Friday, March 13, 2009

Another Interesting Article... Again, no comment for now...


In response to my last post, another friend sent me this article. Again, I graduate on May 9th, so will refrain from commenting until May 10th. :-)

Click here for Mark Driscoll's response.
Click here for Mark Driscoll's response to his response.

5 comments:

thehirschgang said...

Thanks for sharing this article too, whoever shared it with you, thanks to you as well. :)
It is exciting that this made Times...obviously, He is at work and moving. What joy to get to see evidence of it! Praying God's glory in all things!

Mommy, M.D. said...

driscoll doesn't mince words, does he? : )

thanks for the post.

James Lane said...

Don't you think it is curious how the secular community, i.e Time Magazine, has chosen to embrace "New" Calvinism? Maybe they find comfort in it. They know New Calvinism will never come knocking at their door, inviting them to Church. Maybe they know that New Calvinism will never try to share with them in the mall or preach at them in the streets. Maybe the secular community trusts that New Calvinism will keep God were He is not so out in the open. Maybe they know that if they do stumble upon a group of New Calvinist and decide to join the church they will not be required to do much. Commitment to the church will just come down to one or two more wine and cheese parties a year. No more than being involved in any other social club.

Like flocks of domesticated pigeons the secular world is gathering at the feet of New Calvinism waiting for some easy to swallow crumbs to fall from it's lap. But what the secular community is not aware of is, there is nothing new about "New" Calvinism. They do not know that every now and then, some, in the church, choose to dust off these old doctrines and relabel them. These doctrines were much more prevalent in times of segregation and bigotry but they will work just fine today for keeping the church out of the secular community's hair.

As a Christian, I am not going to get giddy when a secular publication touts a prevailing Christian doctrine along with 9 other progressive social programs. In fact my first instinct is to distance myself from it. I will look to Scripture and the Holy Spirit for guidance in these areas and I will stay committed to the principals of Evangelism that, in practice, have grown The Church.

Casey Cease said...

James,

I understand your hesitancy. However, the gentlemen mentioned in the article (John Piper and Mark Driscoll) are both evangelistic and outreach oriented, so I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Secondly, I wouldn't say that the secular world has 'embraced' this, rather, they have made the observation that this emerging 'idea' is having an impact in the world...

James Lane said...

Casey,
You know where I am coming from. I am layperson that has followed God's call into inner city ministry for the past 14 years. I don't hang around the seminary or a lot of large churches unless I am trying to motivate them to help with our work.

I guess I am just pushing back a little because I don't run into any "new calvinist" in the neighborhoods we work in. I am pretty well read so I know who the big players are and I have studied this movement. But the people I minister to are not in tune to it at all. I am not saying that it is all bad or that there isn't a wealth of truth in the studies of these great men. I just think it can be counterproductive to get stuck orbiting this movement's little world when there is a much larger world, that doesn't read time magazine or shop at the christian bookstores, that is on it's way to hell.