How about this as a response to a Starbucks cup? This man’s “books and sermons are no different. His venti cup of vagueness mixed with a double shot of semi-pelagianism while holding the ‘Jesus’ is a lethal tonic for the spiritually blind.” And I thought the way I saw things was tough. (HT: weekend roundup)
tohu va bohu
blogging without form and void
Isn’t it always the omissions that are the hardest to recognize? Here’s to an omission-free week!
Tim
Good point.
I remember seeing the tRickster on tv, and what stuck out to me was him being so inclusive. He was asked some excellent questions by an unbeliever (I believe Charlie Rose) and WOULD NOT answer them. Instead he dished out an immense amount of ecumenical jargon. By the time he finally finished what he was saying, staying completely “unoffensive,” he didn’t even make sense. I think the talk show host was disappointed. It was a pretty boring, useless interview.
I think the only reason I noticed any omission in that case was that this unbelieving talk show host was asking such amazing questions that HAD to point to Christ. And, for the sake of being accepted, he didn’t answer them. I understand nodding in agreement with the Starbucks cup for a moment, though. Kind of the above quote, it’s like swallowing a poisoned Macchiato. So sweet and enjoyable until you realize it’s lethal.
The day I see his replacement suggestion on a cup of coffee, I’ll look down at the road and see amethyst. ;P
Actually, this brings up an interesting memory - this sort of omission is rather widespread and I used it once as a good tool in choosing a church. When we came up to Washington, we had two church possibilities in mind - both had been highly recommended by members at GCC and although only one had members come down to the Shepherd’s Conference and “happen” to be staying at the house of our bible study leader who then showed up 15 minutes after we got to WA with burly guys to help us move in… we still wanted to visit both before making any kind of decision.
I don’t want to give the name of the other church on the Intarweb because it didn’t have anything obviously wrong or evil, so I don’t want this to be a specific condemnation. However, the deciding factor ended up being that church’s omissions. The perfect example ended up being the welcome letters that we received. (I wonder if I still have that somewhere as a good example…) Both GCC’s goodbye letter and Grace Bible’s welcome letter had very near the doctrinal content of a full sermon - salvation through faith in Christ by grace, sovereignty of God, etc all over them. However, though the other church’s letter had good Christian language like peace, love, joy, patience, and kindness, it quickly became apparent that there was not a single mention in the entire letter welcoming us to their congregation of believers of the name of Jesus Christ. In fact, “God” was only in there once or twice. That blatent omission combined with a sense of uneasiness from our visit definitely made up our minds.