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If You Don't Believe in a God of Hate
Brian McLaren continues to be an influential voice in the growing movement that is resisting the Christian Right's monopoly on what it means to be a follower of Jesus. McLaren is at his best when he challenges the authoritarian, judgmental and potentially violent tone that is too often present in the Christian Right. |
One example of this is when he writes about the doctrine of hell. An excerpt from a recent interview published in Christianity Today's Out of Ur blog:
Brian, in your book, The Last Word and the Word After That, you focus heavily on "deconstructing" the evangelical view of hell. Some critics think your deconstruction has moved to the point of your embracing a "universalist" position. Are you a Universalist?
McLaren: No, I am not embracing a traditional universalist position, but I am trying to raise the question, When God created the universe, did he have two purposes in mind--one being to create some people who would forever enjoy blessing and mercy, and another to create a group who would forever suffer torment, torture, and punishment? What is our view of God? A God who plans torture? A God who has an essential, eternal quality of hatred? Is God love, or is God love and hate?
It might sound surprising to state it that way, but you'd be surprised at some of the emails I've received. For example, someone quoted Scriptures like Psalm 5:5 or Psalm 11:5 and said, "If you don't believe in a God of hate, you don't believe in the God of the Bible." Here's my concern: if you believe in a god of hate, violence, revenge, and torture, it makes you very susceptible to becoming a person made in that god's image.
This week a group of Southern Baptist leaders, inspired in part by McLaren's emergent church movement, released a statement called, The Memphis Declaration. Although these leaders are very conservative in their Christian beliefs, it is a good sign that they are speaking out. They are not satisfied with the way the Southern Baptist Convention has been controlled and manipulated by the narrow and mean spirited political agenda of the Christian Right. Some excerpts:
We publicly declare before all Southern Baptists that we believe the unity, mission, and witness of our denomination is seriously threatened by the introduction of the narrowing of cooperation through exclusionary theological and political agendas that corrupt the healthy and mutual fellowship we enjoy as Kingdom servants. We believe that the parameters of Baptist cooperation in missions and evangelism must be consistent with our rich theological heritage, and that all attempts to impose excessively restrictive criteria on participation in Southern Baptist missionary work are counterproductive to the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. [ ]
- We publicly repent of triumphalism about Southern Baptist causes and narcissism about Southern Baptist ministries which have corrupted our integrity in assessing our denomination bureaucracy, our churches, and our personal witness in light of the sobering exhortations of Scripture. [ ]
- We publicly repent of an arrogant spirit that has infected our partnership with fellow Christians in the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, without the hearing of which men are incapable of conversion. [ ]
- We publicly repent of having condemned those without Christ before we have loved them, and that we have acted as judge of those for whom Christ died by failing to live with a redemptive spirit toward them. [ ]
We pledge, therefore, to one another that we will continue this dialogue by inviting others in our respective spheres of influence to participate with us by seeking to renew our commitment to denominational accountability, institutional openness, moral and ethical integrity, and properly prioritized Kingdom efforts.
If You Don't Believe in a God of Hate | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden)
If You Don't Believe in a God of Hate | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden)
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