The Source of Safety

Warning: this blog is not for the faint of heart. I’m going to get a tad academic; if the subject matter is not of interest for you, feel free to skip this release and catch the next one.

I’m reading a book called “Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church,” by D.A. Carson. It’s a moderately intellectual overview of the implications, good and bad, of much of the postmodern theology that has gained footing among a new generation of pastors and thinkers.

If you’re bored already, I completely understand. No worries: I’m not going to delve too deeply into the multitudinous nuances of current pop theology. (Amusingly, I’ve been lumped in with the emerging, um, crowd, by a few less than fair-minded critics; although I’ve never claimed that dubious distinction and consider it an inaccurate assessment of my own theological leanings. People who are scared to death of questions often confuse those who ask them with those who profess to have no answers at all).

Anyway…

Most of the emergent theology I’ve perused is at once enchanting and terrifying. It’s often whimsical and wonderful… and just as often woefully under-tenacious when it comes to commitment to the truths of Scripture. It’s beautiful when it frees me from the shackles of “the theology of 1950” (fill in the blank with whatever year you personally feel produced the music, preaching style, church architecture, and dress style that God is truly happy with); and horrifying when it sets me afloat on a sea of uncertainty with no horizon (biblical, traditional, or otherwise) in sight.

What’s a young spiritual leader to do?

Many of us are quietly (I’m working on the “quietly” thing – honest, I am) uncomfortable with the “do as I say even if it’s not in the Bible” mentality that saturates much of the modern approach to leadership. There seems to have been a general inability, or more frighteningly, a general unwillingness, to distinguish in weight between personal convictions/cultural responses and the clear teachings of Scripture that has plagued the church for a handful of decades (or longer – witness the debate over circumcision, holy days, and what to eat described by Paul in more than one of his epistles). On the other hand, only the most undiscerning among us can profess to feel prayerfully comfortable with the squishy, shapeless theology that represents the other side the pendulum would most naturally swing toward. At one extreme, we bump into a million periods – people banging pulpits and professing to know everything God thinks and wants, all strangely similar to what they or their denomination or their dad thinks and wants. On the other, we find ourselves tangled in the curvy lines of a million question marks – people beckoning to us to always ask without ever answering, transforming heresy into “dialogue” and the hope of the gospel into the illusion of one of many valid perspectives.

Quite a quandary!

But… I’m not going to quit the ministry, join a cult, become a legalist or misuse my liberty; because I have a source of safety. I have a beacon of truth jutting up over the turbulent whitecaps that litter this roiling sea of opinions and insistences and pseudo-tolerance. And this brings me to the challenging, comforting words of D.A. Carson. After writing about his uneasiness with much of emerging theology, Carson sums up what I feel:

At what point does an “orthodoxy” that is more “generous” than God’s become heterodoxy? Not for a moment do I want a vote cast in favor of the narrow-minded, whining, fault-finding, picky, sectarianism with which Christianity has sometimes been afflicted. Rather, what is called for is biblical fidelity. One can be biblically unfaithful by being much narrower than Scripture; one can be biblically unfaithful by being much broader than Scripture. Both sides call it faithfulness; both sides are seriously mistaken. How can we know? By returning to Scripture, again and again, and refusing to be uncomfortable with the categories that God Himself has given us, but seeking to learn and digest and believe and obey the whole counsel of God, as far as we see it, without flinching, without faddishness.

Well said, Mr. Carson. I pledge, by the grace of God, to not force my opinions on others and call them God’s will. And I pledge, by the grace of God, not to square dance around God’s truths and call that tolerance, open-mindedness, or any other code word for heresy. I pledge to listen to my elders, pay attention to my peers, and note the insights of those just coming along… but weigh EVERYTHING they say against the source of safety, the Word of God. I pledge to do everything God says – nothing more (lest I become arrogant and lopsided) and nothing less (lest I displease my Father in heaven).

The solution to the quandary is to run to the source of safety; to trust the Bible more than either its fans or its detractors; to ask God by His Spirit to illuminate its truths to us.

That means we’ll have to actually read it. A lot. And submit to it. Completely. I promise: you’ll become increasingly confused if you’re spending more time holding angst-filled conversations about truth than you are studying it in the Scriptures. Pick it up, dust it off, and commit to some serious time absorbing its contents prayerfully and meekly. When it comes to getting theology right, the Bible is the source of safety.

Comments

[Joe Waterman]

Because I'm a fan-boy of books and all the latest and greatest pop-theology, it's refreshing to see an Apostolic minister actually be able to discuss such topics as the "emerging church" without being overly critical or overbearingly supportive of their sometimes quirky theological positions. Good post, keep it up!

[Mark Johnston]

Thanks Joe! Appreciate your feedback.

[Sarah Thibodeaux]

Well-put. I completely agree!

[Clifton LeJeune]

Mark - I love the way you think - excellent post - sorry our dates didn’t work out for the youth convention. ‘Hope to see you in the near future.
clifton

[Jeremy K.]

What a provoking post.... one that I will want to re-read a few more times so that it soaks in.... I am reminded by your comments of how important it is to let Scripture speak into you, rather than YOU reading into it along with your biases and predispositions.