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The dangers of the
Emergent Church
(All scripture quotes are
from the NABS unless otherwise noted)
We've all heard the term "emergent church", but what is it and what does it
mean for the Christian today? In this article, we will explore what this
movement teaches and why we think that it is spiritually dangerous to the
Orthodox teaching and understanding of Christianity today.
"But false prophets also
arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you,
who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master
who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves." (2 Peter 2:1)
There are men who are emulating exactly what Peter spoke about in his
epistle. Men who claim to be Christians...men who stand in pulpits...men who
write books...men who are denying the faith and introducing destructive
heresies that clearly go against the word of God. What makes this movement
so spiritually dangerous for the Christian today? To answer this question
and more, we would like to focus on (3) things: What is the emergent church, who are its leaders,
and what are some of the doctrinal problems with this movement.
So, what is the emergent church? First, we need to distinguish between the words
emergent and emerging. Emergent is the name of an organization. Their
website is
Emergent Village. Emergent is an official network of like-minded leaders
within the emerging church movement. The term emerging church on the other
hand refers to the broader movement as a whole. The emergent
church movement is a movement within the church of people who are seeking to
reinvent or reconstruct Christianity so that it might be more accommodating
to the culture of today, particularly the young people who are heavily
influenced by post modern beliefs and practices. Emerging church leaders say
because we as a society have entered into a post modern, Christian, secular
and pagan world, we need to re-evaluate and change our methods and our
message if we want to be effective in talking about Jesus. The movement has
mainly arisen due to a protest against the institutional church, modernism
and modern seeker sensitive churches. This movement has been growing
steadily since its start back in the early 1990’s.
Next, we will look at who its leaders are. Some of the more recognizable and
influential leaders in this movement are Brian McAllen, Rob Bell, Doug
Pagitt and Tony Jones.
- Brian McAllen is a
pastor and an author of many books on the emergent church including “A New
Kind of Christian” and “Everything Must Change”. He was named as one of the
top 20 evangelical leaders by Time magazine. He is probably the most
influential of all the emergent church leaders today.
- Rob Bell is the author
of “Velvet Elvis...repainting the Christian faith”. He is the founding pastor
of Mars Hill Bible Church,
and his church attracts a Sunday congregation of over 10,000 people.
- Doug Pagitt is one of
the originators of the emergent church movement. He is a senior person with
Emergent Village. He is the author of books like “Church Re-imagined”,
“Preaching Re-imagined”, and is the pastor of an emergent church known as
Solomon’s Porch.
- Tony Jones is the
national coordinator of
Emergent Village. He is the author of numerous books
as well, including titles like, “The Sacred Way” and
“An Emergent Manifesto of
Hope”, which he co-authored
with Doug Pagitt.
Although these men are considered the main leaders of the emergent church,
they do not speak for the entire emerging church movement, but they are the
ones who are having the most influence on the movement and its followers.
We would like to spend the rest of this article looking at some of the doctrinal
issues within this movement. Our intention is to bring some of these
unbiblical teachings to your attention and to hold them up to the light of
God’s word to see if they are theologically sound. Just as in Acts 17, the people who were taught by the Apostle
Paul took the time to check the scriptures to see if what Paul was teaching
lined up with the word of God. If these people were allowed to check the
teachings of Paul (an Apostle of Jesus Christ)
for accuracy, we should certainly be able to do the same with these
emergent church leaders. John also told us (in 1 John 4:1) to test the
spirit of those who teach because there are many false prophets in this
world.
The first area being challenged by the emergent church has to do with the
gospel itself. The leaders of the emergent church are tampering with,
reworking, rewording and questioning the gospel. In an interview with
Christianity today, Brian McAllen made the following quote:
"I don't think we've
got the gospel right yet. What does it mean to be 'saved'?...I don't think
the liberals have it right. But I don't think we have it right either. None
of us has arrived at orthodoxy." (The Emergent Mystique, Christianity Today,
2004)
It’s amazing and painful to hear a so-called Christian and pastor say something
like this. This is a direct attack on God’s ability to communicate clearly
to His people. Is the gospel too confusing for us? Have
millions of Christians throughout the centuries really been unable to decipher
what the gospel is about? Absolutely not. Christians have had the gospel
right for over 2,000 years. We can say that because the bible tells us in
very clear language what the gospel is. Paul wrote the following in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5:
“Now I make known to
you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received,
in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the
word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered
to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to
Ciphers, then to the twelve.”
Paul is so clear and adamant about the gospel that he also gives a very strong warning
(in Galatians 1:8-9) to those who would attempt to preach another gospel. He
tells us this:
“But even if we, or an
angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have
preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say
again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you
received, he is to be accursed!”
So first, Brian McAllen questions the ability of Christians to understand
the gospel, but then in his book (Everything Must Change) he goes on to do
the very thing that Paul warns against, he offers a different gospel.
McAllen
does this by suggesting his own interpretation of what the gospel is. And
although his gospel mentions trusting Jesus, and becoming his disciple, his
version of the gospel does not mention the cross, Jesus’ death, His
resurrection, repentance from sin, heaven, ever lasting life or hell.
Instead he writes this:
Jesus came to become the
Savior of the world, meaning he came to save the earth and all it
contains from its ongoing destruction because of human evil. (Everything
Must Change)
Brian is suggesting that Jesus’ mission was to actually save the
earth and all it
contains
from its ongoing destruction. You might be asking yourself..."What is he
talking about?" Is he talking about saving sinners or saving the earth, as in
the planet? He clarifies this, by writing:
“I see Christ’s work on
the cross as saving all creation, including, but not only humanity. (A
Generous Orthodoxy)
Can we assume that Brian McAllen is telling us that Christ came to save the
animals too? We can only answer “yes” to this question because he plainly
says all creation will be saved, “including, but not only humanity.” But the
bible tells us that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, not the
animals or the planet:
“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”
(1 Timothy 1:15)
Brian McAllen is not alone in his interpretation though. Rob Bell and others have
joined McAllen in his view that Christ’s death on the cross is going to
result in the salvation of every “thing” and everyone. Rob Bell writes this:
"To make the cross only
about human salvation, misses out on that God wants to save everything.
Every star and rock and bird. That's how big his dream is. He wants to
save the whole earth, the whole world. Salvation is the entire universe
being brought back into harmony with its maker". (Velvet Elvis)
So Rob Bell believes that Christ also came to save every “thing”, not just
sinners. Inanimate objects like stars, rocks and even birds are also in need
of salvation according to this twisted view. Demonstrating a similar view, Doug
Pagitt and Tony Jones who
co-authored the book “An Emergent Manifesto of Hope” wrote the following:
“In summary, we give the
following statement of our understanding about the widening scope of
salvation: Not only soul, whole body! Not only whole body, all of the
faithful community! Not only all of the faithful community, all of humanity!
Not only all of humanity, all of God’s creation!” (An Emergent Manifesto of
Hope)
These men profess that in addition to the rest of God’s creation, all of
humanity will be saved. Does the bible say that all of humanity will be
saved? Certainly not. The bible is very clear about this. In Matthew
7:13-14, Jesus said the following:
“Enter through the narrow
gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction,
and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way
is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
also backs up Jesus' words as well:
“Dealing out
retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the
gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction,
away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”
Also in regard to the claim that all of God’s creation, as in the earth,
will be saved. The bible actually says the following in 2 Peter 3:10:
“But the day of the Lord
will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and
the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its
works will be burned up.”
We can now see that the gospel of the emergent church is very different than
what Jesus and the Apostles were preaching back in the 1st century.
Not even the doctrine of
the Trinity is safe from the emergent church. Tony Jones had the following
to say on Theology Blog:
Anyway, my point in all
this is that the doctrine of the
Trinity is still on the table. Some people, it seems to me,
would like for us to no longer debate certain "sacred" doctrines -- the
Trinity, the nature of Christ, the nature of scripture, the nature of
marriage etc. And these persons tend to get very jumpy when emergent-types
discuss these sacra doctrine,
especially in books and at conferences that are being taped. "This is
dangerous," they say. (Theology Bog
post by Tony Jones)
Rob Bell seems to have a
similar opinion in questioning the doctrine of the Trinity. In his book “Velvet Elvis”, Bell says the
following:
This three-in-oneness
understanding of God emerged several hundred years after Jesus'
resurrection. People began to call this concept the Trinity. The word
trinity is not found anywhere in the Bible. Jesus didn't use the word, and
the writers of the rest of the Bible didn't use the word. But over time this
belief, this understanding, this doctrine, has become central to how
followers of Jesus have understood who God is. It is a spring
[Bell’s term for a
removable doctrine], and people jumped [Bell’s term for walked
with God] for thousands of years without it. It was added later. We
can take it out and examine it. Discuss it, probe it, question it. It
flexes, and it stretches. (Velvet Elvis)
We can take the doctrine of the Trinity out of the bible? It was added
later? These are the types of arguments that the Jehovah’s Witnesses use to
try to disprove the Trinity when they come knocking on your door. What does that say about Bell’s theology? Sorry
to burst your bubble Rob, but the Trinity has always been true. It was not
added later. It began to emerge (no pun intended) in the Old Testament and
was revealed in the New Testament. For more information about the Trinity,
you can go here.
The next doctrine that is being challenged by the emergent church is the
bible's teaching on the coming judgment, and hell. Many of the emergent
church leaders are watering down, or flat out denying the teaching on the
coming judgment and the everlasting suffering of the unrighteous in hell.
Here is part of an excerpt from an interview that Doug Pagitt did on the Way
of the Master radio show with Todd Friel (you can listen to the entire interview
here):
Todd: Yea, do you think, do you think there’s an eternal
damnation for people who are not Christians?
Doug: Yeah, well, I think that there’s.. I think there’s
all kinds of … I mean that, that, damnation would sort of be that.. that
there’s parts of the uh, life in Creation that seem to be counter to what
God is doing and those are the things that are eliminated and removed and
done away with. And so I think that’s what damnation is, and so there are
people who want to live out that kind of um, want to have that good judgment –
the judgment of God in their life. I mean you know Judge… Judgment in a
biblical fashion meaning that God remakes… that God remakes the world.
Todd: OK, Doug, hold on Doug…Doug hold on a second. I have
no idea what you just said. Here’s what I think Hell is: eternal damnation,
God sends lawbreakers to a place where there’s weeping, there’s gnashing of
teeth, a lake of sulphur, the worm never dies, eternal conscious torment.
Agree or disagree?
Doug: Disagree.
Later on in the
interview, the conversion continues:
Todd: Doug, I am a good Buddhist. Where do I go when I die?
[silent pause]
Doug: You, you know this is not an interesting conversation
for me. Is this what we’re going to do? You’re going to…You’re going to put together
false little dichotomies and then ask me to answer one sentence and then
interrupt my answers?
The
interview continues on:
Todd: I’m a good Muslim. What happens to my soul when I
die?
Doug: You are… you interact with God, just as every other
human being interacts with God.
Todd: You mean Hebrews 9: “It is appointed to a man once to
die and then judgment?”
Doug: Right, yea, that’s interaction with…
Todd: So he gets judged?
Doug: Right, that’s interaction with God.
Todd: Uh huh, and so…
Doug: Yeah.
Todd: What’s… what’s going to happen to the… How is God
going to judge the good Muslim?
Doug: Does it.. God’s going to judge the life and repair
and restore and heal the life of everybody in the same way. There’s going to be
no difference between what God…
Todd: So the Muslim is ultimately not going to be… go to a bad place. He’s
ultimately going to be restored with God when he dies?
Doug: No, there’s going to be no difference between the way God is going to
interact with you when you die and the way God’s going to interact with a
Muslim when a Muslim dies.
Todd: So I want to put… I want to put this into my fundamentalist language. What
I just heard you say is: There is no difference between the Christian and
the Muslim afterlife. God is going to have a good place prepared for both of
us.
Doug: No, I… No I didn’t say a place. See, here you go again.
Todd: Ok, a good thing, a good event, a good existence.
Doug: I didn’t say a place. What I said was, the way God’s going to interact
with you is the same way that God’s going to interact with everybody. The
same experience of all of humanity. God will… God will interact with all of
humanity in judgment the same, no matter who you are, or what your parents
have taught you, or what you believe.
So Doug Pagitt basically denies hell by stating that God will repair and
restore and heal the life of everyone in the same way. Everyone gets an
eternal reward and no one goes to hell. Well, as we demonstrated earlier in
this article, the bible says something very different.
In an audio
interview that Brian McAllen did on a radio show called Bleeding Purple, he
tries to dismiss the doctrine of hell because of what Jesus did on the
cross. The cross would be a distraction and false advertising to Brian if hell were true. If the
doctrine of hell is true, Brian McAllen says that, "God is asking us to do
something that He can’t do Himself...forgive". We would whole heartily
disagree with that. God will forgive us if we repent of our sins, and accept his son as
the Lord and Savior of our lives. If we don't, then God (being a just God),
must punish the unrepentant sinner. This is the main thing that Brian and
many other emergent church leaders seem to forget.
Lastly, the emergent church is attacking the clarity of scripture itself.
Evangelical Christians believe that the bible was given to mankind as a God
breathed revelation that clearly reveals God’s will for our lives. We
believe that with the proper study and investigation of the scriptures that
they can be rightly divided, and can be properly understood and a person can
be certain in regards to its main teachings. Many emergent church authors
disagree though. While making the claim that the bible is divinely inspired,
they also make the claim that it is full of mysteries that can't be
understood with any real certainty. For instance, in his book “Adventures in
missing the point”, Brian McLaren says the following:
“Drop
Any Affair You May Have with Certainty, Proof, Argument – and Replace It
with Dialogue, Conversation, Intrigue, and Search.” (Adventures in missing
the point)
Why is
it that Brian McAllen seems to have such a low view of the bible? Probably
because he feels like the bible isn't solely inspired by God as is evident
from the quote below:
“Scripture is
something God had ‘let be,’ and so it is at once God’s creation and the
creation of the dozens of people and communities and cultures who produced
it.” (A Generous Orthodoxy)
Brian
tells his readers that the bible is the creation of God and man. I'm sorry
Brian, but God inspired and created the bible. Man was the instrument used
to write down what God wanted, but man has no right to make any claim to the
creation of God's word.
Rob Bell joins in the
assault on the clarity of scripture. In his book “Velvet Elvis” he says the
following:
“Is the
bible the best that God can do? With God being so massive and awe-inspiring
and full of truth, why is his book capable of so much confusion?” (Velvet
Elvis)
The answer to Rob’s question is...The bible is what God felt was the best
way to communicate to His creation, and as Christians, we should honor that. Can you ever imagine a man of God or a prophet of God saying anything
like Bell just said? If we aren’t smart enough as human beings to understand
the word of God, why did Jesus ask the Pharisees “Have you not read” in his
discussions with them (Matt 12:3; Matt 12:5; Matt 19:4; Matt 22:31 and Mark
12:26)? It’s because Jesus expected them to be able to read and understand God’s
word.
The last
quote and most damaging to the emergent church movement comes from Tony Jones who
leads the charge in wanting to deconstruct the bible. The term deconstruct
for an emergent means that we should abandon centuries of bible interpretation for something
totally new because the current interpretation does not fit the culture of
today. Here is what he had to say:
"This connection
between deconstruction and the Bible is especially meaningful, methinks. I
am quite convinced that the Bible is a subversive text, that it constantly
undermines our assumptions, transgresses our boundaries, and subverts our
comforts. This may sound like academic mumbo-jumbo, but I really mean it. I
think the Bible is a f***in scary book (pardon my French, but that's the
only way I know how to convey how strongly I feel about this). And I think
that deconstruction is the only hermeneutical avenue that comes close to
expressing the transgress
nature of our sacred text." (Article
from The Church and Postmodern Culture website)
The bible
is a subversive text? All I can say is...wow. I never knew that God's word
was subversive. And by the way Tony...nice language. And you are supposed to
be a pastor and a Christian? I don't know of any pastor who would need to
use such language to express their thoughts to the reader of their
books/articles.
So what advice do we have for Christians who come in contact with people
from this movement? Test their teachings against the word of God. Once you are able to recognize the errors of their
teachings, warn others about this movement. Direct them to this article for
more information. And lastly, point others to the following bible verse
(Romans 16:17-18) for an explanation of how these emergent church leaders
are to be viewed:
“Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions
and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away
from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own
appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts
of the unsuspecting.”
We know that this was a lot of reading and information to digest, but we
also pray that it serves as a resource for you to share with your friends
and loved ones
to help keep them out of this dangerous movement.
(Share
this article with a friend)
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