Monday, June 2, 2008
On Being Evangelical but Not all that Conservative
I just finished reading Roger Olson's book, How to be Evangelical Without being Conservative.
Without spoiling the book for you, I want to take some time to work out for myself (and for you my reader) where I am as an Evangelical.
Dr. Olson lays out 5 foundational truths of Evangelicalism.
1. "Biblicism - belief in the supreme authority of Scripture for faith and life".
2. "Conversionism - belief that authentic Christianity always includes a radical conversion to Jesus Christ by personal repentance and faith that begins a lifelong relationship with him"
3. "Crucicentrism - piety, devotional life and worship centered around the Cross of Jesus Christ"
4. "Activism - concern for and active involvement in social transformation through evangelism and social action"
5. "Respect for the Great Tradition of Christian Doctrine"
I agree with (and hopefully live out) these five truths, though I may disagree with Dr. Olson's claims later in his work. In his book, he addresses many contemporary issues and takes on some pretty big names. Without getting into details, I think it is important to address some of the very non-evangelical things he said in the book.
In discussing Open Theism, he makes this statement, "Of course, some evangelicals have tried to debate Open Theism using Scripture and not tradition, but their interpretations of scripture are very traditional and they don't seem willing to reconsider them."
Without presenting the entire argument against the idea that "God doesn't know the future", he has just said that some evangelicals presented the argument from scripture that corresponds to the traditional understanding of God and his timelessness. He seems to be saying that because it is "traditional" it is wrong. Instead of presenting moderate theological positions on which their may be serious disagreement among evangelicals, (soteriology, ecclesiology, or eschatology) he presents a radical (and in my opinion, heretical) theological position, and argues that evangelicals should be open to such thinking. I appreciate that he is seeking to avoid the traps of traditionalism in his theology, and I applaud him for that. However, he seems to be intentionally using radical examples to prove his anti-"conservative" views.
Oddly enough, I actually loved his chapters about America, the redistribution of wealth and "moralism". It was refreshing to be reminded that I am not the only Evangelical who questions American Nationalism, laissez-faire capitalism or the Moralizing of our Nation. I intend to discuss the issues he raised later, but as I am currently in ministry in the lowlands of South Carolina, without reliable internet, that may be delayed.
The Vision?
The vision is Jesus: obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people.
You see bones? They are an army.
And they are free from materialism. They laugh at the markets.
They hardly care! They wear clothes like costumes:
to show and to tell, but never to hide.
They know the meaning of the Matrix; the way the West was won.
They are mobile like the wind; they belong to the nations.
They need no passport.
People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free, yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.
What is the vision?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes.
It makes children laugh and adults break and cry.
It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers choose to lose that they might win, one day
the great "Well done" of faithful sons and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night.
They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards
and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"
And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history shaping
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is screaming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing...
This is the sound of the underground.
And the army is disciplined.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrades at arms.
The tattoo on their backs boasts "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their eyes.
Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them?
Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them?
And this generation prays like a dying man with groans beyond
talking, with warrior cries, sulphuric tears
Waiting. Watching: 24 - 7 - 365.
Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules.
Shaking mediocrity from its cozy little hide.
Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs,
laughing at labels, fasting essentials.
The advertisers cannot mold them.
Hollywood cannot hold them.
Peer-pressure is powerless
to shake their resolve
Material clothes matter not
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives,
swap seats with the man on death row;
guilty as hell.
A throne for an electric chair.
With blood and sweat and many tears,
with sleepless nights and fruitless days,
they pray as if it all depends on God
and live as if it all depends on them.
Their words make demons scream in shopping malls.
Don't you hear them coming?
Here come the frightened and forgotten, with fire in their eyes.
Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.
And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history shaping
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is screaming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing...
This is the sound of the underground.
No comments:
Post a Comment