In a response to Al Mohler's critique of Rob Bell's Love Wins, Brian McLaren makes this statement in his essay Will "Love Wins" Win? We're early in the first inning ... :
To more and more of us these days, conservative Evangelical/fundamentalist theology looks and sounds more and more like secular conservatism - economic and political - simply dressed up in religious language. If that's the case, even if Dr. Mohler is right in every detail of his critique, he'd still be wise to apply the flip side of his warning to his own beloved community.
Dr. Mohler agreed with Brian on this point, calling it a "firm punch" and so do I (even if we both reject a lot of the other stuff he wrote). Many, many evangelicals have a hard time differentiating between political and economic conservatism and Kingdom focused theology. From calls to "make America a Christian nation again" to Christians eager to beat the drums of war alongside secular neo-conservatives, we are in danger of making the Kingdom a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican party. Keep in mind that I write this as one of the most politically conservative people I know.
Of course, making one point correctly doesn't make up for a litany of errors, many of which Dr. Mohler dismantles in his reply A Theological Conversation Worth Having: A Response to Brian McLaren. I love conversations like this because they get beyond "gotcha" blogging and talking past one another. We need to have in-depth, intelligent conversations in the church and we all need to be willing to face our own presumptions head-on and hold them up to the light of the Scriptures.
No comments:
Post a Comment