What is the Gospel, exactly?
The more serious I get about passionately following the teachings of Jesus, the more I find myself at odds with the majority of Christians in my local church. I’m becoming somewhat convinced that protestant evangelical tradition has done just as much to hinder the actual “Gospel” as it has to help sustain it.
I was passed a copy of a conservative evangelical propaganda piece trying to dismantle the Emergent conversation as a cult. And strangely I found the quotes proffered as evidence for the sinfulness of Brian McLaren and Tony Jones to be wonderful, uplifting and REAL voices of leaders to whom we should be paying more attention to.
I think the article was based on an essay or radio program by Dr. John MacArthur, who seems to have a BIG problem with the emerging church. MacArthur’s main concern is over the supposedly Postmodern influenced “wishy-washy” spiritualism that he sees in Emergent. To be honest I don’t see it at all. What I see and hear from Emergent is a call for us to reach an even deeper REALITY of the GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH that needs to be rediscovered and reinvented (or just simply discovered) otherwise known as the Gospel.
I love this quote which, incidently, was offered as a proof text of the Un-Christian-ness of Brian McLaren. It makes me giggle and clap! This is the opening argument against McLaren and Emergent
I present a short excerpt from the article Interview with Brian McLaren about the previous ‘A Letter to Friends of Emergent’, from McLaren’s own website as an illustration and example of his denial of the Lord he says he serves and the Jesus he says he follows. The anonymous interviewer asks Pastor McLaren:
Interviewer: You wrote, “Which reminds us that none of us has a complete grasp of the gospel… It’s very dangerous to assume you’ve perfectly contained the gospel in your little formula.” I think with all the other change going on, one thing we’ve got to hold firm on is the gospel.
McLaren: What do you mean when you say “the gospel?”
Interviewer: You know, justification by grace through faith in the finished atoning work of Christ on the cross.
McLaren: Are you sure that’s the gospel?
Interviewer: Of course. Aren’t you?
McLaren: I’m sure that’s a facet of the gospel, and it’s the facet that modern evangelical protestants have assumed is the whole gospel, the heart of the gospel. But what’s the point of that gospel?
And so I am completely satisfied with Brian McLaren’s answer to this critic and that seems to make me wishy-washy. I really think I am very much more stern about the gospel than what is assumed by such an answer.
continued…
