Had a most stimulating conversation at Bangsar Lutheran Church in the first Emergent Malaysia meetup last Saturday. It's a great pleasure/privilege to meet up with Sivin and other online frens who share a passion for theology and mission
Find out more:
http://emergentvillage.org/index.cfm
What's Emergent?
It's a learning community.
It's about sharing resources
It's about exploring what it means to be Church in Malaysia
Some reflective, sensitive folks may wonder, "What has DA Carson to do with Brian McLaren? What is a foundationalist like Dave doing in Emergent?"
Good question.
This may evoke awkward scenes from my confession of 'speaking in tongues' before a group of cessationist-separatist KJV only folks.
My encounters with Brian McLaren were limited to the 'open letter' he wrote to Chuck Colson abt the death of postmodernism, snippets of "The church on the other side" and... stg close to my heart... 'Finding Faith' an excellent evangelistic book I plan to give to open, actively seeking friends.
Having read Finding Faith, I dun find any endorsements for relativism at all. For most parts i nod with a hearty Amen. Yes, in certain parts I wished he had not made too much concessions ie Darwinism but they are hardly worth mentioning.
He casts doubts on our perceptions of the truth but I can't find any denial of the possibility that true truth can be known.
McLaren's honest, sensitive, warm and humble 'soft' approach is something any would-be apologist could do well to emulate. William Lane Craig's apologetic may be great for a hardcore atheist but it may not be the best approach I'd take to an open, searching agnostic.
So I'm hoping that in our conversations, postmodern values towards community, the person, beauty and leaving room for doubt may emerge and converge with robust logic, absolute truth and the elusive art of smashing arguments with a touch of gentle humor.
From CS Lewis, we know these qualities can co-exist in harmony to the glory of God and the good of man!
More info:
http://sivinkit.net/
Find out more:
http://emergentvillage.org/index.cfm
What's Emergent?
It's a learning community.
It's about sharing resources
It's about exploring what it means to be Church in Malaysia
Some reflective, sensitive folks may wonder, "What has DA Carson to do with Brian McLaren? What is a foundationalist like Dave doing in Emergent?"
Good question.
This may evoke awkward scenes from my confession of 'speaking in tongues' before a group of cessationist-separatist KJV only folks.
My encounters with Brian McLaren were limited to the 'open letter' he wrote to Chuck Colson abt the death of postmodernism, snippets of "The church on the other side" and... stg close to my heart... 'Finding Faith' an excellent evangelistic book I plan to give to open, actively seeking friends.
Having read Finding Faith, I dun find any endorsements for relativism at all. For most parts i nod with a hearty Amen. Yes, in certain parts I wished he had not made too much concessions ie Darwinism but they are hardly worth mentioning.
He casts doubts on our perceptions of the truth but I can't find any denial of the possibility that true truth can be known.
McLaren's honest, sensitive, warm and humble 'soft' approach is something any would-be apologist could do well to emulate. William Lane Craig's apologetic may be great for a hardcore atheist but it may not be the best approach I'd take to an open, searching agnostic.
So I'm hoping that in our conversations, postmodern values towards community, the person, beauty and leaving room for doubt may emerge and converge with robust logic, absolute truth and the elusive art of smashing arguments with a touch of gentle humor.
From CS Lewis, we know these qualities can co-exist in harmony to the glory of God and the good of man!
More info:
http://sivinkit.net/
Comments
A non-partisan direction IS the way-forward... It's exciting what the Emergent can be for the Malaysian church!
Btw, what's ENFP?