First, the emergent church (hereinafter, “EC”) is an upstart of an “event” that now threatens to spread like a plague, or should I say, an epidemic. Its reaches are clearly global and that means up to, and including, the infiltration of Bible-believing churches. It began in the late 20th and early 21st century, and the movement’s attraction is phenomenal. The EC is recognized for its daring breaks from the mold of traditional church and tendency to venture into blasphemous beliefs. EC members prefer to live their life as a "post modern" society and are often impossible to differentiate between secular society. The gist of it is that most of them are upset that they can’t hang with genuine "organized religion." Truly institutional church rules are way too hard to comply with and they figure the best way to be the Christian they WANT to be is to create a new version, Version 2.0 if you will. Because of this “re-branding” of the church, bible discipline, church organization (government or polity), the sacraments, and church offices, are all being snubbed with the greater implications being the compromising, ongoing, unrepentant sin to exist throughout the Body of Christ, i.e., the church. Further, Paul and the other apostles taught that church discipline for blatantly sinful and generally unrepentant members hurts the Body of Christ and diminishes the witnessing abilities of the church.
The EC is very pro-active in its quest to change and sway society. This of course means the use of political leverage to create and operate from a platform of social activism, and trying to overtake or displace a well-standing system presently being viewed as “harsh” by most lay people. What the world should see in both missions and evangelism, is emphasis on the love of God as one of the primary attributes of God. Instead, the EC frames its beliefs around the “stripping” of the gospel, of the necessity of a Savior. To a repugnant degree they neglect to preach sin, repentance, confession, church discipline, and the shining fruits of the Holy Spirit.
One defining characteristic of the EC is the lack of presence of the Lord’s Supper. I don’t fully understand why, but I suspect that it is because they don’t like the idea of “eating” and “drinking”, even as a symbolic gesture, the body of Christ. Paul discussed the importance of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Then, with the cup after supper he said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
EC claims that we cannot know the full truth regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality, among other doctrines in the Bible. They say “truth is relative.” Another defining feature of the EC is denial of the inerrancy of the Word of God (Bible). They figure that it was written by men regardless if it was under the divine influence of the Holy Spirit. Go figure. Not all EC’s are alike and not all follow the methods I’ve described above. The overwhelming tendency of people nowadays is to venture from church to church looking for something “not so strict.” They don’t want to tithe and they don’t want to be told that they need to repent of their sin. Taking accountability and trying to be a better person really isn’t so bad of a thing, is it? Postmodernists want good music that has near secular tendencies and they are more concerned with being comfortable in church than they are of hearing the truth of God’s Word. It has been said, and I tend to agree, that most EC members are very much involved with religion for selfish reasons, i.e., they really aren’t all that interested in serving others.
Popular culture is attempting to change Christianity into something it is not. Truth is truth and anyone who believes that truth is a relative concept has been blinded. Paper is made from pulp. Concrete is hard. A forest is comprised of trees. Hurricanes are devastating. All truths. Not fiction and not “tailored” to be true for one person and not another. People and churches can be sincere but still be sincerely wrong. Ignorance is no excuse. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6) and “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). These are blanket statements. They are true for everyone.
The EC is very pro-active in its quest to change and sway society. This of course means the use of political leverage to create and operate from a platform of social activism, and trying to overtake or displace a well-standing system presently being viewed as “harsh” by most lay people. What the world should see in both missions and evangelism, is emphasis on the love of God as one of the primary attributes of God. Instead, the EC frames its beliefs around the “stripping” of the gospel, of the necessity of a Savior. To a repugnant degree they neglect to preach sin, repentance, confession, church discipline, and the shining fruits of the Holy Spirit.
One defining characteristic of the EC is the lack of presence of the Lord’s Supper. I don’t fully understand why, but I suspect that it is because they don’t like the idea of “eating” and “drinking”, even as a symbolic gesture, the body of Christ. Paul discussed the importance of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Then, with the cup after supper he said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
EC claims that we cannot know the full truth regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality, among other doctrines in the Bible. They say “truth is relative.” Another defining feature of the EC is denial of the inerrancy of the Word of God (Bible). They figure that it was written by men regardless if it was under the divine influence of the Holy Spirit. Go figure. Not all EC’s are alike and not all follow the methods I’ve described above. The overwhelming tendency of people nowadays is to venture from church to church looking for something “not so strict.” They don’t want to tithe and they don’t want to be told that they need to repent of their sin. Taking accountability and trying to be a better person really isn’t so bad of a thing, is it? Postmodernists want good music that has near secular tendencies and they are more concerned with being comfortable in church than they are of hearing the truth of God’s Word. It has been said, and I tend to agree, that most EC members are very much involved with religion for selfish reasons, i.e., they really aren’t all that interested in serving others.
Popular culture is attempting to change Christianity into something it is not. Truth is truth and anyone who believes that truth is a relative concept has been blinded. Paper is made from pulp. Concrete is hard. A forest is comprised of trees. Hurricanes are devastating. All truths. Not fiction and not “tailored” to be true for one person and not another. People and churches can be sincere but still be sincerely wrong. Ignorance is no excuse. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6) and “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). These are blanket statements. They are true for everyone.
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