Back to Stanley

Obviously, posting on this site has not been my highest priority for awhile. This may change. As I have alluded to before, we are going to begin a men’s Bible study that will be pursuing knowledge of current world events as they pertain to the unfolding of the conditions leading up to the return of Christ. Actually, we began last Tue night (9/2). I’m thinking of wedding the ruminations arising from these meetings with this site. So, let us ruminate together.

Now, one of the motivations for starting this class was a growing perception of apostasy resident within the “church”, i.e. the man-made edifice. This, of course, forces me to return to previous thoughts and posts regarding the Emergent Church. I had started reading Stanley J. Grenz’s A Primer on Postmodernism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996) a few months ago, put it down, placing it at the bottom of the book-pile, but have now resurfaced it, giving it new life. So, what’s so pertinent about postmodernism? Well, this seems to be the substance that is numbing the Christian early- warning- system concerning waywardness from the absolute claims of Scripture. If you are emergent, you are postmodern; if you are emergent, you tend to disbelieve Scripture as authoritative in an absolute sense. Here is part of Dr. Grenz’s apologetic concerning the matter:

Postmodern holism entails an integration of all the dimensions of personal life…Wholeness also entails a consciousness of the indelible and delicate connection to what lies beyond ourselves, in which our personal existence is embedded and from which it is nurtured. This wider realm includes “nature” (the ecosystem), of course. But in addition it involves the community of humans in which we participate. Postmoderns are keenly conscious of the importance of community, of the social dimension of existence. And the postmodern conception of wholeness also extends to the religious or spiritual aspect of life. Indeed, postmoderns affirm that personal existence may transpire within the context of a divine reality.

The conviction that each person is embedded in a particular human community leads to a corporate understanding of truth. Postmoderns believe that not only our specific beliefs but also our understanding of truth itself is rooted in the community in which we participate. They reject…timeless truth in favor of searching out truth as the expression of a specific community. They believe that truth consists in the ground rules that facilitate personal well-being in community and the well-being of the community as a whole. (p. 14 – bold added)

Are you a Christian moving towards a postmodern ethos? If so, then please consider some thoughts. To whatever degree that Scripture makes claims to being the absolute expression of God’s revelations to us, then, to that degree, it is not subject to the community’s affirmation. Is “Truth” embedded within Scripture, or does the “community” impart “truth” into Scripture as that community so perceives truth to be manifested. Is this not eisegesis at its worst? You are losing the plumb-line, are you not?

Further, one must define who this “divine reality” is, it seems to me, if one is to keep any sense of sobriety and import concerning this subject matter. Scripture reveals this “divine reality” as the very God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Himself. He makes absolute claims concerning Himself, and He demands obedience to His absolutist claims - or not! This God is not simply a therapeutic god wanting us to have a happy “community”, but rather, He is the Despot (despotes, - 2 Peter 2:1) of our lives, or He is not!

Well, this could go on and on (and of course it will). Let’s break here and give ourselves opportunity to reflect seriously what awaits the Christian community. You are welcome to respond.