Ok, so I like theology, and I like to debate. After a while though, debating is no longer fun and becomes stale and drawn out. Right now I’m not in the mood to debate or go into any long, in depth diatribe (word of the day) on Christian legalism, but this is an issue I want to address, so I’ll try to keep this short and to the point.
Recently I went to Panama City Beach on Spring Break with Campus Crusade. It was an awesome time and there was a ton of great discussion between the guys in my room. One such discussion sticks out in my mind. While we were in the condo, one of my roommates started talking about Brian McLaren’s book “A New Kind of Christian.” He told us how he hadn’t read the book, but at Crusade’s Christmas Conference the speaker had read excerpts from the book and basically labeled them as heretical. He went on to say “That guy….I don’t even know…I just don’t want to hear anything he has to say because of what he’s doing to Christianity” or something to that effect (the memory’s not what it used to be). I looked at him and said “Well, I’ve heard really good things about him.” And we talked about it and concluded that neither of us knew enough about the topic to have a fair and balanced discussion, so we decided to research the topic better for ourselves.
Ok, so tonight after doing a whole hour of homework I was physically and emotionally drained (no joke, I can’t stand homework), and I was preparing to do a little blogging, but somehow I found myself looking up McLaren and his new book. Now, I will readily admit I haven’t read the book and have only read several reviews, both for and against, but at this point I’m definitely not ready to label this guy a false teacher. No doubt I will probably disagree with some of his ideas presented in the book, but I researched the guy and I have to say that I think, for the most part, Brian McLaren gets Christianity. Here is a quote taken from an interview he did on Beliefnet.com:
How would you suggest that the church work in a postmodern world?
A good start would be for us to talk less about being Christians and more about being followers of Jesus. If we were to actually live the way Jesus taught us to live, it would humble us. We can be very proud if we understand the right doctrines and have certain opinions. But when we deal with the very nitty-gritty of living the way Jesus taught us, none of us can act very proud. We would start taking seriously the things Jesus said about caring for the poor. If we see our neighbor in need, we go and do what we can to help. The most important thing is that we stop being content as members of the Christian religion and actually aspire to start living in the way of Jesus.
Originally I was going to comment on this, coming from a “doctrinally sound” church like McLaren described, but I don’t think it’s necessary. I think the quote speaks for itself. Re-read it and let it sink in.
Ok, so what’s this post all about? Is it a defense of Brian McLaren, his book, or postmodern Christianity? Not quite. The point is that my roommate heard some guy at a Christmas Conference bash a book that he had never read that was written by an author that he had never heard of and instantly he was ready to denounce this man as a heretic.
I think we’d all be a lot better off if we were quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. Why is it then that so often we get it the other way around? I do the same exact thing. I find myself being more interested in making my opinions known (and usually stated as fact) than actually hearing the whole story and then trying to make a wise, informed decision. Is laziness the reason I don’t try to get all the facts before rushing to make a judgment? Pride is a big one; I sure do like to look smart in front of other people. Selfishness is another reason, I want MY opinions to be right, not only because it makes me look smarter, but also because I sleep easier when I feel like I have a good handle on reality. Whatever the reason, we all need to slow down, take a deep breath, and listen, and it needs to start with [me].
Keep it real,
Ben
PS – The aforementioned roommate is an awesome, Godly (young) man. I learned a lot through our talks that week, so don’t take this as an attack on him.
5 comments:
good thoughts Ben!
(so much for short!)
And no, you don't have to sign your posts...but you can if you want -- it's your space!
Ben - - very good thoughts on McLaren. I've read this book, and heard both sides of the arguments.
I kind of think of it this way - if there's someone out there that the "religious" people are pointing a finger at ... maybe it's worth looking into. There was this guy 2,000 years ago that they also called a heretic.
I recently went to watch a guest speaker at Riverside - his name is "Brennan Manning". Quite a few religious people told me not to go - they said he was a drunk and a lunatic.
I went. I listened. I heard this man open up his life on the stage. He was honest about his shortcomings, and genuine about his failures. Then I heard him say "the essence of the gospel is not a religion. The essence of the gospel is a furious love affair between us the creation and our beautiful creator."
A furious love affair. Beautiful.
Keep listening. Keep loving people. Leave the judging to Jesus.
i'm about 98% sure i know who 'the roommate' is. and if i'm right, there is more to the story than just christmas conference. i know that there is no excuse for judging/anger (especially since he hasn't read the book), but there is a good reason for his deciding to not support mclaren. it goes a lot deeper than just face value.
that's fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but next time if you have something important to say at least attach a name to your comment, i hate anonymous posts
On second thought, no, nothing against this guy, but he didn't know anything about Brian Mclaren other than what he had heard, mainly at the Christmas Conference. In fact, he couldn't even remember the name of the man he was describing until I asked if it was Brian Mclaren. The point of the post was about judging without getting all the facts. There might be great reasons not to support McLaren, my point was the guy didn't know them for himself. If you want to talk more about it I'd be happy to, just leave your name.
Post a Comment