Why Emergents Don’t Understand Fundamentalists

In the process of working my way through Tony Jones’ new book here, I have been reading blogs, other books about the emerging church, listening to radio interviews, and doing some basic research into the movement. All of this brain activity has me thinking about this topic often when it is quiet, like driving to and from work.

Tonight, on the way home, I decided to listen again to John MacArthur’s CD on the Emerging church. He makes some really good points in that interview, and one in particular that I think a lot of people miss.

It seems to me that Emergents don’t understand fundamentalists (or anyone who actually believes that the Bible can be understood plainly) because they fail to realize that most basic Christians simply start to answer the questions of life right at the Word of God. The Bible is the starting point for most of the people I know. Most of us did not go to seminary, and spend most of our time working and living our lives trying our best to raise our families.

My patient wife understands this perfectly. She is the most balanced person I know. She is even keeled, compassionate, warm and friendly, into her relationships, working hard to make a nice home for us, and doesn’t really have time for a whole lot of nonsense. When I hear something that just doesn’t make sense to me, or read some strange doctrine in a book, I will often run it by her to get her take on the matter. She is the equivalent of the proverbial “Will it play in Peoria?” test. Usually, she is right. Her answers are often swift and firm, and I appreciate that. It gives me a sense of clarity, and I am not ashamed to say that she is better at I am at sifting out the nonsense from an argument.

She is one of those people who starts with the Bible. I am too. So is our pastor, and most of the people I know at our church. We didn’t arrive at our doctrines of belief system by studying the great minds of our day, or days gone by. We study the Greatest Mind of All, Our Glorious Lord who gave us a Revelation with which we must come to terms.

Its not that people in universities are not smart. We recognize that. Its not that we don’t have time to read them either. A lot of us do spend that time. But when you hang around ordinary people most of the time, a lot of that stuff is just static. When the rubber meets the road, and people are dealing with real problems, I have found that they want real answers. Clear answers. They want to be abel to go to a specific passage and find what they are looking for. Not a proof text, but the truth. Something outside themselves, outside of “expert opinion”, outside of the seminary.

When I sit down to read God’s Word, I find great peace and joy in knowing that I am reading exactly what God wants me to know, and that His Word contains all I need for “life and godliness”. I find it comforting that God has spoken to us this way, through His Son Jesus, and through godly men. I have in my hands a resource that people in the past did not enjoy, and I am grateful for the sacrifices of life and liberty that allow God to speak through the Word to me.

And I am glad that Cliff, the man who God used to lead me to Him, instructed me to check everything I heard against the Bible. That little piece of advice has saved me countless heartaches, I am sure of it. That is where faith begins, through the reading of Scripture, taking it into your heart and mind, allowing it to cleanse what needs to be cleaned, and feeding those muscles of faith.

So you see, foundationalists (fundamentalists) and others like us begin with the Word of God. I don’t believe that the emerging church does that. They may use the Bible where it meets their need, or fits their purposes, but I don’t think they begin there. I don’t see it in any of their writings. In fact, all I see is criticism of scripture manifest in doubt, critique, deconstruction, and prooftexting.

I don’t think they have ever been trained in reading the Bible objectively, studying the Word of God using the historical/grammatical method, or finding application that trancends culture. I may be wrong, but I don’t see it in what I have read of their writing so far. It seems to me that they reject those methods as quaint and foolish, for the simpleminded snake-handlers among us.

I think that the emergents have something to offer in their challenge to make “doing church” a more interactive experience. I also think that some of their criticism of the CGM is valid, albeit a bit over the top at times. And I think they might be on to something in addressing the reasons why young people won’t come to a church.

If we all could just get them to start with the Bible, they might have something even better to offer the church and to God.

Peace.