Tuesday, August 26, 2008

How will they know we are Jesus'?

It seems to me that there is a lot of interfaith hatred being thrown at the Emergent Church and its leadership. I have read countless blogs, articles, and personal agitations against the movement. I have a 5 cd discourse by J.P. Moreland, who if you haven't read of any of his stuff you need to, on the dangers of postmodernity and the Emergent Church. Now, he dismantles their argument but in a way that is done with love and that makes sense. He boldly and clearly articulates his position and offers great insight to what should be done. This stands in stark contrast with the majority of critiques I have read.
Unfortunately, it seems that a majority of people lump every Emergent leader and quasi-Emergent person into one large group of heresy. And on some of their tenets I can understand. But to immediately throw them under the bus and ridicule them seems a little harsh.
Before I go any further I should say that I understand Jesus' love and his anger. He did deal harshly with the people of his time who were the religious authorities. But was this because of their radical opposition to Jesus? Were they so close to Jesus' side that He wanted them to make that final step into his camp? Jesus clearly hates sin and those who commit sin are doomed for hell outside of Christ. But those within the walls of Christianity are our brothers and sisters and we need to love them.
All I am saying is that to an outside world who already despise Christians for a whole host of reasons (see the book UnChristian) we are just adding to the already gaping hole in our foot. We continually tear down the veil covering our hatred for all things outside of our denominational boxes and the world is watching. Why in the world would anyone want to join the ranks of those who so blatantly hate each other for peripheral reasons? We agree on the core foundations of Christianity and it is there we must gain a foothold and grab the hand of our fellow believer. From there we must unite in our efforts to show our world the life that is in Christ. The lives and worldviews of the world are not the ways it is supposed to be. Jesus came to earth to show us this new/before-sin world. And it is to this end he has called us. We are to love God and love our neighbors. This includes our own. As Jesus said in John 13:35, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

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