tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24271776.post2997106476208630464..comments2023-04-14T04:28:54.000-04:00Comments on Reformed Apologist: Revolution Replacing Reformation (in the church)Reformed Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17398596496540697639noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24271776.post-78021782837394905392012-09-17T12:48:27.167-04:002012-09-17T12:48:27.167-04:00PL
That's worse than the "what would And...PL<br /><br />That's worse than the "what would Andy do?" Sunday school curriculum. :) Reformed Apologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17398596496540697639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24271776.post-69570110339072473872012-09-17T08:25:22.573-04:002012-09-17T08:25:22.573-04:00Great post. Even worse is the fact that many chur...Great post. Even worse is the fact that many churches are sending out questionnaires to the "unchurched" in an effort to find out what kind of worship they would like to see. If they don't like biblical worship, we'll give them a rock concert. If they don't like expository preaching, we'll give them a pragmatic message on successful living.<br /><br />The last non-reformed church I attended, the final "sermon" consisted of the pastor's weight loss charts for the previous year and the 12 steps telling us how he lost the weight. O that we would learn who God really is and who we really are. Then we won't be able to do anything but show God reverence.Puritan Ladhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240560332777968090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24271776.post-84211600158794700592012-09-17T07:25:04.264-04:002012-09-17T07:25:04.264-04:00Jon
Thanks for weighing in. I resonate with what ...Jon<br /><br />Thanks for weighing in. I resonate with what <i>you</i> said. And although I greatly appreciate Mike's spiritual reflexes, I regret that he often paints with too broad brush. For instance, being concerned with relationships is not at odds with being interested in God. God is concerned with relationships. The Trinity is relational. And we are brought into that relationship with God <i>and his people</i> through union with Christ. <br /><br />It's that sort of rhetoric that takes away from Mike's otherwise insightful observations. One <i>can</i> be changed for the good in such worship. It's not as though the gospel is utterly absent. We must be fair and balanced, especially if we hope to do some good.<br /><br />My lament is over many things, not the least of which is how Christians short change themselves. Lewis possibly put it best when he said we can be too much "like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."Reformed Apologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17398596496540697639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24271776.post-89614813283500159162012-09-17T06:54:52.162-04:002012-09-17T06:54:52.162-04:00This seems to have taken the place of the Jesus Pe...This seems to have taken the place of the Jesus People movement which gave way to the charismatic craze of the eighties and nineties. It is very similar to that but just Reformed in name. Without some architectural hint one would not know he was supposed to be in a Reformed service. The New Life movement is very much like what you describe. <br /><br />Sadly, as I survey the fruit of such movements it doesn't seem to me that it's very lasting. I found that in the charismatic movement and now here that many children who grew up in such an environment became disenchanted over time and sometimes fell away from the faith. The spirituality hype was pseudo in the end. Yesterday's miracle wasn't enough for today's faith in the charismatic movement. Like in John 6, when Jesus gave them doctrine and not miracles, many no longer walked with Jesus. With the staunchly contemporary scene, the diet is poor and the undernourishment ends up giving way to at best a shallow Christianity.<br /><br />From Michael Horton:<br /><br />The entertaining us-centered "worship experiences" or "celebrations," as they're called these days, may stimulate us for a while, the way watching MTV or "I Love Lucy" re-runs can kill an hour. But they can't really change us. They can't reorient our focus from ourselves to God. They can't raise our eyes toward heaven. They can't reconcile us to God, because they aren't that interested in God in the first place. Now, hear me out on this. To talk about God is not the same as taking the time to really proclaim God's attributes and work as that is unfolded through the pages of Scripture. We're interested in relationships, in families, in solving practical problems of everyday life, but we aren't interested in God.<br />If God and his activity in Christ, through the means of Word and sacrament, are to shape our worship, then how are we to understand the church and our relation to it?Jonhttp://www.onthewing.org/user/Ecc_1%20-%20Reforming%20Worship.pdfnoreply@blogger.com