwater."<BR/><BR/>Regarding the first, I am not foolish enough to think I - or my generation - will do Christianity better than my parents'...but that our different context requires that we "do Christianity" differently. Not better, or worse: as I umbrella-titled this series of posts, you have to change to stay the same. In every culture - which displays human fallenness/brokenness and human "made-in-God's-image-ness" - we are called to challenge the former and affirm the later. The good and the bad of modernity are different from the good and the bad of what came before and what will come after.<BR/><BR/>Regarding the second, neither I nor anyone I know/know of involved with emerging church thinks that our spiritual forebears got it 100% backwards. Indeed, I see a greater appreciation for the length and breadth and depth of the Church - the strengths and beauties of her many traditions - among emerging church practitioners than I think there has been in the western church for a long time. No-one has got anything 100% backwards: each, in their turn, in their context, got some things right and some things wrong - and we shall do exactly the same. But we are not at liberty to opt-out of engaging with the Gospel in our context, for fear of getting things wrong.<BR/><BR/>The gospel is a truth claim; though I must be careful in defining it as I see Jesus only as clearly as I would see my own face reflected in a polished brass disk, as the apostle Paul put it. And as for defending the gospel, as CS Lewis put it, the gospel - and the God behind the Good News - no more need defending than does a fierce lion...<BR/><BR/>I need to finish, but would just say that I appreciate your joining this conversation, and look forward to more digital dialogue in the future : )Andrew Dowsetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05417088521258450446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9632072.post-1145977197538224032006-04-25T07:59:00.000-07:002006-04-25T07:59:00.000-07:00These two posts, taken together, exude a certain a...These two posts, taken together, exude a certain arrogance. Every generation thinks it can do Christianity better than the generation that preceded it. Good luck with that project.<BR/><BR/>Yes, I think you're prescribing a lack of intellectual rigor in the approach to the Bible. And I think a lack of intellectual rigor will bear bad fruit in the long run.<BR/><BR/>I understand the problems you're attempting to respond to. We live in a society where Christianity has been thoroughly discredited: Christians aren't loving enough, the very existence of God is doubtful, the church as an institution has done much harm, and the notion that <I>any religion</I> can make <I>any truth claims</I> is passé.<BR/><BR/>The solution you're proposing is that we bypass those problems instead of addressing them head on. Just love people and let Christianity win people over at the level of community.<BR/><BR/>Why, then, did Paul work so hard at correcting the doctrine of his converts? Why did John set out to contradict the Gnosticism that was incipient in that era? The Gospel is a truth claim, and as such it must be defined correctly and defended against competing truth claims.<BR/><BR/>I support revitalizing Christian community — but be careful about supposing that your spiritual forbears got it 100% backward. Just maybe they had some valid insights, and you're throwing out the baby with the dirty bathwater.stchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04018824090441668781noreply@blogger.com