Letter to the Editor: Saddened at Lighthouse Trails’ Approach – “please do not reject all other traditions”

To Lighthouse Trails:

I have browsed your web-page.

Thank-you for the reminder to take the bible seriously

I am however saddened at the approach you seem to take – dividing people into groups, particularly “sound/orthodox thinker” and “Heretics” (I paraphrase – but it is the impression given).

Surely the reality is that we are all in the same boat as Christians.  We all see “through a glass darkly” and struggle to grasp the depth of the love of God in Christ.

So ALL writers and thinkers fail to communicate the whole truth (and reproducing words from the bible does not necessarily communicate truth).

And in the same way God can communicate with us through all his creation – including Christians from different traditions.  I think that we limit ourselves when we only embrace thinkers from our own tradition.

A quote which you have on your web-site in a negative way is “The path of Jesus does not lead so much to assurance as to adventure and transformation.” [see note below] To me this is a very exciting thought.  Jesus does not call us so that we can put our feet up and be assured that we are OK (and safe from eternal torment); He calls us to Life – which must involve Transformation and must involve Adventure (because we surrender to His Leadership).  There seems to me a clear contrast between boring religion (adherence to formal doctrine) and living relationship (good relationships can not be tied down and defined).

Brian McLaren and his friends may have something useful to say…….

So I agree that the Bible is foundational – but please do not reject all other traditions – after all the religious people hung on to their traditions/religion and therefore did not recognise Jesus as the Messiah

All good wishes

_______________

Our comments:

The author of the letter above suggests that Lighthouse Trails should not reject “other traditions.” The quote he gave, from a webpage on our site,  “The path of Jesus does not lead so much to assurance as to adventure and transformation,” is from Dave Flemming’s book,  The Seeker’s Way. He found this on our research page for Brian McLaren. McLaren endorses Fleming’s book, of which the basis for the book, according to Fleming, is centered around several key mystical/interspiritual/New Spirituality figures including Wayne Teasdale (an interspiritual activist), Alan Jones (who rejects substitutionary atonement in his book, Reimagining Christianity), Marcus Borg (rejects basic tenets of Christianity including the virgin birth and Jesus being God), and Joan Chittister (a Catholic contemplative nun).

The author of the “Letter to the Editor” to us may not understand the reason we cannot embrace “other traditions.” It is because to embrace other traditions, such as those Fleming and McLaren embrace, is to deny the atonement and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Some of our readers may not have heard the 2006 interview with Brian McLaren where he refers to the doctrines of the Cross and Hell as “false advertising for God.” McLaren rejects the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. He, and others with his mindset such as Alan Jones, believe that a loving God would never send His son to a violent death. Jesus’ death on the Cross was an example of servant leadership, they state, but to say He actually died for our sins in this brutal, cruel death could not be something God would sanction.

We pray for those who may share the same views as Brian McLaren, Dave Fleming, Alan Jones, and Marcus Borg, that their spiritual eyes may be opened and that they might come to see that there is indeed only one path to God, a path that has been made accessible to whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13) and humbly acknowledge they need Him as a Savior from and for their sins.