Q & R: From “a former critic and slanderer” on hell
An encouraging note ...
My name is XX and I am a new "fan" of yours but haven't always been. I first heard of you about 3 or so years ago. At that time I was involved in ministry at a YY affiliated fellowship. As I'm sure you're painfully aware, they are not big Brian McLaren fans. I simply drank the proverbial kool-aid and spoke quite negative of you but never read or listened to a single word you said. For that I am ashamed and would like to apologize.
Not long after that, I left that fellowship to finally pastor a fellowship myself. I took a job with a struggling YY affiliate in ZZ in hopes that I could turn it around. The next [few] years were a series of ups and downs that ended in a ball of flames. I was unsuccessful at "turning it around."
But in that time something happened. As "the pastor" I was no longer shielded from things that I once never knew existed. What I came to see was the sad condition of our YY movement and even more so the larger American church. I began to see the focus on institution instead of people. It broke my heart and I vowed to change it. Hence, how it ended in a ball of flames. I lost the church and it all collapsed as I was accused of being an "emergent heretic."
But even in the midst of all the pain and confusion, God was able to work some amazing things. I began to search and read like crazy, looking for understanding and solutions to the issues I saw in American Christianity. A whole new world of faith opened up and, I don't know how else to explain it, but as I continued to search and seek it felt as though I had just met Jesus for the first time.
More after the jump ...
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Countdown Day 22
Just a reminder - you can win a free copy of the book here ... Today's quote:
Rare moments come to us in our journey when the penny drops, the tumblers click, the pieces fall into place, the lights come on, and our breath is taken away. The old paradigm falls away behind us like a port of departure, and we are won over to new possibilities, caught up in a new way of seeing, looking toward a new and wide horizon. The Lord has more light and truth to break forth, we believe, and so we raise our sails. We are embarked on our quest. (30)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
"Very rarely a book appears that houses the power to change a generation. A New Kind of Christianity is nothing less than one of those moments."' (-Peter Rollins, Ikon)
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Countdown Day 23
This inward transformation, of course, requires community, an expanding network of connectivity that perhaps could be captured by a term like “ortho-affinity” – a good and right way of relating to one another in communities of faith and in relation to those outside our faith communities (including those who consider themselves our enemies). (29)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
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Countdown Day 24
Revelation [19:11-16] is not portraying Jesus returning to earth in the future, having repented of his naive gospel ways and having converted to Caesar's "realistic" Greco-Roman methods instead. He hasn't gotten discouraged about Caesar seeming to get the upper hand after his resurrection and on that basis concluded it's best to live by the sword after all. Jesus hasn't abandoned the way of peace and concluded the way of Pilate is better, mandating that his disciples should fight after all. He hasn't had second thoughts about all that talk about forgiveness and concluded that on the 78th offense, you should pull out your sword and hack off your offender's head rather than turn the other cheek... He hasn't sold the humble donkey on eBay and purchased chariots, warhorses, tanks, landmines, and B-1s instead. (125)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
"Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers." (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)
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