Thursday, October 06, 2011
REJECTED!
Jason Blairhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif @ BHT links to what defines and Evangelical reject:
It proves a couple of points I have been thinking about and making for a long time. The term "evangelical" really does not mean any longer what I thought it meant. It now means, at least popularly, a newly packaged type of fundamentalism. It also points out that evangelicalism has moved from an emphasis, movement and school of thought to a label adopted without much thought.
Here's what I want to make sure of in all this - that we do not lose what was good about what used to be Evangelicalism. We need an emphasis on conversion becasue culture no longer brings people to church naturally. Not at the expense of the rest of faith, but as an enhancement to it.
We need the kind of reasonableness (not hard reason mind you, reasonableness) that CS Lewis brought to so many in the middle of the last century.
We need movements that enhance the mission of the church, but without confusing themselves with the church.
We need to remember that the church serves Christ, not itself.
I want to be an evangelical, but I sure as hell fit the definition of a reject laid out here. I just want to be an old school evangelical.
The list goes on - read it for yourself.
- You’re uncomfortable calling other branches of Christianity “apostate.”
- You worry that those who cling to terms like “orthodox” often do so because they believe it to be synonymous with “Neo-Calvinism.”
- You have significant questions about controversial theological “hot button” issues of the day and are some-what comfortable with the subsequent cognitive dissonance.
It proves a couple of points I have been thinking about and making for a long time. The term "evangelical" really does not mean any longer what I thought it meant. It now means, at least popularly, a newly packaged type of fundamentalism. It also points out that evangelicalism has moved from an emphasis, movement and school of thought to a label adopted without much thought.
Here's what I want to make sure of in all this - that we do not lose what was good about what used to be Evangelicalism. We need an emphasis on conversion becasue culture no longer brings people to church naturally. Not at the expense of the rest of faith, but as an enhancement to it.
We need the kind of reasonableness (not hard reason mind you, reasonableness) that CS Lewis brought to so many in the middle of the last century.
We need movements that enhance the mission of the church, but without confusing themselves with the church.
We need to remember that the church serves Christ, not itself.
I want to be an evangelical, but I sure as hell fit the definition of a reject laid out here. I just want to be an old school evangelical.
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