emergianity – A : A

I. Agree with your adversary…while you are in the way with him…[Matt 5:25]

If you believe that Scripture is an assemblage of unrelated pieces, the rough edges of which have been smoothed over by editors with socio-religio-political agendas, then congratulations: You are a postmodernist. Interestingly, or should I say sadly?, there are many who on the one hand profess faith in Christ, and yet on the other hand believe that Scripture, since it is just one text among many, is but a pliable lump of textual dough to be kneaded and knotted, cooked with philosophical hot-air, and consumed by men of similar tastes. How this is a Christian way of reading the Word of God is beyond my comprehension. I would ask for clarification, but that would leave me with the problem of interpreting the words of the interpreter of God’s Word and there would be no end to this futile and fruitless effort. So I am, alas, left with one of two options: (a.)believe the Word of God or (b.)believe the words of men.

If I believe the words of men, I am not solving the problems such men raise. Rather, I am simply abandoning the hope of ever finding truth; for if truth is a final judgment in matters of doctrine and practice, and such statements are frowned upon by the learned, then it is the judgment of the scholars that holds absolute. Scripture, then, would be in the lecherous grip of the sophistical academics whose wisdom teaches them that wisdom is unattainable, and whose knowledge denies that knowledge is possible.

I have, by the way, the hardest time figuring these teachers out. For they tell me that I can only understand the text of Scripture by their prescribed means; yet they also tell me that I cannot understand Scripture, and that every attempt to clearly articulate what the Scriptures teach is tantamount to committing violence against the Text. What am I to do then? How does one solve this conundrum? Is there any enlightened soul that can help me in this situation?

Whatever the case may be (who knows?!?), if the skeptics know nothing, and yet know that I am wrong, I will give them their contradiction and let them eat it too.

After all, if they agree with me that they know nothing then what will it profit me to have them further confirm their ignorance via the use of their ignorant dialectical sophistry?

I will, therefore, believe God’s Word, and let the ignorant remain ignorant.

II. Contend for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints…[Jude 3]

But assuming that we can make heads or tails of the Bible, we must ask: What does the Bible say on this matter? Is it godly to be ignorant? Is it humble to say that one knows nothing? Or, to take the meeker and milder approach of the more dangerous false teachers, is it humble to say that Christians should not contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, seeing as the saints have gotten doctrines wrong in the past?

If the ignorant believe they are right, then they not only contradict themselves but the Scriptures also. But first, let us take into consideration those who judge themselves ignorant, or whom the Scriptures declare ignorant.

The first man to claim ignorance was the murderer Cain. When approached by the Word of God and called to give an account for his hatred of God and neighbor, he boldly lies to the Lord and says: “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”[Gen 4:9b]

The second man to claim ignorance is the murderer and idolater Pharaoh who also boldly lies when he is confronted with God’s Word, saying: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”[Exo 5:2]

To sum this up, however, I lay this partial verse before the ignorant. The Scriptures say:

If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?[ Prov 24:12a]

The ignorant are not ignorant; they are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.

The following is taken from the CARM Blog, for which I regularly write. This is just a snippet, but I’ll post a link to the article in its entirety at the end of the snippet.

Soli Deo Gloria!

-h.

Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and Emergents: What Do They Have in Common?

Lawlessness comes in two main forms: Legalism and Antinomianism. These two heresies are dealt with extensively in the New Testament, so my point in writing this article is not to delve deeply into those two forms of legalism. No, what I want to talk about is moral-superiority-complex of heretics that is evident all throughout Scripture and among contemporary enemies of the Christian faith. Consider the enemies of Christ Himself, viz. the Pharisees & Co., and the putrid scent of sanctimoniousness that wafts out from the pages of the New Testament whenever they speak. “[John the Baptist] has a demon,”[1] they say, “for he came neither eating nor drinking.” “Look at [Christ]! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners,”[2] they’ll exclaim, for “the Son of Man came eating and drinking.” You can hear them popping up out of nowhere, criticizing those who trust in the finished work of Christ for salvation and not in their own works, and saying: “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”[3] You can hear them rebuking the Lord of Glory, asking Him why His “disciples break the tradition of the elders;”[4] and you can see them rolling their eyes as He replies:

“It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person…for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person…”[5]

You know them well; everyone does – they make it their business to make sure everyone see how holy they are, especially in comparison to those who believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as revealed in the Scriptures alone to the glory of God alone.

The Pharisees & Co. may have some external differences with Emergents, but they have more in common than the superficial observer would notice.