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Do Evengelicals need this kind of manifesto? Part 1
Please read below for parts 2 and 3
This is another long one folks- so go get a coffee and then, make Yourselves comfortable
A group of folks decided for some reason, felt the need to explain, but almost seemed to be apologizing for evengelicalism. While I believe it is important for people- especially non Christians to understand what Bible believing Christians believe and why, and it is important for Christians themselves to understand and be able to explain why we believe what we do- I find it a little troubling when a group of people claim they are speaking for themselves, as the signers of this manifesto claim, but seem to more be trying to be speaking on behalf of all who hold true to being evangelicals.
If this seems to be confusing to you- don't worry. When I read the manifesto, I was actually confused by it myself. I found a lot of what they were saying as kind of "we agree with that, but we also agree with this" type of thing. They seem to be saying we are too fundamental- while most of the stuff they say we need to "reform about ourselves" are all the liberal universal type things that most "fundies" such as myself are against. It just seems like they are unapologetically apologizing for a bunch of stuff that they really need not apologize for, and are trying to "make others like us".
This doesn't surprise me really, for some of the signers of this document are high believers of the emergent movement which is sweeping through the modern church, those who are embracing so many unBiblical doctrines and preaching a different Christ.
The Manifesto begins-
This manifesto is a public declaration, addressed both to our fellow-believers and to the wider world. To affirm who we are and where we stand in public is important because we Evangelicals in America, along with people of all faiths and ideologies, represent one of the greatest challenges of the global era: living with our deepest differences. This challenge is especially sharp when religious and ideological differences are ultimate and irreducible, and when the differences are not just between personal worldviews but between entire ways of life co-existing in the same society.
This sounds realistic enough- something that most Bible believing Christians can agree with. In fact much of the manifesto sounds like something we can basically agree on- here's some more. These are the talking points of what it is basically, to these folks, what it means to be evangelical:
Evangelicalism must be defined theologically and not politically; confessionally and not culturally. Above all else, it is a commitment and devotion to the person and work of Jesus Christ, his teaching and way of life, and an enduring dedication to his lordship above all other earthly powers, allegiances and loyalties. As such, it should not be limited to tribal or national boundaries, or be confused with, or reduced to political categories such as conservative and liberal, or to psychological categories such as reactionary or progressive.
Now I do agree to a point with this statement. We do have a much higher authority in Jesus Christ than to that of any earthly government or political body- however, that is not to say that evangelical Christians must keep away from the political arena. My good friend and brother in Christ, Dave, author of Understanding Evangelicals- A Guide to Jesusland points out that Jesus taught us "You are the light of the world. A city that is set upon a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matt.5:14-16 Dave points out that the statement by Jesus "to let our light shine" is not a recommendation, but a commandment. Christians that don't vote are disobeying Jesus' command to let our light shine before men- so that God can receive the glory. While I agree also that Christianity is not based on tribal or national boundaries- for all Christians are the body of Christ, and in a sense, Jesus is politically neutral- that is, He's neither republican or Democrat, it just so happens that most of the Biblical Christian morals and worldviews are more in line with the larger Republican party ideals. That's not to say that there are no Christian Democrats- I know many who are strong Christians who are democrats- but for most issues that Bible believing Christians feel so strongly about- are in sync with republican ideals.
These next parts are what needs to be reformed according to the signers of this manifesto:
First, a loss of authority, as sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone) is replaced by sola cultura (by culture alone); Second, a loss of community and continuity, as the faith once delivered becomes the faith of merely one people and one time, and cuts itself off from believers across the world and down the generations; Third, a loss of stability, as in Dean Inge’s apt phrase, the person who marries the spirit of the age soon becomes a widower; Fourth, a loss of credibility, as the new kind of faith turns out to be what the skeptic believes already, and there is no longer anything solidly, decisively Christian for seekers to examine and believe; Fifth, a loss of identity, as the revised version of the faith loses more and more resemblance to the historic Christian faith that is true to Jesus. In short, for all their purported sincerity and attempts to be relevant, extreme proponents of liberal revisionism run the risk of becoming what Søren Kierkegaard called kissing Judases – Christians who betray Jesus with an interpretation. The fundamentalist tendency is more recent, and even closer to Evangelicalism, so much so that in the eyes of many, the two overlap. We celebrate those in the past for their worthy desire to be true to the fundamentals of faith, but Fundamentalism has become an overlay on the Christian faith and developed into an essentially modern reaction to the modern world. As a reaction to the modern world, it tends to romanticize the past, some now-lost moment in time, and to radicalize the present, with styles of reaction thatare personally and publicly militant to the point where they are sub-Christian. Christian Fundamentalism has its counterparts in many religions and even in secularism, and often becomes a social movement with a Christian identity but severely diminished Christian content and manner. Fundamentalism, for example, all too easily parts company with the Evangelical principle, as can Evangelicals themselves, when they fail to follow the great commandment that we love our neighbors as ourselves, let alone the radical demand of Jesus that his followers forgive without limit and love even their enemies.
This is where I start to part ways with the ideas of these folks. I mean, I agree with the loss of scripture alone, and the watering down of Christianity so much that it is almost as if Christ were a whole different person than what He actually is. However- most evengelicals- Bible believing Christians, who here are considered fundamentalsists- this would include myself, do not want, as so many claim, to "turn back the clock" to some "Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best" kind of world. Yes, we would like to allow our children to live the way we were able to "back then"- when we didn't have so much immorality and godlessness as there is now. Personally, I don't see the problem with wanting to raise my child in a better place- one thatI know existed when I was growing up. Does that make me intolerant- failing to live up to Jesus' command to love my neighbor as myself? Does that make me a weak Christian- that somehow that I want life better for our children- and those in other countries who have horrible dictatorships, does that make me unforgiving and unloving of enemies?
It goes on-
We confess that we Evangelicals have betrayed our beliefs by our behavior. All too often we have trumpeted the gospel of Jesus, but we have replaced biblical truths with therapeutic techniques, worship with entertainment, discipleship with growth in human potential, church growth with business entrepreneurialism, concern for the church and for the local congregation with expressions of the faith that are churchless and little better than a vapid spirituality, meeting real needs with pandering to felt needs, and mission principles with marketing precepts. In the process we have become known for commercial, diluted, and feel-good gospels of health, wealth, human potential, and religious happy talk, each of which is indistinguishable from the passing fashions of the surrounding world. All too often we have set out high, clear statements of the authority of the Bible, but flouted them with lives and lifestyles that are shaped more by our own sinful preferences and by modern fashions and convenience.
All too often we have prided ourselves on our orthodoxy, but grown our churches through methods and techniques as worldly as the worldliest of Christian adaptations to passing expressions of the spirit of the age. All too often we have failed to demonstrate the unity and harmony of the body of Christ, and fallen into factions defined by the accidents of history and sharpened by truth without love, rather than express the truth and grace of the Gospel. All too often we have traced our roots to powerful movements of spiritual revival and reformation, but we ourselves are often atheists unawares, secularists in practice who live in a world without windows to the supernatural, and often carry on our Christian lives in a manner that has little operational need for God.
Now, again, I can agree that sadly,this is the state of much of today's church. It is to me, in keeping along the Lord's timeline however, when He tells us that one of the signs in the times of the end will be the falling away of many, who will go after false Christs and hear what their tickling ears want to hear. I have written much lately on the heresies of the church- mainly because of how it is all happening within my lifetime.
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Dear Carolyn,
It takes guts for me to say that-- the Evangelicals are 'fundamentally flawed' because most of them are not 'saved' nor do they have the Holy Spirit to give them courage and pure knowledge of the Scriptures. I have known this tidbit of info for many years. They wouldn't say and do so many ridiculous things if they indeed had the Spirit ! Many of them don't even believe in the Genesis account of creation or the 'end times.'
Sorry, this is my gut feeling and the gist of my knowledge. I hope that I am wrong.
~Tom Schuckman
'Old Soldier Tom's Journal' -
Well, overall, there is nothing really off track here. I'm not sure what they hope to accomplish in writing this out. - Barbara
http://journals.aol.com/bhbner2him/LifeFaithinCaneyhead/
5/16/08 5:56 PM
Jenny <><