The man in the picture is Dr. Charles Murray. Murray writes things that make people think. I certainly don’t agree with what he said in his blockbuster book, The Bell Curve, but I wouldn’t keep our sons from hearing him. They are both college students at the University of Texas. I expect them to hear the full range of views and opinions. Unfortunately, there are some Christians who prefer to hunker down in their fortresses:
Barnacles are sticky crustaceans which collect and attach themselves underneath a boat. If one wants their boat to maintain its integrity, one has to do the regular and difficult job of scraping barnacles.
I like using the idea of “scraping barnacles” to illustrate the Christian life. Imagine the Christian faith as the boat. The barnacles are those things which have nothing to do with the boat. The tricky thing is determining how much to scrape. Speaking in general categories there are too many older Christians who never want to look at the barnacles (perhaps the Christian faith is too closely associated with the Republican party) while there are growing numbers of younger Christians who are more than happy to scrape. The problem for these younger folks is that they sometimes scrape right into the hull of the boat. In other words, in their understandable desire to rid the Christian faith of excess baggage (or barnacles), they end up throwing out key teachings of the Christian faith.
Yesterday, I watched Peter Rollins describe his understanding of the Christian faith. Sadly, he loves to scrape and scrape so what was left hardly looked like Christianity. Frankly, his presentation bordered on incoherence.
Irony and mystery so dominated Rollins’ talk that you were left wondering what he really believes. In fact, Rollins admitted not being interested so much in what people believe, but why they believe it. Clearly, he falls prey to a tragic dichotomy as both the what and why of belief are important. This young scraper offered a few good and necessary push backs on the hubris of some Christians. Unfortunately, in the process of exposing some of these silly notions he seemed more than willing to discard some of the core doctrines of the Christian faith.
So by all means have the courage to flip over your boat and scrape the barnacles. Make sure you remember there is a huge difference between a boat and a barnacle. Confusing barnacles for boats, or boats for barnacles, will eventually get you an untrustworthy boat.
Pondering World Vision’s recent decision and reversal. It will be interesting to see how they continue to navigate this issue. The waters of the culture are getting pretty choppy. Courage, grace under pressure, and discernment required…for all of us!
“I think ironically American evangelicals often seem to be more followers of Benjamin Franklin than they are of Jonathan Edwards. They [evangelicals] admire practicality, friendliness, moralisms, easy formulas, and quantifiable results. And while these Franklin-esque traits aren’t all bad they sometimes contribute to evangelical superficiality. And we all know they are the equivalent of spiritual purveyors of junk food that have long capitalized on evangelicalisms’ market-driven economy.”
Marsden went on to say he had gone by a church sign the previous year during Fourth of July which proclaimed, “The last four letters in American are I can.”
George Marsden, “The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards,” Beeson Divinity School, Nov. 12, 2004.
HT to Thomas Kidd (aka Tommy) for bringing this terrific lecture to my attention.
http://www.beesondivinity.com/podcast#!/swx/pp/media_archives/99668/episode/47187
I have been around many leaders. Some I’ve worked with, some I’ve interviewed, and some are friends. All are human, yet the ones willing to speak tough truths, especially within their own organizations or companies, is sadly too small.
The tragic and sordid stories about Mark Driscoll have been tough to digest. As discouraging as those have been, it is the overwhelming silence of men in Christian leadership I find most disheartening. Carl Trueman has written many important pieces on this topic, and recently penned “Mark Driscoll’s Problem, and Ours.” The pieces Carl started writing late last year for Ref 21 were never mentioned on any of the big blogger sites. Carl’s recent piece in First Things now has over four thousand Facebook postings. Any popular Reformed bloggers or tweeters linking to it? None that I have found.
With respect to the leaders, I was hoping for at least one to say they were talking to Driscoll, but felt it inappropriate to divulge the specifics. And then to ask for our prayers. I am amazed that no one did that. It would have quelled much of the controversy. Not all of it to be sure, but much of it.
More candidly, I imagine there might be someone who could honestly say one of the following:
I was pragmatic and it simply clouded my better judgment.
I did not want to be the first to speak, so kept waiting. It turns out everyone decided to wait. Plus, I remember John MacArthur as a lone voice raising concerns about Driscoll’s approach, and he got marginalized for speaking up. The price of speaking up, especially within one’s own organization, is costly, and I simply didn’t want to pay it.
I protected my theological tribe, even when I had nagging doubts it was the right thing to do.
I lacked courage. I feared man more than God. Fearing man is definitely a snare.
I got snookered into simply “believing the best” because Mark Driscoll is orthodox in doctrine. I then remembered a lesson from church history: The Apostolic Fathers were as concerned about schismatics as they were about heretics. Schismatics can be thoroughly orthodox in their doctrine, but still destructive to the church.
I wanted to be buddies with other leaders in the Gospel Coalition and T4G so did not want to step on their toes. I am painfully aware of how idolatrous that became.
Finally, let it be known that the author of this piece is a sinner. He has learned, and is learning, that no criticism is free from self-serving motives. We live in a fallen world and take our own corruption wherever we go. But our sin should never be an excuse for failing to embark on the messy, yet important task of calling others to repentance. We model the glorious and godly tension in Gal. 6:1 when we do so.
This piece is full of wise insight. Instead of desiring the Good-Housekeeping Seal of Approval from the culture, let’s make sure we get the faith once delivered for the saints correct!
HT to John Fea, a regular stop for me and should be for all historically minded Christians. Hey that should mean all Christians!
Several important and far-reaching insights about our human nature:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/mar/20/secret-auden/
Insightful, convicting, and all of us Americans need to listen up!
“…in later years he made a point of quoting Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: ‘There is a great difference between still believing something and believing it again.’ All his beliefs were beliefs again.”
As one who has experienced some severe seasons of doubt about the Christian faith, I definitely resonate with this quote.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2007/dec/06/auden-and-god/?pagination=false
Rush Limbaugh likes to poke fun at people who are “low information voters.” That is certainly serious, but a far more serious issue in the church are what I call the “low information believers” or LIB for short.
And yes, there are many LIBs even in so-called “Bible-believing” churches.