Comments on: Emerging Church “Motivational” Posters and Response

By: Ken Silva

Ken Silva — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:12:00 +0000

“Pretty transparent tactic.”

Cuts both ways. The atheist and/or agnostic does not KNOW whether these people truly believe or not.

And further he also wouldn’t KNOW whether Jesus is there, and/or if He does indeed love these children.

Because after-all, “the rape of a mind in this way is much more intimate, much worse. Brainwashing through coercive” comments is also a “Pretty transparent tactic.”

By: frank burns

frank burns — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:58:42 +0000

“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so” is just putting a lie into the mouth of little kids. They DON’T know that. And neither do their parents. At most, their parents choose to pretend to believe it, or actually believe it, but they do not KNOW it. We talk about physical rape, but the rape of a mind in this way is much more intimate, much worse. Brainwashing through coercive singing (the kids have no real choice but to mouth those words). Pretty transparent tactic.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 21:32:43 +0000

Thanks again very much, Mike. I will refer my friends to your website as well.

2 Corinthians 11:8- “I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.” Maybe I’m just not taking this one in the proper context?

By: Ken Silva

Ken Silva — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:08:11 +0000

Mike Clawson said:

“By serving as the perfect foil, people like Phil Johnson and Ken Silva actually do a great service to the emerging church movement. The more people see what we are reacting against, the more will come over to our way of following Christ.”

Indeed, just as we’re supposed to do ala Isaiah 6:8-10. And unfortunately the accelerating apostasy within the American Christian Church will cause many people to jump on the broad road that leads to destruction.

Tragically, I’ve no doubt that people will defect over to “your way” of following a Christ of their own imagination just as you in the emerging counterfeit Christian church movement have (see-2 Corinthians 11:4).

By: Mike C

Mike C — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 22:24:14 +0000

thanks Tammy, I’m glad you found it helpful. If you’re looking for places to start with reading, I’d recommend Brian McLaren’s “The Secret Message of Jesus” or Rob Bell’s “Velvet Elvis”.

And if any of it does lead to more conversations w/your Christian friends, please let me know about them. Sparking good conversations is a big part of what the EC is all about!

By: Tammy

Tammy — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:32:51 +0000

Thanks, Mike C.-I really like your website, it gives me a lot to talk about with my Christian friends. Even though you didn’t write that article with atheists in mind, I’m pretty sure I understood where you all are coming from, and what exactly it is that you’re emerging from:) My husband and I had an argument just 2 days ago with someone who identifies herself as a Christian but mainly hasn’t put much thought into her worldview. The basic premise of our argument was that Jesus never had a big nice building to preach in, and concerned himself mainly with feeding the hungry and helping the sick and disenfranchised(so the stories go, anyways), and how very little of that gets addressed in any of our local churches . I have attended services with friends in various congregations, thinking for my kids’ sake that it’s the thing to do, but nothing relevant ever got covered, and I left every time thinking what a sweet, easy gig that preacher has! Unlike us public school teachers, he can be seen as an expert without ever picking up more than just the one antiquated volume from his childhood and he’s set for life. I will really need to check out the authors you’ve sited, so thanks for giving me even more to add to my already unmanageable reading list.

By: Mike C

Mike C — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:46:16 +0000

What is this “Emerging Church”?

This article may help answer your question. (Though I confess that it still contains some insider lingo. I didn't write it with atheists in mind.)

and were the first set of posters meant to be taken sarcastically?

Yes, they were meant as an attempt to mock those of us in the emerging church. They illustrate a lot of misconceptions and misrepresentations of the kinds of things folks in the emerging church talk a lot about.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:39:33 +0000

Okay, I too must admit ignorance. What is this “Emerging Church”, and were the first set of posters meant to be taken sarcastically?

By: Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:09:53 +0000

What the hell is an Emerging Church Christian? The wikipedia entry left me baffled…

By: Julie Clawson

Julie Clawson — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 02:06:04 +0000

Hi Hemant – thanks for the link. I think these posters really demonstrate that there are very different ways of being a Christian (which is both a good and bad thing imo…)