UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES
The Newsletter of Contend for the Faith, Inc
1 Chronicles 12:32

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2005

Apologetics Helps Bible Study

I was invited recently to speak with a Bible study group that had some questions about the Bible, truth, and disagreements among those involved in the study.

I primarily shared three things:

First, that the goal of any study concerning the Christian faith (or any religion, for that matter) is to seek out, identify, and embrace truth. And the truth revealed by God is found in His world and His Word, the Bible.

Second, that believers should be united in the essentials of the faith, such as the nature of God, the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, His substitutionary death on the cross for the sins of the world, His bodily resurrection, salvation by grace alone, and the second coming of Jesus. Christians can debate secondary issues without thinking agreement is required for salvation.

And third, that all who are followers of Christ are exhorted to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. While our knowledge of the faith grows, our grace toward those outside the faith should grow as well, so that seekers can feel welcome in our Bible studies and our churches.

I received some "thank you" notes from those in attendance. One couple wrote;

"We truly believe what you said about seeking and embracing truth as the primary goal for Bible study. Both of us truly appreciate the nature in which you presented the material and the kindness and compassion you showed in helping us with Bible study. What we learned last night was an important step in our walk of faith."

Another couple commented;

"We believe that your teaching was excellent and right on point and are quite sure that it had a positive impact on everyone who sat under it. Your subject matter knowledge was matched only by the graciousness with which you handled questions from the group."

I praise God for the way apologetics can help us to not only love the Lord with our heart, soul, mind and strength, but also to love our neighbors (saved and unsaved) as God wants us to love them.

The Contender is Here to Help!

He's smart. He's tough. He has a really cool outfit. And he is here to help your kids and grandkids learn to defend the faith!

He is The Contender, a cartoon character designed to do much more than entertain your children. Through the medium of an educational placemat, The Contender wants to teach your kids sound doctrine and the basics of contending for the faith.

The first of these full-color placemats is at the printer now and deals with the issue of truth. The front side teaches what truth is, and the back teaches about the nature of truth. Understanding truth is the first step in apologetics.

These placemats are available from our ministry and are designed generally for young people ages 5-14. But make no mistake, adults can learn the basics of defending the faith from The Contender as well. (Actually, there are Ph.D. professors who need these placemats too!)

We should have these placemats in hand by early December, just in time for the holidays. They will make great Christmas presents, and all placemats ordered should be delivered by December 16th so you will have time to get them under the tree for all of your young contenders.

Order your The Contender placemats so you can teach your children about truth at the kitchen table!

SPEAKING SCHEDULE 2005

November 20, 2005

Why Celebrate Thanksgiving? Educational Hour, Room 204, Southern Evangelical Church, Charlotte, 11:00 am www.SouthernEvangelicalChurch.org

December 4, 2005

Let Us Adore Him, Part 1 Educational Hour, Room 204, Southern Evangelical Church, Charlotte, 11:00 am www.SouthernEvangelicalChurch.org

December 11, 2005

Let Us Adore Him, Part 2 Educational Hour, Room 204, Southern Evangelical Church, Charlotte, 11:00 am www.SouthernEvangelicalChurch.org

December 18, 2005

Let Us Adore Him, Part 3 Educational Hour, Room 204, Southern Evangelical Church, Charlotte, 11:00 am www.SouthernEvangelicalChurch.org

CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

UNDERSTANDING BRIAN MCLAREN AND THE EMERGING CHURCH MOVEMENT

In recent months we have been discussing modernism, postmodern-ism, and the postmodern influences in our culture. This time we will examine how postmodernism is influencing the church.

There is a movement within the church that has been profoundly affected by the claims of postmodernism. It is known as the Emerging Church (EC). The basic premise of the EC movement is that the church must change in response to postmodernism in the culture.

Brian McLaren is the most visible leader in the EC movement. He is the founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in Maryland and has written several books promoting EC thinking. In many ways McLaren is leading the way for the "postmodern church."

McLaren's background is crucial to his embrace of EC ideas. In the early 1990's he was a college English teacher and church pastor.He describes how he became sick of being a pastor, almost sick of being a Christian. He says this "crisis of faith" was precipitated by several things, among them:

He grew tired of hearing radio preachers absolutely sure of their "bombproof answers" & foolproof interpretations of the Bible, contradicting one another. In response to a pastor claiming to have solid answers, McLaren comments, "the more sure he seems, the less I find myself wanting to be a Christian, . . . nothing is that sure."

When skeptics and seekers visited his church and asked him questions about Christianity, McLaren reveals, "I give them my best answers, my best defenses, and by the time they leave my office, I have convinced myself that their questions are better than my answers."

In light of his uncertainties, McLaren saw only two alternatives: either continue promoting a version of Christianity he doubted, or leave the ministry and perhaps the Christian path. Eventually he came to see a third option - "learn to be a Christian in a new way."

Out of his acceptance of this third option came his most well-known book [1] A New Kind of Christian. This book tells the story of Dan (the frustrated pastor) and Neo (the postmodern Christian). Neo, a former pastor, explains to Dan how he can remain a Christian but in a new way - postmodern Christianity.

Note some of Neo's claims in A New Kind of Christian:

Christianity has been captured & corrupted by modernity, "an age aspiring to absolute objectivity" yielding certainty and knowledge.

Modernity sparks criticism of other beliefs because if you have "absolute, objective truth" then "you must debunk anyone who sees differently from you."

"The old notions of truth and knowledge are being . . . 'deconstructed'. . . . The old notions are being questioned. New understandings of truth and knowledge that might improve on them haven't been fully developed yet."

The Bible is not "authoritative" nor our "foundation" in the modern sense. It is not a modern answer book, but a book of useful stories that help us live in "the story we find ourselves in."

The Bible lacks a "concern for factual accuracy, corroborating evidence, or absolute objectivity."

Christians should focus on being good rather than being right.

Our goal should be "to help people love God and know Jesus, not to hate the Buddha or disrespect Muhammad."

Concerning how Christians should witness, Neo declares, "Instead of saying, 'Hey, they're wrong and we're right, so follow us,' I think we say, 'Here's what I've found. Here's what I've experienced. Here's what makes sense to me. I'll be glad to share it with you, if you're interested.' "

If all of these assertions were not troubling enough, McLaren cites with approval other professing Christian teachers and authors who buy into the central premise of secular postmodernism - namely, that we cannot know reality as it is, so objective truth is a myth.

For example, Stanley Grenz and John Franke declare, "The simple fact is, we do not inhabit the 'world-in-itself'; instead, we live in a linguistic world of our own making." Tony Jones says people should "stop looking for some objective Truth that is available when we delve into the text of the Bible." Nancy Murphy asserts, "The biblical narratives create a world, and it is within this world that believers are to live their lives and understand reality."

This claim that we cannot know reality and objective truth, originated by secularists and now embraced by Christian postmodernists, is not only false, but it is impossible for it to be true. It is self-defeating, and all self-defeating claims are by definition and by necessity false.

A self-defeating statement contains information within itself that refutes the claim being made. "I cannot speak a word of English" is one example. "My twin brother is an only child" is another.

In like manner, the assertion "We cannot know reality in itself" is self-defeating. One would have to know what reality is really like in order to claim that his perception of reality is incorrect. This claim is false, absurd, and impossible.

In the same way, the proposition "There is no objective truth" is an objective truth claim about reality. The person is claiming that it is objectively true that no objective truth exists. Once again, this is not only false, but it is impossible for it to be true.

The bottom line is this: since it is impossible for the philosophical premises embraced by McLaren to be true, the resultant theology of the EC movement as he describes it is also false and must be rejected.