The Truth of It.

Ever since learning of the Emergent conversation within the Evangelical church, and the theological challenge it brings to the Christian faith, I have become intrigued by God's Word again.

I think I own 3 or 4 books on apologetics, and all focus on defending my faith against attack from those "outside" of a relationship with Christ. But I perceive the questions and theology brought by the leaders of the emergent movement to be a most dangerous challenge to the essence of all Christianity: That the God of the Bible is TRUTH.

Because they question the knowability of anything, especially the Bible, I cannot understand how they can claim Faith in Christ. Paul lays it out in Romans:

1. All have sinned
2. God is righteous and cannot tolerate sin
3. God is merciful and provided a solution
4. Christ died and rose again to pay for sin and defeat death.
5. Accept what Christ did for you and become right with God.

There is so much theology and dogma tied up into those five statements that it is, in my mind, an either/or situation. Either you believe it (and all it's implications of truth, right/wrong, the nature of God, of man, and of sin), or you don't.

The implications are the sticking point for the Emergent mind I think. But I say this: You cannot have one without the other. You cannot have faith without dogma, or more clearly put: You cannot have relationship without knowing WHO (attributes, personality, likes/dislikes, etc.) they are. These principles of faith and knowledge are mutually reliant, they are not mutually exclusive. They are not an either/or situation, they are both necessary to a right relationship with God

I fear for the hearts of those who find themselves in the wave of emergent thought, for thought is where they are wrong. Their motivation is to be like Christ, and for that I praise them. They ask good questions, and I am happy for that. But, when their answers point anywhere else but God, I worry. Christ always pointed to the Father, even when he spoke of himself. "All men come to the Father through me", or "If you know me, then you know my Father."

So, all of that to say this: I love God's Word. I want to know what's in it. I want to know God and his attributes and likes and dislikes, and all of those things that a person does when building a relationship. The Bible tells us those things. It's all there in plain language. You don't have to think hard to "get it". God is who he said he is... in his Word.