Brian McLaren and Willow Creek: "Serpent Sensitive"

Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Seminary, tends toward the provocative. Never have I seen him more so than in this commentary that expresses revulsion at Willow Creek giving its platform to Brian McLaren:

When McLaren questions the existence of hell and the hope of the Second Coming, he is not a "new kind of Christian." Such things are neither new nor Christian. They are instead a repetition of the voice of a snake in a long-ago Garden: "Has God said?" and "You shall not surely die." It is tragic that one of the world's most renowned evangelical churches would highlight this kind of Serpent-sensitive worship.

Why do we make a big deal over gender roles in the church?

To the guys I had lunch with on Wednesday during T4G, this one's for you.

We talked about why the T4G affirmations and denials would include a statement on gender roles when Dever just got done saying in his T4G talk that it's not a gospel issue. Well, here's some of his related thinking on the matter, in the introduction to his sermon this Sunday, "Gender Roles in the Church."

I think the key components are 1) the relationship between this issue and the authority of Scripture, and 2) Dever's explanation of why egalitarianism ought to be outside the bounds of cooperation when paedobaptism isn't.

For All the Sailhamer Junkies out There

John Piper gave Dr. Sailhamer a nice little shout-out in his talk at T4G.

Two of Mark Driscoll's recent sermons, one on the Trinity, and another on Creation, both channel a good bit of Sailhamer, whether it's from Genesis Unbound, Pentateuch as Narrative, or his Genesis volume from the Expositor's Bible Commentary series. But on the other hand, I thought his Genesis series from a few years ago (follow this link and then click on "books of the Bible") was much more steeped in Genesis Unbound than these recent sermons.

And now, after writing most of the previous paragraph, I finished listening to Driscoll's QnA after the sermon on Creation. In it he described taking a class on the Pentateuch from Sailhamer somewhere in Portland and recommended the Genesis commentary and Genesis Unbound to his congregation. (I can't find a link to the QnA online, but you could get it from the podcast, I expect.)

Ed, if you're reading this, e-mail me.

T4G Leaders on the Blinding Power of Personal Relationship

I realize there are many pastors in fundamentalist circles who aren't too sure yet about where these T4G leaders really stand on the essential nature of the gospel, the contemporary condition of evangelicalism, and the legitimate grounds of cooperation. That kind of understanding only comes by continued exposure to how they're drawing lines.

Last week, just after the close of T4G, Al Mohler hosted Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, and C.J. Mahaney on his daily radio program. They discussed not only T4G, but also some of the theological issues that threaten orthodox Christianity now and in days to come.

In the immediate context of their veiled discussion of an ongoing controversy at a flagship evangelical seminary, Duncan made some comments that are quite relevant to these matters (17:23 into the program):

It shows you again, and you saw this up close and personal here, how much personalities and relationships play into this, where a personal relationship will blind you as to the theological issue at stake, to the well-being of the Church, and you don't do the hard thing that's the right thing for the people of God and for fidelity to the Scripture because of a personal relationship.

This is certainly not unique or out of character for Duncan and these others like him. It's certainly the kind of spirit that's in keeping with the message of the affirmation and denial proposed by Dave Doran:

We affirm that all genuine fellowship is in the gospel and that true gospel ministers and congregations must not grant Christian recognition or assistance to those who have denied the faith or turned away from the biblical gospel. We further affirm the biblical responsibility of elders and congregations to be vigilant in watching out for those who teach false doctrine and to turn away from and have no fellowship with them.

We deny that the biblical calls for unity and separation are contrary to one another, and that refusing Christian fellowship to false teachers and false congregations is schismatic. We further deny that confessional subscription necessarily contradicts soul liberty. We also deny that the glory of God and good of the church are properly advanced through theological and ecclesiastical union with those who have denied the gospel.

More on this soon to come.

At Last

Someone's writing about modesty with an emphasis on the heart. And go figure, it's C.J. Mahaney. Pastor friend, if you're wondering why your young people are inexplicably attracted to Reformed Charismatics, this is one reason why.

T4G Free Audio Links

Andy Naselli has compiled a helpful post with all the MP3 links.

Mark Minnick on Mark Dever

For several years, the best part of Frontline Magazine, a publication of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, has been columns by Sam Horn and Mark Minnick in the central supplementary "Sound Words" section. Here's a snippet by Minnick from the Jan/Feb 2008 issue:

In connection with a series last year on the church, I read 9 Marks of a Healthy Church (Crossway Books, 2004) and The Deliberate Church (Crossway Books, 2005) by Mark Dever. Dever pastors Capital [sic] Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and has shown the courage to depart from much that has been merely traditional in church ministry for the sake of attempting to forge a theology of Biblical ministry. He's a Southern Baptist with almost no exposure to Fundamentalism but with many Fundamentalist instincts. If you're not familiar with his website, www.9marks.org, you might want to take a look at it, especially the interviews section, which consists of downloadable informal discussions with many current Evangelical leaders about a wide range of contemporary issues.

Another impacting book on the church is Josh Harris's Stop Dating the Church (Multnomah, 2004). It's the book you'd like to give to every attender who won't join, but may not dare to. Still, maybe if you just left it lying around . . .

"John Piper Is Not Where We Are"

Every now and then, you hear somebody say something along the lines of the title quote. Maybe it's about Piper. Maybe Mohler. Maybe MacArthur. Take your pick.

A thought struck me while I was listening to Piper's talk at Together for the Gospel, "How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice."

You can download it for free here. Give it a listen and see if you don't agree with me on this:

John Piper is NOT where we are.

Woe unto us.

Men and Missions: What Are Guys Afraid Of?

I was intrigued by some of David Hosaflook's thoughts since I've had several conversations along these lines recently. One seminary professor even told me about a strategy a missions agency had pursued to create unusually challenging job descriptions to reach radically difficult places, hoping that the adventure instinct in men would be engaged.

The only people willing to apply were women.

Here's Hosaflook's theory:

I think the real problem--the elephant in the room--is sin. Two great missionary qualities are boldness (Acts 4:13, 29, 31) and a passion to evangelize (Acts 4:20). Spirit-filled people, even despite natural inhibitions, have those two qualities. But when sin is in your life, your lion heart cowers (Proverbs 28:1) and your burden for the lost is sucked right out of your soul (Psalms 51:13).

It's not at all difficult to imagine how the sin patterns that are so common among younger Christian men in contemporary American culture could paralyze them from pursuing overseas work. But for whatever reason, there's not the same shortage of men heading into pastoral ministry. So regardless of the reason for the deficiency, it does seem to be a widely recognized phenomenon.

What do you think the solution is?

T4G Video Highlights

Carolyn McCulley is posting clips from the talks.