An Eastern religion?!John Farley
Pastor-Teacher Sunday, November 26, 2017 Christmas eve service Sunday morning Dec 24; New year’s eve service Sunday morning Dec 31; both regular time – regular Bible study Thursday Dec 28 Christmas luncheon Sunday Dec 10th right after service. Yankee swap immediately following the luncheon – ladies only. An Eastern religion?!Col 2:8-10 Post-modernism has found an effective vehicle to get inside: the emergent church. The Emergent Church What is the Emergent Church? The Emergent Church movement is a progressive Christian movement … …that attempts to elevate experience and feelings on a par with Christian doctrine. Many do not believe man can know absolute truth, and believe God must be experienced outside of Biblical teachings. The emergent church is a movement to change the methods and the message of the church … …to appeal to the post-modern world. Conversation Friendship Movement It is a movement chasing a culture. “People increasingly long for the mystical … rather than the …. Col 2:8, 2:18-19. The emergent church movement emphasizes so-called “spiritual” experiences, feelings, and transcendence. When the word of God gets tossed aside, mystical experiences start to surface. Believing in Christ is not required. The goal is to find God within. What is really “within” the mind and heart of the natural man? Jer 17:9 These are actually occult teachings and disciplines which are practiced by Roman Catholic, Hindu and Buddhist monks. They say it’s EPIC. Experiential: experiencing God through our five senses. Participants: they want to have conversations rather than hear sermons. Image-based: artwork, film, video, statues, stained glass murals Communal: They strive for a strong sense of community. But they also are hard at work re-inventing the message of the church. “ This is not just the same old message with new methods.” “We’re rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life.” Brian McLaren - “I don’t think we’ve got the gospel right yet”. “What does it mean to be saved?...None of us have arrived at that orthodoxy.” “Ask me if Christianity (my version of it, yours, the Pope’s, whoever’s ) is orthodox, meaning true, “…and here’s my honest answer: “I’d have to say that we (Christianity) probably have a couple of things right, but a lot of things wrong” Deu 30:11-14 2Co 10:5 1Ti 2:3-7
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