March 30, 2006 - Last week, we issued a
press release regarding an interview done by emerging church
leader, Brian
McLaren. In the interview, McLaren suggested that the doctrine
of hell and the Cross were false advertising for God.
We have now learned that this summer McLaren will be speaking
in Portland, Oregon at the Center
for Spiritual Development with interspiritualist Marcus Borg.
The conference, titled The Church in the 21st Century, will take
place at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on June 14th - 16th.
McLaren reveals his admiration for Borg in his recent interview
and on
his website says he has "high regard" for Borg. And yet, Borg
is clearly against the Atonement and the doctrine of the Cross.
In Borg's book, The
God We Never Knew, he states he is "a Christian of a nonliteralistic
and nonexclusivistic kind" (p. viii). In plain terms, this means
he does not believe the Bible should be taken literally nor does
he believe that Jesus Christ is the only avenue through which
man can obtain salvation. Of contemplative prayer, Borg says,
"I learned about the use of mantras as a means of giving the mind
something to focus and refocus on as it sinks into the silence"
(p. 125). Borg goes so far as to say that Jesus Himself "would
have been shocked at the suggestion that he was divine" and puts
Him in a category with Buddha and Mohammed.
Brian McLaren, one of the most influential evangelical leaders according
to Time magazine, is indeed influencing many people,
especially our young people. How can we as Christians, and how
can Christian pastors and leaders, sit back and say nothing at
the expense of people's souls? Isn't it time this Cross-despising
spirituality is called for what it is? While we wish no harm or
ill-will to Brian McLaren or those with similar sympathies (and
we pray their eyes will be opened), we believe it is wrong to
call them Christian leaders and allow their teachings to permeate
throughout Christendom. The origin of Christianity goes back much
further than the Desert
Fathers or the Catholic church. It goes back to a group of
believers who stood to the death, proclaiming that Jesus Christ
was God come in the flesh and was the only path to the Father.
May we be even half as bold as they.
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