Imagine a world where everything is getting better because
God is still creating it. Imagine a world in which there is
no more entropy (the principle of heat loss that means that
everything left to its own heads toward disorder). Imagine a
world where creative people are co-recreating the world with
God. This imaginary world is the world as it exists in the
minds of the leaders of the Emerging Church.
In a section of the book A is for Abductive – The Language
of the Emerging Church, Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren and
Jerry Haselmayer reveal their understanding of “the eschaton.”
The heading of the section is called, “The end of entropy.”
They state, “In the postmodern matrix there is a good chance
that the world will reverse its chronological polarity for
us. Instead of being bound to the past by the chains of
cause and effect, we will feel ourselves being pulled into
the future by the magnet of God’s will, God’s dream, God’s
desire” (page 113).
Let us consider some of these concepts. The “postmodern
matrix” suggests that our socially constructed “reality” has
a very tenuous relationship with the “the way things really
are.” Since we are deemed to be in a mental matrix and are
quite unable to use the traditional tools of study to
determine what aspects of our beliefs are true or false, we
are now liberated to have a paradigm shift to a matrix that
is more appealing. Given such newfound liberty, why not opt
for the scenario that is most pleasant? For Emergent
leaders, that is a world where God is working in history
with us to head back toward the Garden of Eden now, since
they have imagined a world with time running backwards
rather than forward (assuming that is what they mean by
reversed chronological polarity).
The problem with being bound by the past, in this thinking,
is that we live in a world that is cursed because of sin.
Entropy is one example of the effects of the Fall. According
to the Biblical worldview, God created the world, called it
“good” and completed creation (Genesis 1:31-2:2). The
rebellion of Adam and Eve led to expulsion from Eden and a
curse on the entire creation. Romans 8 tells us that the
whole creation is in slavery to corruption. In the imaginary
matrix of the Emergent Church, the results of the Fall are
being progressively undone now and we can expect the world
to become a better place as we “co-recreate” it with God.
Doug Pagitt says, “And God also, invites us to be re-created
and to join the work of God as co-(re)creators. . . . When
we employ creativity to make the world better, we
participate with God in the re-creation of the world”
(Church Re-imagined; 185). In the imaginations of these men,
we are becoming unchained from the results of the curse and
are helping God re-create paradise.
The benefit of an imaginary worldview is that it can be
anything one wants it to be. For example, even though the
second law of thermodynamics (entropy) has been demonstrated
to be true and is accepted as a scientific fact, one can
imagine a world where it does not exist. In such a world one
could create a perpetual motion machine. Such a world would
not tend toward disorder and would not require continual
effort to maintain order (like cleaning and repairing
houses). Add to this the fact that since God does exist, He
could undo entropy, re-engage in the process of creation,
and make the world get better and better in spite of human
sin. Why not imagine that He will?
The problem is that saying “peace, peace” when there is no
peace is the essence of false prophecy. The world is not
heading toward paradise through a collaborative effort
between God and man; it is heading for judgment: “But the
day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens
will pass away with a roar and the elements will be
destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works
will be burned up. . . But according to His promise we are
looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which
righteousness dwells” (2Peter 3:10, 13). A Christian
worldview sees history as linear, beginning with creation
and ending in judgment (Emergent thinking rejects this in
favor of a helix). Though various eschatological views have
differed on the details about what happens between creation
and judgment, nearly all agree that there is a future
judgment. The imaginary world in the minds of Emergent
leaders is not heading toward a future catastrophic judgment
by God. I asked Doug Pagitt about future judgment in our
debate and he refused to affirm belief in it.
The Bible tells us how to respond to imaginary eschatology:
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, Do not listen to the words of
the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading
you into futility; They speak a vision of their own
imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep
saying to those who despise Me, ‘the Lord has said, You will
have peace’; And as for everyone who walks in the
stubbornness of his own heart, They say, ‘Calamity will not
come upon you’ (Jeremiah 23:16, 17). The Bible tells us that
we are headed for judgment and that the only escape is to
repent and believe the gospel. Those who do repent will
participate when God does create a new heavens and new earth
AFTER judgment. Those who do not repent will suffer judgment
even if they imagine it does not exist.
Copyright © 1992-2005 Twin City
Fellowship
Please
read the rest the of this much-needed message -- along
with the endnotes and references -- at
http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue87.htm
Other articles by Bob DeWaay:
Redefining the Church
True and False
Unity
|
Discernment in
an Age of Deception
Faulty Premises
of the Church Growth Movement
“Church Health
Award” from Rick Warren or Jesus Christ?
Bob DeWaay is
the Pastor of
Twin City Fellowship, a
non-denominational evangelical Church in Minneapolis, MN:
"We are a
body of believers who attempt to live our Christian
faith according to Acts 2:42 by devoting ourselves to
prayer, fellowship, searching the Scriptures, and the
Lord’s Supper. Our mission is to equip the saints for the work of
ministry and to reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. We do this through expository preaching, study
of the Scriptures, publications, our website and
neighborhood outreaches."