Blue Theology–Updated
In the latest issue of Christianity Today, there is an interview with Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/june/10.28.html
This interview with Donald Miller reminds us that theology should be left to adults and not to men who have not grown up. The Gospel message is confrontational and challenges our me-centered culture. But Miller wants to serve two masters so that one can be a Christian and still live a me-centered, secular lifestyle. So his fans give away his book in between tequila shots at the local bar. Incredible.
I can understand why he wants to believe that the Bible is just a set of inspiring stories. Subjectivism is malleable and can mean anything you want it to mean. But when Jesus said that you cannot serve two masters, it is not mere story. It is propositional and it means something specific. Furthermore, it is binary, there is only one right answer, all others are wrong.
It is certainly true that there are many aspects of evangelicalism that should be criticized. But correcting a problem is no excuse to adopt the neo-liberal view of postmodernism and call it evangelical. Unfortunately the author of the article offers no analysis or criticism of Miller.
There is a lot at stake here, the future of the church, the souls of the lost, and the intellectual integrity of evangelicals among them. I hope Christianity Today becomes more balanced when it exposes such writers to its readers.
When someone like me offers critical analysis of the various movements within the church, it is because I care deeply for the church and I fear for its future. As a Christian I have always wrestled with the discrepancy of my call to holiness and the current unholiness of my life. While I do not believe in perfection in this world, I believe that we should never stop struggling toward the goal of Christlikeness. What some in the emerging church movement seems to advocate is to stop struggling and dive headlong into the great compromise with culture.
Jesus intends to present a pure bride the day when the kingdom of God is fulfilled. I don’t think we are pursuing holiness when we look like the world. If we look like the world, if we act like the world, if we share the world’s values, then are we not the world instead of the Body of Christ?
On the Christianity Today comment section, I was called stupid by a commentator because of my view. He also accused me of not reading the book. His childish behavior only adds to my burning concern. I am afraid we are becoming people who don’t know our left from our right. But this is self inflicted ignorance.
I urge us all to stop and think about these things. I suggest that we all spend some time reading the book of Amos. There we will find that God does not have much patience with his people when they insist on their right to go their own way. A friend of mine pointed out that about 40 years after Amos prophesied, God destroyed Samaria and it never rose again. Can the same thing happen to the Church?
We need to rediscover the word “repentance” and seek God’s face. Or, we could be sitting in our own Babylon singing the blues.
