Dustin Messer over at Kuyperian.com has an interesting article on Kent Dobson, the pastor who followed Rob Bell at Mars Hill. Dobson resigned from the church saying that he is taking a brave journey from the center of faith out to its edges. But Messer's suggests that this is not as courageous as staying centered on sound doctrine. In a culture of shifting sands, those who stay in the church are actually doing the less easy thing.
These days, the real adventurers are those who set sail for the risky land of Christian orthodoxy. The real brave men and women are those who consistently go to church, observe the sacraments, hear the word, and submit themselves to the discipline of the church. In an age of autonomy, it's those who subject their thoughts, behaviors, and passions to an exclusive Sovereign who are the brave few. Those may not be the memoirs we're interested in today, but they'll be the ones that last tomorrow.
Something to think about.
2 comments:
Yes! I've been thinking this year about how submitting to the traditional doctrines and mores of Christian life are "rebellion" against the current culture. Living a quiet, peaceful life; planting, growing, marrying; faithfulness & piety are so out of the mainstream they're radical even as they ought to be ordinary.
I'd love it if you'd link this in over at Wednesdays with Words on ladydusk. The ladies will love this.
The article commented that he was 'the product of his culture.' When we have conversations about stuff like this at home I often ask my dc if they could take eg this current idea or mindset, and plonk it down in another part of the world - would it work in a place like China or Africa? Is this idea or belief an extension of our culture? Great quote btw.
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