From "Lessen focus on eternity, McLaren says at Willow Creek student ministries conference" by David Roach, posted 4/18/08 at Baptist Press
The emphasis Christians place on the traditional Christian doctrines of hell and the second coming of Jesus inhibits believers from living effective lives of service in this world, according to speaker and author Brian McLaren.
McLaren explained his views April 9-10 at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., as a featured speaker during the Willow Creek Association's annual Shift student ministries conference. During the conference's opening session, Bo Boshers, executive director of student ministries for the Willow Creek Association, said he does not agree with all McLaren's views but that all youth ministers should consider his thoughts.
...Though he did not specify at Willow Creek which traditional doctrines need revision, McLaren wrote in his 2007 book "Everything Must Change" that the doctrine of hell needs radical rethinking. He argues that people who believe in hell may be inclined to dominate and take advantage of other people, rather than help them.
"Many of us have been increasingly critical in recent years of popular American eschatology in general, and conventional views of hell in particular," he wrote. "Simply put, if we believe that God will ultimately enforce his will by forceful domination, and will eternally torture all who resist that domination, then torture and domination become not only permissible but in some way godly."
The orthodox understanding that Jesus will return at a future date and forcefully conquer all His enemies also needs rethinking, according to McLaren.
Read the rest of this summary.
Tim Roach has written another article, "SBTS prof: McLaren serpent sensitive" that is very helpful in understanding the complicated of the Emergent Church.
In it, Roach talked to Russell D. Moore, senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, about Mr. McLaren's views. Moore says that denials of hell and a literal second coming of Christ by emergent church leader Brian McLaren are absurd and actually lead to the kind of violence McLaren seeks to prevent. Moore says:
"When a Christian understands that he does not fight for his own honor, but that justice will be done by God, either through union with Christ and His cross or at the judgment itself, the Christian is freed then to trust God, not his sword or his gun or his fists or his tongue," he said. "It is McLaren's vision of a life that consists only of the justice achieved in this era that leads to violence and Darwinian struggle to see that a pound of flesh is exacted.Christians should know by now that McLaren displays "hostility to the most basic aspects of the Gospel message," Moore said, adding that Willow Creek should not have invited him to speak.
"It is the kind of world that McLaren envisions, without a messianic hope of a second coming, that leads to the bloody utopian experiments we have seen throughout the twentieth century. If human beings do not expect a Messiah in the skies, they will expect to elect one or anoint one or biochemically engineer one. And, do not be deceived, such pseudo-Messiahs always eventually have a sword."
Read the rest of this very helpful analysis.
Apostasy is spreading throughout American churches, both large and small, at an alarming rate. We must be vigilant and be ready to contend for the truth in our own churches.
More information on Brian McLaren's apostate views:
Examine a list of quotes from his books and lectures that very clearly show him denying God's authority as clearly expressed in Scripture. Click HERE.
Read a review of McLaren's latest book, "Everything Must Change," that is rather disturbing (indications of socialism, the social Gospel and utopianism.) Click HERE.
Here is a link of a must listen interview of McLaren. If you are in a hurry, the first two minutes are the most important. Click HERE.
From Wikipedia: (not necessarily the most reliable source)
"Brian McLaren admits to not knowing why Jesus died on the cross, and he maintains that even Jesus did not know the reason for this sacrifice." Click HERE.
"...snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh." - Jude 1:23
