Emergent Church - Part 3/3

Chapter 7 - Undefining Knowledge - The Epistemology of the EC (PGS 135-156)

• EPISTEMOLOGY: Theory of Knowledge
• addresses the following questions:
• What is knowledge?
• How is knowledge acquired?
• EMERGENT CHURCH EPISTEMOLOGY
• rejection of absolutes and a world of cause and effect
• believe in a socially constructed world in which our beliefs create the "worlds" in which we live.
• "Coherentism"
• BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN EPISTEMOLOGY
• knowledge of salvation and reconciliation is revealed in the Bible.
• Scripture is foundational for knowledge of salvation, of God, and of the world in which we live.

Chapter 8 - Undefining the Kingdom of God (pgs 157-178)

• THE EC "KINGDOM of GOD"
• equals joining God and building an earthly paradise now
• logical conclusion when looking at their eschatology
• all things are coming together in a future paradise
• repackaged Liberalism through the Social Gospel and Mystical Spirituality
• people must find a way to make this world a better place while waiting for it to be perfected as they move forward toward a future paradise.
• THE BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN "KINGDOM of GOD"
• The king will return to judge the disobedient
• He is a threat to all who do not obey the laws or commandments
• reward and blessing for those who believe in Him

Chapter 9 - Emergence Theory: The Philosophical Source of Emergent Theology (pgs 179-181)

• Jurgen Moltmann plus Ken Wilber = EMERGENT
• Moltmann; Emergent source of eschatology
• Wilber; Emergent source of philosophy
• Wilber's Philosophy - The Mystical Darwin
• Upward Spiral - everything is evolving into something better
• Holistic (spiritual and physical) concept of evolution
• Spiral Dynamics - the world evolves into a physical / spiritual paradise over time.
• Who is Ken Wilber?
• neo-Buddhist
• Philosophy = pagan and Christian concepts into one unified spirituality
• created his own language that works with his ideas and concepts
• has his roots in Hegel
• The EC ... nothing special or unique
• rejection of Scripture
• looked at Hegel as its prophet
• EXAMPLE - The Mormon Church - rejected scripture and looked to Joseph Smith as its prophet.

Emergent Church - Part 2/3

Chapter Four - Undefining Theology (pgs 73-94)

• DECONSTRUCTION - removing the meaning of words
• The EC embrace contradictions
• words are fluid
• definitions morph due to experiences, they do not hold to any meaning
• beneficial to have beliefs that are incompatible
• WHY? Because believing in both sides will evolve or synthesize into a better belief.
• truth and meaning are experienced rather than known
• KNOWLEDGE
• General Revelation: our 5 senses and rational mind
• utilization of logic to learn
• economy, industry, and scientific achievements are based upon general revelation.
• Specific Revelation: revealed only through SCRIPTURE
• spoken to the world through human mediators (prophets/Jesus Christ)
• God's plan for salvation and reconciliation only through SPECIFIC REVELATION.
• MYSTICISM (focus and emphasis)
• spirituality by experience - truth and meaning are found through experience and not specific revelation (DECONSTRUCTION)
• Problem: mystical experience(s) always lead to idolatry and damnation - not the God revealed in scripture.
• Old-Fashioned pagan mysticism repackaged

Chapter Five - Undefining the Bible and Preaching (pgs 95-114)

• EMERGENT CHURCH PERSPECTIVE
• rejection of the idea that we should utilize our minds, logic, and reason to understand the scripture
• scripture does not convey a fixed meaning determined by the biblical, Holy Spirit-inspired authors.
• The EC seek meaning and revelation through spiritual experiences pursued together, in community with others.
• BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
• God has commanded us to study, understand, and believe His words and to obey His commands
• God holds us accountable to understand the meaning of His words.
• The means by which the Christian grows in sanctification and holiness is to better understand and believe the word of God.

Chapter Six - Undefining the Means of Grace (pgs 115-134)

• EMERGENT CHURCH PERSPECTIVE
• reject boundaries and definitions - freestyle approach - every congregation designs for themselves what measures they take to approach God.
• Paganism repackaged
• pursuit of mysticism
• focus on spiritual experiences in order to come to God and grow spiritually
• Many means of grace - same types of influences that infected the Catholic Church - eventually leading to the Reformation
• Buzzword(s) = "Spiritual Disciplines" and "Lost Secrets"
• BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
• Jesus Christ, equally God, lived, died, and was raised from the dead
• His body ascended into heaven
• sinless man Jesus Christ, paid our debt of sin with His death on the cross.
• acceptance an belief results in reconciliation with God.
• Confidently approach God and offer our requests to Him through prayer.
• All was recorded in a book by real human beings
• Interpreted as literal history

Christmas Prayer - "The Valley of Vision"

A dear brother in the Lord passed this prayer along to me ... I felt it timely and appropriate to share it with you. It is a Puritan prayer from the book - "The Valley of Vision" - may it encourage you and all of us this Christmas season.
Blessings -
GutCheck Ministries

A Christmas Prayer

O source of all good,

What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts

thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,

my redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,

His self-emptying incomprehensible,

His infinity of love beyond the heart's grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders;

He came below to raise me above,

was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love;

When I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,

to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power;

When Deity and humanity were infinitely apart

He united them indissolube unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom;

When I was undone, with no will to return to Him,

and no intellect to devise recovery,

He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,

as man to die my death,

to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,

to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds, and enlarge my mind;

let me hear good tidings of great joy,

and hearing, beleive, rejoice, praise, adore,

my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,

my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;

Place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,

to look with them upon my Redeemer's face,

and in Him account myself delivered from sin;

Let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart,

embrace Him with undying faith,

exulting that He is mine and I am his.

In him thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

Emergent Church - Part 1/3

The Emergent Church: Undefining Christianity - by Bob DeWaay

Chapter One - The Road to Paradise Imagined (pgs 13-30)

• Acts 17:30, 31 - The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
• Acts 17:30, 31 speak(s) of a literal and future judgment - this notion is rejected by the EC.
• God's words (inspired scripture) are not used as logical boundaries for humanity in the eyes of the EC
• Bedrock of Belief System = ESCHATOLOGY
• The EC has a "hopeful and positive view of God's engagement in the world."
• God is the future, drawing everything to himself
• God is still creating and we can be "co-creators" of the world with God.
• Post-Modern Framework (Deconstruct Christianity)
• No definitions; that creates categories
• Categories involve Boundaries
• Boundaries keep people out
• Theology of "HOPE" versus Theology of "DESPAIR"
• Francis Schaeffer (theology of despair): people are despaired because they had no hope of knowing the truth about God, about man, and about the universe.
• Jurgen Moltmann (theology of hope): based upon the philosophies of Georg Hegel - a Marxist Idealist.
• Hegel Philosophy: deny absolutes, consider that everything evolves, incompatible opposites - such as good and evil, combine for an improved 3rd option - "The Third Way".
• Moltmann applied philosophies of Hegel to theology and eschatology.
• Instead of judgment (no consideration of scripture) the entire world was evolving towards paradise - leaving evil behind ... Theology of Hope.
• Theology of Hope is based upon the idea that history is not in the direction of divine judgment, but is headed toward the "Kingdom of God" on earth with universal participation.
• Humanity cannot know that is true until the future
• The Holy Bible is NOT viewed as the inerrant word of God
• The EC DENIES that we can know what the Holy Bible really means.
• All of this captures the Post-Modern attitude
• Emergent / Post-Modern Philosophy
• denies the objectivity of 1) Historic Knowledge and 2) Present Knowledge
• but asserts the objectivity of 1) Future Knowledge

Chapter Two - Undefining God's Mission (pgs 31-50)

• EMERGENT MISSION (tends to undefined and EC leaders are in disagreement)
• Improve society now
• They borrow their beliefs/practices from Catholic Liberalism
• Christianity's mission is to make the world a tangible "paradise now"
• The term "MISSIONAL" describes the idea that any works that make the world a better place brings humanity toward the ideal future.
• Missional for the EC is to find a more generous 3rd Way - not liberal, not conservative
• Anything that makes the world a better place is a worthy mission - the only mission that DOES NOT make sense is the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins so that humanity can avoid a literal, future judgment.
• The EC is trying to help God's dreams come true
• The EC embraces the "SOCIAL GOSPEL"
• The individual/person on the mission determines its meaning - not the Bible
• Saving planet earth is essential
• The Cross: there is no clear meaning regarding the cross or the resurrection. Therefore, the "mission" is undefined and must be discovered.
• SPECIFICALLY DENY: a mission of proclaiming and escape from God's coming wrath - the EC DOES NOT believe in a pending future judgment.
• BIBLICAL MISSION (gotta be fair and balanced these days)
• Preach and Teach the Gospel / spread the "Good News" of Jesus Christ
• Why is it such good news? - because it provides us sinners with a certain escape from the wrath of God

Chapter Three - Undefining Christian Thinking (pgs 51-72)

• 2 Timothy 3:7 - always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
• The EC holds to the position that it is absurd to believe that an author's words can convey the thoughts that he intends the reader to understand. Therefore, the reader is free to give whatever meaning he/she desires to the authors words.
• The emphasis for the EC is on experience(s)
• "Words don't have meaning ... experiences do"
• Spiritual experiences in a group setting are what lead to "Christian" thinking
• The EC EMBRACE MYSTICISM - truth is experienced rather than understood.
• This belief allows the EC and its followers to have liberation from the restraints of definition(s)
• The definitions are from flawed, narrow-minded Christian theologians
• The EC reject propositional truth and embrace religious existentialism - they do not want the conversation to "divide" humanity.
• The EC REJECT theological methods that make any type of distinction
• Agreement vs Disagreement
• Win vs Loss
• Good vs Bad
• Orthodoxy vs Heresy

Emergent Church - Introduction

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." - 2 Timothy 4:3,4

I recently completed a comprehensive book by Bob DeWaay focused on "un-masking" the Emergent Church. I was one of the many who have struggled to understand their message, but DeWaay and his book "The Emergent Church - Undefining Christianity" have sharpened the lens in which I view the apostate church of the 21st century. DeWaay has done a great job in teasing out many of its origins, belief systems, and points of interest surrounding this movement. I say all of this because I recently completed teaching a Biblical Worldview course and when I mentioned the Emergent Church ... I was met with many different reactions - confusion, frustration, bewilderment, and even anger.

So, like any good teacher, I went to find a resource that could help the class. DeWaay's book was my "go-to" publication. God has truly equipped Pastor DeWaay regarding this movement/topic and his writings are critical in trying to grasp what the Emergent Church is all about. He has spoken and had conversations with many of their leaders, attended their conferences, and debated them in a public forum. In my opinion, other than the Holy Scriptures, there is no better resource than Bob DeWaay and his ministry. You can search on your own at Critical Issues Commentary or visit the web page of Twin City Fellowship.

I knew that there was no way that the class would read 200 pages of academically intense material in a matter of 12 days . . . but, DeWaay has done something in this book that allows for even the most novice of researchers to begin to get a handle on the Emergent Church. DeWaay has proceeded each chapter with an "abstract" describing and detailing the main points that you are about to read.

What I did for our class was to put the abstracts into outline form. By doing this, it allowed for each participant to have some type of resource in their hands regarding the Emergent Church. What they have done with the information or are doing with it now is between them and our Lord. Anyway, I spoke with Pastor DeWaay to see if he was agreeable to having me post the outline on this site ... he agreed and here we are! I apologize for the long lead-in, but it was necessary. What I will be doing is posting 2 to 3 chapter outlines from his book within each entry. I pray that this will benefit someone and that you will join in the fight to proclaim TRUTH and fight against the heresy that among us all.

Blessings -

GutCheck Ministries

APOLOGETICS 101 - Part 3

Preface from Brannon Howse - "Building a Biblical Worldview: Verse by Verse"

It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention, and that is certainly the reason this book is in print today. Like many that make up this series, it was written out of my own need as a father. The necessity to teach my children Biblical doctrine weighed heavily on me—not in spite of the fact that they were only 4, 7 and 10 when this book was written but because they were so young and in need of instruction from early on. Hopefully, you think it’s normal that a father would be so concerned about teaching Christian truths to children, but you would be shocked to find out how many parents, and even pastors and Sunday school teachers, do not think about teaching children anything but simplistic Bible stories. They ignore a child’s need to know the truth behind the tales. The American church is in a sad state today because most have neglected doctrine in favor of entertaining stories. I recognize from my own upbringing the astonishing shortcomings of my Christian school and church, and I have been committed to laying the foundation for my own children so they will not be false-converts as was I until an adult. To accomplish the goal of training my children, I turned several years ago to a catechism for children. The book was structured so as to ask a theological and doctrinal question. Then children were to memorize a long paragraph with huge words that most adults could not define. I found myself scratching out certain words and substituting others my children could understand. After a few family devotions with this book, I realized my children were not going to learn sound doctrine this way! Since my family and I travel thousands of miles each year to one speaking engagement after another, I have lots of time to think as I sit behind the wheel of our motor coach. So one day I asked myself, “What do I want my kids to learn”? To that simple question I arrived at a simple answer: I want my kids to learn how to think Biblically. To do that, I knew they had to learn doctrine, and the best source for that is the Bible. After all, which would I rather have them commit to memory: a man-made paragraph or the divinely inspired word of God? Later that day, I typed out 52 questions—one for the kids to work on each week of the year—on my laptop. They are the questions for which I want my children to have a ready answer, from memory, from the Word of God. After coming up with my 52 questions, I searched the Scriptures for just the right verse to quickly answer each question. While I was writing this book, my then 10-year-old son was dreaming about the upcoming hunting season. He imagined owning a particular 20-gauge shotgun and joining me and my two labs for quail and pheasant hunting when he turned 11 early in the fall. Although my son had been saving his pennies, he counted out his jar of coins and bills only to discover he had nowhere near the funds needed to buy his gun. I sensed a motivational opportunity, so once I completed this manuscript, I printed it out and placed it in a three-ring binder. I told him that if he could memorize all 52 verses and be ready to answer any of the 52 questions with the appropriate Bible verse, I would buy the shotgun for him. The challenge resonated with him, and within three days he had memorized the first five verses. He also mapped out a plan to memorize all 52 verses in time to go hunting. Over the next few weeks I asked, “Who created the universe,” and my son would quote John 1:3. “Why is there evil in the world?” He quoted 1 John 3:8. Each time I threw out one of the 52 doctrinal and worldview questions, he answered them with a Bible verse. Wow. How cool, I thought. He’s learning doctrine—and Scripture! My boy is now well on his way to memorizing all 52 verses, and I really can’t wait to buy him that shotgun. He’ll make a great hunting partner. And if the Lord tarries and my son has a son, he can pass along that shotgun, together with the story of why his father bought it for him. The gun will be not only a great family heirloom but the physical symbol of a spiritual dynasty in the making. Oh that his shotgun were passed down to 10 generations of Howse sons as a reward for hiding the Word of God in their hearts!

BRANNON HOWSE August 2007

1. What is God's warning about being deceived and cheated?
Colossians 2:8

2. Why did Jesus Christ have to die for our sins?
2 Corinthians 5:21

3. How does a beleiver live a victorious Christian life?
Galatians 2:20

4. Where does every good gift come from?
James 1:17

5. What does satan desire to do to every person?
1 Peter 5:8

6. What does the Bible say about abortion?
Exodus 21:22-23

7. What does the Bible say about gambling?
2 Thessalonians 3:10 / Proverbs 11:18

8. What does the Bible say about active euthanasia?
Matthew 5:21

9. What should Christians do when they have problems or experience anxiety?
Philippians 4:6-7

10. What is the difference between someone who gains wealth over time through hard work and the person who strives to get rich quickly?
Proverbs 28:20

11. What should be the standard for our thought life and entertainment?
Philippians 4:8

12. What did Jesus say was the first and greatest commandment?
Matthew 22:37

13. What did Peter say about Jesus Christ after living with Him for 3 years?
1 Peter 2:22

14. How can a Christian obtain great gain?
1 Timothy 6:6

15. Who are Christians to imitate or look to as their role model?
Ephesians 5:1

16. What seven things does the Lord hate?
Proverbs 6:16-19

17. Why should we not be surprised or deterred when the world makes fun of our worldview and faith in Jesus Christ?
1 Corinthians 1:18

18. How should Christians live?
Philippians 1:27-28

19. Apart from salvation through Jesus Christ, what is the end result of our sin?
Romans 6:23

20. What does God desire for the wicked?
Ezekiel 33:11

21. What are we to do with every thought?
2 Corinthians 10:5

** (Remember, when you are clicking on the hyperlinks, give it a few seconds to load to the correct verse. And, for a more detailed explanation of the questions/answers you see above - check out the book "Building a Biblical Worldview Verse by Verse" - written by Brannon Howse. You can order you own copy by clicking here.) **