Charismatic santity from Dan Edelen

Dan Edelen is spot on in his analysis of the charismatic movement - see his blog for the detail on these:

Problem: In our rush to regain a proper pneumatology, today’s charismatics abandoned a proper Christology.

Solution: We need to get the focus back on Jesus.

Problems: Too much of the charismatic movement is self-centered. People rush around looking for a spiritual fix for selfish reasons. Too many are obsessed with more power. Too many leaders lack even the most basic humility.

Solution: Get the cross back into the picture

Problem: The movement is awash is Old Testament rituals or theology that were fulfilled in Jesus.

Solution: Get back to the New Testament and its New Covenant.

Problems: Too much of the charismatic movement is self-centered. People rush around looking for a spiritual fix for selfish reasons. Too many are obsessed with more power. Too many leaders lack even the most basic humility.

Solution: Get the cross back into the picture

Problems: Discernment of any kind is sorely lacking at all levels within the movement. Many charismatic teachers craft entire theologies from disconnected or lone passages of Scripture.

Solution: Build a holistic worldview by teaching the Bible from cover to cover, not from topic to topic.

Make me a Christian (2)

So George Hargreaves continues to patronise non-Christians for not behaving. Atheist Martin is more drawn to the Islam of one of the participants than to the Christianity he's signed up to investigate. And then there's the praise party on a hill...

Sexuality is tackled. The lesbian is told to change before becoming a Christian, and told that change happens after becoming a Christian. No one seems to see the contradiction in the order of things here. I always thought we came to Jesus and then he changed us, but this version asks people to change themselves first. The testimony of a pentecostal pastor from Scotland is a bit more helpful. Couples sleeping together are told not to and given games to play instead. Let's flee sin by pursuing triviality rather than Jesus. Yeh, that'll work!

In the Daily Telegraph, Revd Joanne Jepson: "Christian behaviour is only possible after a spiritual transformation. We were encouraged to take part on the understanding that we were dealing with a group of people who genuinely wanted to embrace Christianity. But that was clearly not the case." She may be right but they still seemed to be leading with behaviour. I want to say Hargreaves, Jepson & co. mean well, and I accept they're not necessarily being well served by the producers... but nonetheless they still seem to be imposing morality rather than introducing people to Jesus.

Some will take offence, and some will pity us. Like Charlie Brooker in the Guardian who calls it: "The single most infuriating broadcast of the week. And it actually makes me pity the Christians because they're so badly misrepresented."

A fair representation probably wouldn't make such 'good' TV... unlike the rest of this evening on Channel 4 is Wife Swap, Big Brother, and The Perfect Vagina. Where's the OFF button....

What's the meaning: The Word of God with Authority

This isn't strictly just about the Old Testament, but I think the OT comes off worse in the Sunday School kind of Bible Teaching... John Walton on Hermeneutics and Childrens Curriculum, ht: Milton Stanley.

Walton observes five disturbing traits:

  1. Promotion of the Trivial
  2. Illegitimate extrapolation
  3. Reading Between the Lines
  4. Missing important nuance
  5. Focus on people rather than God
And concludes: If we are negligent of sound hermeneutics when we teach Bible to children, should it be any wonder that when they get into youth groups, Bible studies and become adults in the church, that they do not know how to derive the authoritative teaching from the text?Teaching the Old Testament seems to be tricky but surely the key is to let the text contrain us. We're only at liberty to teach what it says, in it's context, within the boundaries and rules that it sets out for us. Then, and only then, will we hear God speak with authority. An authority that will be unavoidable, piercing to the heart and leading to genuine transformation to Christlikeness, or to hardening of our hearts as we're confronted by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who has all authority.

"I don't want balance, I want it all"

Adrian Warnock wrote: Why should I have to choose, for example, between being enthusiastic about theology and being charismatic?
Why shouldn't we have churches that are every bit as concerned about doctrinal accuracy and knowledge as John MacArthur, that love relational intimacy with Jesus as much as John Arnott, see miraculous healings that are every bit as dynamic as the ones the tele-evangelists claim to have seen, are as full of vision and purpose as Rick Warren, as skilled in leadership as Bill Hybels, as humble and committed to spiritual maturity as C. J. Mahaney, as relevant to practical life as the author of any self-help book you can think of, that impact social needs in the model of Shaftsbury, tackle political issues like Wilberforce, preach with both the passion for souls of Spurgeon and the passion for God's glory of John Piper, that hear from God as clearly as any modern prophet, are as aggressively missional as Mark Driscoll, have the apostolic drive of Terry Virgo, and yet somehow still feel as comforting as my wife's homemade apple crumble with custard?
Maurice McCracken is writing on similar lines: Am I charismatic yet? His observation? That we need both a strong doctrine of the regeneration of the heart and a strong doctrine of the depravity of the heart. Is it so unreasonable to believe that God is at work in me, and to simultaneously be suspicious of myself, always scrutinising myself with the scriptures? Let's have both.

Josh Harris loves the local church...

...and therefore he's seving those who preach in the church by gathering sermon manuscripts from a range of preachers. It's notable that each takes very different notes into the pulpit.... Dever's typed with some highlights and bolds plus post-printinng scribbles is most like mine, though I would often whack the font size up to 20, landscape paper with 2 columns. Bullmore on the other hand has almost illegible handwritten notes.There is no definitive way to do this. Let us learn from one another.More considering content than paperwork, see The Biblical Theology Briefings - sermon manuscripts with the preacher editting back in his logic for what he said, why he said it etc. And Colin Adams shows that there is something to learn from every preacher.
More resources from Mike Bullmore at Paul Shafer's resources.
Mark Dever's resources at Paul Shafer's resources.