Pastor Jesse's Blog

Brian McLaren, a key leader in the Emerging Church Movement, has written a new book entitled A New Kind of Christianity.

Tim Challies recently reviewed McLaren’s new book, and he delivers an absolutely stinging review of the book. Among other things, Challies observes that McLaren loves Jesus but hates God. In fact, Challies is convinced that this book is a de-conversion narrative that shows that McLaren has unambiguously apostatized from the Christian faith. He writes:

‘He denies the Fall, he denies original sin, he denies human depravity, he denies hell…

‘Here, in A New Kind of Christianity it’s as if McLaren is screaming “I hate God!” at the top of his lungs. And swarms of Christians are looking at him with admiration and saying, “See how that guy loves God?” I don’t know what McLaren could do to make the situation more clear. In fact, his book is nearly indistinguishable from many of the de-conversion narratives that are all the rage today. Compare it with Bart Ehrman’s God’s Problem and you’ll see many of the same arguments and the same misgivings; you’ll find, though, that Ehrman is at least more honest. He at least has the integrity to walk away from faith altogether rather than reinventing God in his own image.

‘McLaren says he would prefer atheism over belief in the God so many of us see in Scripture. Well, he is not far off. This new kind of Extreme Makeover: God Edition Christianity is no Christianity at all. It is not a faith made in the image of Jesus Christ, but a faith made in the image of a man who despises God and who is hell-bent on dragging others along with him as he becomes his own god.’

As I’ve been browsing around in Barnes and Nobles I’ve read part of McLaren’s book. From what I’ve read, Mr. Challies has not overstated his case. I know I won’t buy the book and I probably won’t spend any of my precious time reading the rest of the book.

If you are interested you can read the rest of Challies’ review here.

Dr. Albert Mohler says “embarrassment is the gateway drug for theological accommodation and denial.” The line appears in his article in the latest issue of the 9Marks journal, “Air Conditioning Hell: How Liberalism Happens.” Mohler argues that many evangelicals slip into liberalism simply because they are ashamed of certain doctrines. He lists four phases of backsliding that evangelicals go through on their way to liberalism.

First, a doctrine simply falls from mention.
Second, a doctrine is revised and retained in reduced form.
Third, a doctrine is subjected to a form of ridicule.
Fourth, a doctrine is reformulated in order to remove its intellectual and moral offensiveness.

This is a really helpful article, and you can read the rest of Dr. Mohler’s article here.

There is hardly anything more mysterious and wonderful to me than the incarnation of Jesus Christ. God became a man. Deity took on humanity and translated deity into humanity. Jesus Christ is at once fully God and fully man. God took on mortal human flesh and became subject to all the things that every other mortal is subject to. He caught colds. He sneezed. He coughed. He got headaches and an upset stomach. Every morning he got up, shook the dust out of His hair, and served His Father faithfully.

Jesus was not only subject to sickness, but also to death. The eternal Son of God was die-able. In fact, He did die. And three days later, what was mortal became swallowed up by immortality in the resurrection.

Even now, the resurrected Christ sits at the right hand of God in glory. As I type these words, the incarnate God intercedes in the flesh for His people before the Father (Romans 8:34). And it all began in a manger 2,000 years ago. No, actually, we have to go 9 months before that—when Jesus Christ was first conceived in by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary, when the God-Man was an embryo. “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. . . The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:30, 35).

How could any of this be? God is in the flesh now! I cannot get my little pea-brain to comprehend it, yet this is precisely what the Bible teaches. “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17).

As we ponder the imponderables of God, let us never cease to be amazed at the manifold mercies of God that have come to us through the incarnation of King Jesus. Let every heart prepare Him room.

I look forward to seeing you tonight at 7 as we celebrate the coming of our Savior into the world as we observe the Lord’s Supper. Bring your families and friends with you.

Merry Christmas!