took a stand for the ways of Jesus... hope Jesus still loves integrity & honesty

Attended a lecture at Calvin Seminary tonight: Kevin DeYoung, of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, co-authored a book entitled “Why I am not Emergent but should be.”

I was hoping to hear some good scholarly thoughts. That didn't happen. Instead, I ended up interrupting his closing remarks. When hearing something like “Doug Pagitt is a heretic and doesn’t know Jesus” hit my cerebellum, my very audible response was “Excuse me.” The ensuing battle was honest to the Jesus that I know…

A few of the issues of tonight were not ‘what is wrong with emergent.’ No. (pause please) I’ve lived in this reformed world for my entire life. I'm a graduate of Christian day school, Calvin College, and Calvin Seminary. I’ve also found the ways of Jesus strikingly profound among those who call themselves ‘emergent.’

Kevin has a desire for his message to be heard, but let’s be entirely honest. Kevin is also a neo-conservative reformed guy. And his message is not so much about emergent. Emergent has simply become a good platform for him to spout some lousy theology and tell us about how preaching will be the saving grace of the church.

Tonight I got angry. I probably embarrassed a few friends who were present. If you are my friend and love Jesus, I would have also spoken up for you. While I was angry, I have no doubt that I honored God for a few minutes as well.

While Kevin speaks so highly of the cross being central to salvation, I struck by words that were not honoring nor even honest throughout the night. Just for a primer: “Shane Claiborne doesn’t understand reconciliation.” Yea. Put that into your mind for three seconds. Need I say more?

If you happen to not know Shane Claiborne: he is living in perhaps the most dangerous and impoverished section of one of our nation’s cities. He lives and breathes and speaks the gospel every moment that he is awake.

With closing remarks that informed several hundred people that this friend of mine doesn’t know Jesus, I had heard enough. I know Doug. I know his amazing wife as a friend as well. I’ve met several of his great kids. I also know his theology may challenge and push me and others. But that gives us no right to claim that he is outside of God’s grace. Only God has that right.
I also know that Doug is honest and has integrity. Tonight I heard from someone who lacks both. But never will I question if he is saved. That is always and only God's place.

More later about what’s wrong with Kevin’s theology… a primer… no mention tonight of the kingdom of God as current reality?

party for 'beppe'

On Sunday morning around 3 a.m., Christine Voetberg, 97 years of age left her body for another time and place. She was the grandmother to my wife Kathy, and she was the great-grandmother to my three kids. We celebrate her life!

Here is a conversation that took place between Kathy & Jaden (age 6) on Sunday night.

Jaden: Mom, do I have school tomorrow (He usually asks the same question every night).

Me: Yes, you do.

Long pause, followed by a frustrated voice.

Jaden: uhhh, why do I have to miss school on Thursday!! (Pause) For Beppe’s party!!

Unfortunately, I immediately tried to tell him that it was a funeral we were going to, not Beppe’s party. As I was awkwardly trying to explain it, it sounded all wrong.

Me: You’re right Jaden, it will be like a party. What are we going to celebrate?

Jaden: Beppe

Then he asked all kinds of questions about when we had to be there and if he could still go to school for awhile. In typical Jaden style, the burial fascinated him. Here are a few more of his questions?
Where are we going to put her?
What’s a cemetery?
How is the world do they dig that huge hole?
How do they put her in that hole?

I know I’m asking a lot of questions, but who makes the equipment that digs the hole and puts her in it?
What will
her body look like?

Anna also ended up in the conversation. In the end, we all agreed that Thursday would indeed be going to Beppe’s party to celebrate her, and that she is with Jesus.

I think Jaden will be quite observant at the burial.

See ya Thursday for the party,

Kathy

thoughts on what it means to be 'emergent'

I've been pushing against Mike Wittmer of GRTS lately. I have no dobt he's a good guy, but he loves to take on my friends all while calling himself a friend of emergent.

Here's my response to something he wrote:

randy buist
Mike,
I just read thru your post and all the comments again after thinking about it most of the day. While you don’t want to make this a personal thing, your entire post is ridicule of Tony. I would hope we could argue against Tony’s position rather than attack Tony, but you really only question his faith rather than his position.

Much of the point of being a friend of emergent stuff is being in friendship even when we disagree. Trusting that God is at work in another’s life even when we disagree with them.
So, we often fail to arrive at the same conclusion because we know it’s not the most important thing. The most important thing is Christian friendship — knowing that we will often end up at different positions and still knowing one of us is likely more correct than the other.

BUT being right isn’t the most important thing. Perhaps it is in theology, but it isn’t in real life. Being ‘right’ ends marriages. Being ‘right’ ends friendships and ends familial relationships. Being right creates wars and never peace.

When Jesus prayed that ‘they be one as we are one’, I doubt that he was kidding. Real friendships trust that being ‘right’ is secondary to knowing that you are moving in relationship with your friend.

On the other hand, being right divides and ends relationships. It may be one person is more correct, but it seems this wasn’t the prayer for the Ephesians. Rather, the prayer was for unity among believers.

Perhaps a fair question for the night: Is being ‘right’ with an understanding of original sin of more valuable than friendship with others who see aspects of God differently?

Perhaps being ‘right’ is more important, but then we ALSO disagree with God regarding being in unity with fellow believers. In which case, being ‘right’ at the expense of Christian unity also leads to being directly in opposition to God.

emergent what?

I'm tired of fighting evangelical Christians when I state that I'm an emergent guy. I'm tired of attempting to explain things while knowing I won't be believed anyway. Face value doesnt' seem to be enough when you are an 'emergent' type.

Here are a few things that I believe set much of the emergent family apart from where we've come from:

1 - We cling to a more robust theology of the Holy Spirit than most of our evangelical geneology.
~ We believe the Holy Spirit is active alongside our lives!

2 - Life is theology.
~ Leslie Newbigin stated that the hermeneutic of the gospel was the community of believers. In other words, our understanding of God is shaped in real life. It isn't simply shaped by our thoughts.

3 - The starting point of the Christian faith is the ministry of reconcilation. God desires to reconcile all of his creation to himself. As followers of Jesus, we become partners in reconciliation. From attempts at getting the Israelites to follow Yahweh to the life of Christ and onward through the New Testament, the story of God with his people is a story of restoring and bringing togather broken relationships.

So, why do these three scare church-going evangelical followers of Jesus?