A Dark Picture of Salvation
I often visit a few, how do you say, fundamentalist web sites. I like to get a balanced view and unfortunately, this is not possible from one site when it comes to faith. So, you have to go to several and somehow combine the good information and dump the rest. So, I go to this site and found a few interesting comments.
The context here is a stark criticism of the emergent church movement (ECM). Now, I am no expert on the ECM nor do I really have an opinion on the whole matter. Nevertheless, I found all of the flack that the ECM was taking to be interesting if nothing else. Following are a few comments about a particular ECM pastor and anyone who follows agrees with him. Unfortunately, the comments paint a dark picture of the type of salvation espoused by this fundamentalist group who is criticizing the ECM.
One person writes:
I've often thought a good challenge to younger Christians (or anyone enchanted by the ECM) today would go something like this:
"If Jesus told you to be SQUARE for him, would you do it? Would you wear average-looking clothes and have an average-looking hairstyle for Him, if He asked you to? Would you submit to your parents and teachers, even if you believed they were wrong, if Jesus asked you to? Would you go to a traditional church and submit to the elders there, and sing 'How Great Thou Art' and 'The Old Rugged Cross' and other 'outdated' songs every week, for Jesus' sake? Would you put up with an antiquated worship style out of love for your brothers and sisters in Christ above the age of 50, if He asked you to? Are you willing to be UNCOOL for Jesus?"
Show me a young man or woman who's willing to do that for the Lord's sake, and I'll show you someone who's got the Holy Spirit.
And, if the test of true faithfulness to the Lord (aka the square peg, uncool Christian perspective) wasn’t enough for you, perhaps eternal damnation for poor taste will be:
"Jokes about flatulence are not cussing" (well that's a handy bit of information)
They are also not funny and not edifying. They also are very close to if not outright blasphemy when said about our Lord and Savior (are you telling me that Jesus didn't fart?). Time for some people to grow up and realize that potty humor went out in Kindergarten (guilty, I love a good fart joke).
So let’s recap, if you are stylish, rebellious, speak your mind when you have an opinion, and are unwilling to submit to a 50s lifestyle then you are unsaved…Oh, don’t forget jokes about Jesus farting.
It seems to me that it’s all about falling in line, doing it the appropriate way, keeping the tradition. Why do we all have to conform in order to be saved? I thought God made us individuals…I thought He knows the number of hairs on my head, not the average number of hairs on the heads of all those who love him. Why do we have to be the same, think the same, believe the same? Why does my faith have to be made from the same mold as everyone else?
The context here is a stark criticism of the emergent church movement (ECM). Now, I am no expert on the ECM nor do I really have an opinion on the whole matter. Nevertheless, I found all of the flack that the ECM was taking to be interesting if nothing else. Following are a few comments about a particular ECM pastor and anyone who follows agrees with him. Unfortunately, the comments paint a dark picture of the type of salvation espoused by this fundamentalist group who is criticizing the ECM.
One person writes:
I've often thought a good challenge to younger Christians (or anyone enchanted by the ECM) today would go something like this:
"If Jesus told you to be SQUARE for him, would you do it? Would you wear average-looking clothes and have an average-looking hairstyle for Him, if He asked you to? Would you submit to your parents and teachers, even if you believed they were wrong, if Jesus asked you to? Would you go to a traditional church and submit to the elders there, and sing 'How Great Thou Art' and 'The Old Rugged Cross' and other 'outdated' songs every week, for Jesus' sake? Would you put up with an antiquated worship style out of love for your brothers and sisters in Christ above the age of 50, if He asked you to? Are you willing to be UNCOOL for Jesus?"
Show me a young man or woman who's willing to do that for the Lord's sake, and I'll show you someone who's got the Holy Spirit.
And, if the test of true faithfulness to the Lord (aka the square peg, uncool Christian perspective) wasn’t enough for you, perhaps eternal damnation for poor taste will be:
"Jokes about flatulence are not cussing" (well that's a handy bit of information)
They are also not funny and not edifying. They also are very close to if not outright blasphemy when said about our Lord and Savior (are you telling me that Jesus didn't fart?). Time for some people to grow up and realize that potty humor went out in Kindergarten (guilty, I love a good fart joke).
So let’s recap, if you are stylish, rebellious, speak your mind when you have an opinion, and are unwilling to submit to a 50s lifestyle then you are unsaved…Oh, don’t forget jokes about Jesus farting.
It seems to me that it’s all about falling in line, doing it the appropriate way, keeping the tradition. Why do we all have to conform in order to be saved? I thought God made us individuals…I thought He knows the number of hairs on my head, not the average number of hairs on the heads of all those who love him. Why do we have to be the same, think the same, believe the same? Why does my faith have to be made from the same mold as everyone else?
posted by Scott at 7:06 PM
1 Comments:
Man those are some weird questions about Jesus, if I must say so myself. I guess if Jesus personally asked me to do so then I would have to, I mean I need audible and maybe even visual to follow that style of church. That's just too harsh and judgmental, traditions of men taken as the teachings of God. What's being un-cool have to do with being a Christian anyways? Nothing.
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