As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:3-5)

Simply Choosing To Believe What They Want To Believe

As I begin this short piece let me say 1) Apprising Ministries knows Mark Driscoll has since disassociated himself from the Emergent Church; however, 2) in our view he then sets up a false dichotomy by saying there is some separate emerging church movement with which he is still involved.

And 3) the article from which the following quote by Driscoll is taken is itself from mid-1998. That said, the philosophy of the infant emerging church at that time, well articulated by Mark Driscoll here, is quite enlightening because it hasn’t really changed. Or if anything, it’s grown even worse.

While a student, Driscoll had a vision that he should start a church for his generation. Without a plan—financial or otherwise—he and his wife, Grace, moved back to Seattle, a city he claims is the "most unchurched in America." Driscoll, who has a bachelor’s degree in communications, started his congregation with a dozen people who came to his house to study the Bible. Today, Mars Hill counts 800 members.

In many ways it is a model church—its numbers continue to grow, its leader is popular and charismatic. How does Driscoll keep attracting members? "We don’t do Evangelicalism, but we are a mission," Driscoll says. "We don’t do door-knocking, we invite people into the community. They need to join us and experience Him—over meals, in worship."

The postmoderns have little, if anything, in common with academic postmodern philosophy (whose father, Nietzsche, famously pronounced, "God is dead"). Driscoll says his movement seeks to synthesize the best parts of many religious traditions—fundamentalist Christian liturgy, Catholicism’s appreciation of art, and mainline Protestantism’s general cultural tolerance. Also, postmoderns preach the sanctity of community and argue that the Enlightenment’s focus on the individual led to tragedies specific to the baby boom generation—namely, high divorce and abortion rates. (Online source)

The above highlights are critical. The “postmodernism” of most people today is really a refried relativism. And the Emergent Church “seeks to synthesize the best parts of many religious traditions.” Here is a fatal flaw in this movement, which by its impudent attempt at reversing the Protestant Reformation by its open embrace of apostate Roman Catholicism as a legitimate form of Christianity reveals that it cannot possibly be from God.

The wretched weakness of this emerging church is in the subjectivism with which Emergent leaders like Doug Pagitt decide which “religious traditions” are the “best parts” of their patchwork quilt version of what they think is authentic Christianity. And as Dr. John MacArthur recently pointed out about Pagitt—“Let me just cut to the chase on this one: [Doug] Pagitt is a Universalist.”
(Online source)

As a side note for those who may wonder how this new liberalism of the cult of the Emergent Church is so readily being absorbed into the evangelical camp consider this from the book Faith Undone where Roger Oakland points out:

When Bob Buford gathered the initial group of emerging leaders, one he chose was Doug Pagitt, a youth pastor from Wooddale Church (a Minneapolis megachurch). Leith Anderson (Pagitt’s pastor) had already been helping set the tone for the emerging church. (28)

At his well respected emerging church blog Tall Skinny Kiwi Andrew Jones, another one of those original “emerging leaders,” has written:

Doug was youth pastor at Leith’s church [Wooddale] for ten years before starting the Young Leaders group with Leadership Network. Doug doesn’t talk much about his association with his former boss – there is a lot of respect going both ways there – but i got the impression from Doug that he wanted the Young Leaders/Emergent Village‘ to stand on its own feet and to be free to make mistakes without dragging in other leaders. (Online source)

So when we consider that Leith Anderson is now the president of the National Association of Evangelicals it’s not hard to see why some of us are beginning to think that the battle in this Truth War for the American Christian Church is already lost. And if so, then it’s time for spiritual guerilla warfare in an attempt to at least set some of its prisoners free.

And with youth leaders like Tony Jones growing in influence within evangelical churches it is critical at this point to note that Jones is also a member of Solomon’s Porch, the church where Doug Pagitt is pastor. So what kind of message do you think is coming out of there?

The fact is, preaching universalism, similar to that also being spread by Rob Bell, was not what cost the Apostles of the ancient Christian Church their lives. Do you see anybody lining up ready to literally crucify Rob? Why, on the contrary; it looks to me like even the world loves his mythical message.

And do we seriously think the below from Solomon’s Porch reflects the solid and steadfast faith that led so many martyrs to actually be willing to die the grizzly death of being torn apart by wild animals? Who would die for this message?

See also:

ROGER OAKLAND’S “FAITH UNDONE” REVIEWED BY GARY GILLEY

DOUG PAGITT SAYS JOHN MACARTHUR PREACHES A PERVERTED GOSPEL

TONY JONES: EMERGENT CHURCH DIVINE INTERVENTION

ROB BELL SAYS GOD HAS ALREADY MADE PEACE WITH ALL MEN (REVISED)

A DIFFERENT GOSPEL IN THE EMERGING CHURCH AND THE NEW EVANGELICALISM?