Frogs in Tepid Waters

I finished reading a book by David Wells about a month ago and thought that if there’s going to be any comments generated I’d better do so before I forget everything about it. Not that the book is without substance; certainly the opposite is the case. The problem lies in my inability to hold on to thoughts for very long at my age. The book is Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).

I got the impression that the author was going to demonstrate the degree of infiltration that a postmodern mindset had re the current workings of the Church. Such was not the case. As my reading progressed it became evident that his intent was to expose postmodernism per se. He apparently takes it for granted that the emergent philosophy is heavily engaged in such a methodology. Why would it be necessary to accuse anyone of such a belief-system? They (emergent, The Conversation, etc) freely admit to such. There is no duplicity here. It was not always clear whether the author was leading up to a conclusion, or whether he was demonstrating how brilliant he was as a scholar. Upon completion of the book, it appears that the former was the case. Again, as alluded to above, there are many substantive points made by the author. Rather than dwelling upon the seemingly wayward emergent community, let’s ask some questions of the evangelical community; namely to those of us who consider this postmodern thrust to be a detrimental thing:

Alluding to the deterioration of biblical absolutes that result from the PM mindset, Wells says this:

For while the evangelical Church is aware of such things as the fight for gay and lesbian rights, hears about the eco-feminists, knows about pornography, has a sense that moral absolutes are evaporating like the morning mist, knows that truth of an ultimate kind has been dislodged from life, it apparently does not perceive that in those and many other ways a new worldview is becoming ensconced in the culture. If it did, it surely would not be embracing with enthusiasm as many aspects of this postmodern mindset as it is or be so willing to make concessions to postmodern habits of mind. (p. 158 – emphasis mine)

Question: Is the author saying that we evangelicals are frogs in tepid waters? If so; what then? If, as he clearly states, we are making concessions to a mindset that is adulterating absolutes and is dislodging truth of an ultimate kind, is not some form of confrontation required? The author addresses that thought:

Yet confrontation is always at the heart of the relation between Christ and culture because that relation is one of light in its relation to darkness, truth to a false belief, and holiness to what is fallen. (p. 164) When rival worldviews are in play, it is not adaptation that is called for but confrontation (p. 156)

To those who believe that the Return of the Lord is at hand, a sobering thought comes to mind: Ultimate biblical truths that have previously generated barriers to apostasy for the evangelical community are being removed by default. It may not be the intent of Christian Emergents who have adopted the postmodern belief system to so remove those barriers, but the possibility cannot be ignored. One would be well served by considering the pertinent passages found in Mt. 24:4-11; I Thes. 5:1-6, and II Thes. 2:3. some of us are feeling the water becoming hot; some of us are hearing the train coming. TAFTCom…