The Heretical Views of Brian Mclaren: A Savage Wolf Among Us

"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them." - Acts 20:28-30

It seems that every generation brings a challenge to Christian orthodoxy. Seemingly well- intentioned teachers come forth with a “new and improved” way to interpret the Scriptures and they claim that the conservative approach is too stiff and cold, lacking emotions and feelings. Our generation is no different. A group of self-described Christian leaders (that refer to their movement as the "Emergent or Emerging" church) has started to make serious inroads from the fringe of Christianity trying to convince the church that we can’t really know what the Scriptures say and that absolute Truth was never what God intended the Scriptures to be. Talk about bad hermeneutics.

'I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ” – Galatians 1:6-10

The following is a transcript of an interview that Emergent Church leader Brian Mclaren, who authored “A Generous Orthodoxy”, gave in January 2006. In this interview Mclaren dismisses the doctrine of Hell and the atonement. While this is pure heresy on Mclaren’s part, I am printing this portion of the interview because this man has a very big following among liberal Christians and there is a very good chance that you will be coming across this kind of thinking from people you know, very soon.

McLaren: I don’t think that Jesus or any of the other biblical writers—and you’ve got to remember that Jesus was a speaker. He wasn’t a writer. But you know, the speakers and writers of the Bible, I don’t think that they’re working in this technical theological way that we very often push them into. I think they are speaking the way we would speak. The way we are having conversation right now. Some day if you go and parse one of your sentences or parse one of my sentences and you know, 500 years from now be making really bizarre conclusions about it. You know, you said a couple minutes ago something about being a pain in the ass. Well, 500 years from now people don’t know that that is an idiom that is used today. You can imagine a whole theological school developing from some of that. And that’s kind of what we’re saying actually happens with the biblical language.

But—and this is a huge problem with all of biblical interpretation. To what degree when things happen in the world, is it safe to say God made this happen? And to what degree is it safe to say, God wants us to interpret this happening in a certain way?

McLaren: This is, one of the huge problems is the traditional understanding of hell. Because if the cross is in line with Jesus’ teaching then—I won’t say, the only, and I certainly won’t say even the primary—but a primary meaning of the cross is that the kingdom of God doesn’t come like the kingdoms of the this world, by inflicting violence and coercing people. But that the kingdom of God comes through suffering and willing, voluntary sacrifice. But in an ironic way, the doctrine of hell basically says, no, that that’s not really true. That in the end, God gets His way through coercion and violence and intimidation and domination, just like every other kingdom does. The cross isn’t the center then. The cross is almost a distraction and false advertising for God.

Hansen: Oh, Brian, that was just so beautifully said. I was tempted to get on my soap box there and you know—Because as you and I know there are so many illustrations and examples that you could give that show why the tradition view of hell completely falls in the face of—It’s just antithetical to the cross. But the way you put it there, I love that. It’s false advertising. And here, Jesus is saying, turn the other cheek. Love your enemy. Forgive seven times seventy. Return violence with self-sacrificial love. But if we believe the traditional view of hell, it’s like, well, do that for a short amount of time. Because eventually, God’s going to get them.

McLaren: Yeah. And I heard one well-known Christian leader, who—I won’t mention his name, just to protect his reputation. Cause some people would use this against him. But I heard him say it like this: The traditional understanding says that God asks of us something that God is incapable of Himself. God asks us to forgive people. But God is incapable of forgiving. God can’t forgive unless He punishes somebody in place of the person He was going to forgive. God doesn’t say things to you—Forgive your wife, and then go kick the dog to vent your anger. God asks you to actually forgive. And there’s a certain sense that, a common understanding of the atonement presents a God who is incapable of forgiving. Unless He kicks somebody else.[1]

The above exchange is so incredibly ignorant and lacking of any Christian doctrinal understanding, that I actually cringe when I think that Mclaren has been so successful as a so-called "Christian” author. Galatians 1:6-10 was given to us by the Holy Spirit to warn us about guys like this. So what's the conservative response? Keep checking back to find out.

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[1] http://www.understandthetimes.org/mclarentrans.shtml

Christian Psychology?

By Christa Blakey - "The BlakeyBlog"

I have the opportunity to attend a Biblical Counseling conference next month and am very excited about the theme–”Counseling and the Attributes of God.” I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about counseling but this is a subject that I am passionate about especially since studying Biblical Counseling while I attended The Master’s College. Counseling in the Christian community has been greatly influenced by psychology, so much so that many Christians and churches today will not counsel because they don’t think it is their responsibility or they don’t think they are qualified to do so.

I was talking with someone once about Biblical counseling and they said:

“Some people have very complicated pasts and hurts or problems that are too complex…they need to see a professional psychologist to get real help.”

I asked, “I agree that some people have really complex things going on in their lives, but what do you mean too complicated? Do you mean too complicated for God or for the Bible to address?”

“Not too complicated for God, I mean they can pray to Him and be encouraged by His Word, but that’s not really going to heal them, they need more help than just that because their problems are just too big, they go too deep.”

I’m afraid that this perspective is all too common. Anticipating this conference has inspired me to read through some of my counseling text books and re-examine some of the problems with Christian psychology. I hope that you will consider some of the dangers for yourself and have a renewed confidence in God and His Word as all we need.

The Danger of Denying Sufficiency of the Word

Christian Psychology is different from just secular psychology in that it uses some of what Scripture has to say and sees that people need God. We might be tempted to think—well, at least it’s not as bad as secular psychology! But this Christianized version is still very dangerous and its influence on the church is detrimental to real spiritual growth.

The main flaw with most Christian counseling is that it is integrationist. Another way to say this is to say that the Bible alone is not enough to answer our problems. Christian psychology would say that Bible is enough as far as what it directly addresses. This kind of counseling would grant that the Bible says everything we need to know about salvation and sanctification—“spiritual things,” but on matters of the emotions, the Bible does not say enough. In this case it would require a trained counselor and other written material, or even therapy.

It seems that many Christians are ready to believe that the Bible is inspired by God, but are hesitant to believe that is speaks to the struggles they are facing. This often happens when Christians don’t know what the Bible calls their “condition.” They need more because they have not delved into the depths of Scripture to see how God speaks to the issues on their hearts.

On occasion I tune into a radio program where callers can ask a group of pastors spiritual questions and have them answered on the air. Much of the time a caller has a question about a personal or relational problem and what they ask is, “Could you tell me if the Bible has anything to say about this…?” On an individual level, we can be lazy about searching God’s Word to see how it addresses our problems. I’m afraid that this same laziness has seeped into how we talk about our own problems with our friends about their problems and even how pastors or counselors sometimes view people’s problems. Instead of opening God’s Word as a book full of hope and help, we assume it can’t help us (because it might not use the terms we’re looking for to describe what we’re going through) and so we look for help outside God and His Word.

People get caught up in statements like “All truth is God’s truth.” And they don’t want to throw out all of psychology because it might have some insights to offer. 2 Peter 1:3 makes a powerful statement about the power of God’s Word–

“His divine power has given to us all things
that pertain to life and godliness…”

In God’s Word we have all we need to deal with life and godliness. What do we need psychology for then? Does it offer some helpful methods or observations? Maybe. But psychology doesn’t offer anything that we need for life and godliness. Biblical counseling is committed to God speaking through His Word to us (2 Timothy 2:15). By this I don’t mean that someone comes to a Biblical counselor for help and goes home with a sheet of verses printed on it with nothing else said. But I mean that a Biblical counselor let’s Scripture define our problems and solve them.

Many Christians have a problem with this all-inclusive view of God’s Word because they find some problems overwhelming and daunting. For example, what is a Biblical counselor to do with someone who has what psychologists call bi-polar disorder or is having hallucinations? He would show that person the Lord and how God’s Word speaks to their life. We should be careful to never undermine the power of the Spirit to work through the Word in the lives of both believers who need an exhortation or word of encouragement, or in the lives of unbelievers who need the Savior.

The Danger of Self

On this issue psychology and the Bible can’t ever be joined. Psychology is human centered by nature. With man at the center God can’t be and the Bible could not be in harmony with such a method. Someone said, “Psychology is man’s way of trying to understand and repair the spiritual side of man without being spiritual.”

Psychology paints a picture of man as good and innocent with his problems being the fault of most everyone but himself. In psychology, man’s ultimate goal is to find happiness for himself. The danger with Christian psychology’s twist on this view is the idea that God wants us to have that happiness. And with Him in our lives we will have a better chance of finding meaning and purpose in life.

One aspect of psychology that has permeated Christian counseling and the church is the emphasis on self–self-image, self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence. With this self-centered thinking it isn’t hard to give man’s “needs” prominence. This view states that man needs self-esteem, love, acceptance and significance and if these needs are met people will generally be happier, moral and fulfilled. This perspective cultivates a big view of self and a small view of God. Change then becomes superficial and temporary because we have neglected the heart of the issue—we have sin.

Christian psychology rarely addresses the problem of sin because people do not accept it. Nobody wants to be told that he has to take responsibility for his own actions, words or even worse, his own thoughts! But the Bible presents a very different view of man—

Man was created without sin but he disobeyed God (Gen 3). Because of Adam’s sin all people are as Ephesians 2:1 describes “…dead in trespasses and sins.” The solution to spiritual death is spiritual life, this is our deepest need. God is not at all silent about this need. He provided His own Son to make spiritual life possible. Apart from Christ there is no healing and apart from Christ, there is no real change. We need to focus fully on Christ and not on ourselves if we want to have any real solutions to the struggles in our lives.

I hope you can see from these two dangers of psychology that it cannot be united with Christianity. Psychology is about promoting self and Christianity is about denying self (Luke 9:23). God’s Word is sufficient for us to be obedient to follow the Lord. We can’t trust Christian psychology because it undermines the authority of God’s Word, weaving the gospel with promises of personal happiness and self-worth. I am sad that we are so quick to turn from our all-sufficient God to the man-centered message of psychology. We don’t need anything that psychology offers. We need to take God at His word.

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you
in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord,
as His divine power has given to us all things
that pertain to life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”
2 Peter 1:2-3

People Get Ready

Are you a Christian?

If you answered yes to that questions, did you know that you have to get ready? Yes, get ready. You need to prepare, you need to study you need to get busy so that you are ready! So, I ask you again…are you ready?

Are you ready to have an answer?

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander”- 1 Peter: 15-16

Are you ready for every good work?

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men - Titus 3:1-2

Are you ready to die?

"Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" - Acts 21:13

Are you ready to meet the Lord?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night - Luke 12:34-38

Are you ready?