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"Take
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Cecil Andrews, 29 Edengrove Park, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AZ, Northern Ireland Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEBSITE - http://www.takeheed.net Quick Links - Home - Assorted Articles - Audio/Video - Ministry Newsletters - Words of Wisdom |
SHANE CLAIBORNE
A
large advert appeared in the Belfast Telegraph of Saturday 13th
August 2011 for meetings scheduled to take place the following weekend, 19th-21st
August. The headline speaker was listed as Shane
Claiborne and I recognised that name from my previous research into what
was called ‘The Emerging Church’.
In
the light of the short time between now and the upcoming meetings I’m posting
this brief article to expose some of the problems associated with ‘the ministry’
of Shane Claiborne.
Cecil
Andrews - ‘Take Heed Ministries – 14th August 2011
Excerpts from
article by Ken Silva of ‘Appraising Ministries’
http://apprising.org/2010/02/21/mysticisms-gospel-of-goodness-and-shane-claiborne/
“A few years ago, Shane interviewed Tony Campolo for an article in Cross Currents Magazine. We think
it’s still relevant.”… The following section below comes from the
interview mentioned…
SC: Both Muslims and Christians are very evangelical
in the sense of desiring others to come to faith in their God. When we talk
about inter-religious cooperation, does that mean that we need
to stop trying to convert each other?
TC: We don’t have to give up trying to convert
each other. What we have to do is show respect to one another. And to
speak to each other with a sense that even if people don’t convert,
they are God’s people, God loves them, and we do not make the
judgment of who is going to heaven and who is going to hell.
I think that what
we all have to do is leave judgment up to God. The Muslim community is very evangelistic, however what Muslims will not do is
condemn Jews and Christians to Hell if in fact they do not accept Islam.
SC: That
seems like a healthy distinction—between converting and condemning. One of
the barriers seems to be the assumption that we have the truth and folks who
experience things differently will all go to Hell. How do we unashamedly maintain a healthy desire for
others to experience the love of God as we have experienced it without
condemning others who experience
God differently… (Online source, bold mine)
Resisting the urge here to wrestle with the serpent
I’ll just say that, as far as it concerns Islam and hell, Campolo
is quite mistaken so I simply refer you to the Quran itself:
And, by thy Lord, verily We shall assemble
them and the devils, then We shall bring them, crouching, around
hell. Then We shall pluck out
from every sect whichever of them was most stubborn in rebellion to the
Beneficent. And surely We are Best
Aware of those most worthy to be burned therein.
(Surah 19:68-70, emphasis mine)
Of course what Campolo and his disciple Claiborne are talking about is not
the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ; but it is a primary online source
giving you a glimpse at the gospel of
goodness that these men personally believe. And this false teaching is
completely consistent with the universalism one sees as they study mysticism as
I have for years now. However, even if Campolo did
happen to be correct when he dreams “even
if people don’t convert, they are God’s people,” then this question comes
emerging: Then why should they ever need to convert in the first place?...
conversion
has now been redefined to mean joining them in their social gospel of
goodness, which they usually express something along the lines of living the
way of God in Jesus and being co-creators with Him in order to make God’s
dreams for the world come to pass. But it’s well past time now to finally
awaken from your slumber and realize that if
this reimagined Emergence Christianity, where all of mankind is already the
family of God, is true then there really is no Gospel left to preach.
And so I wonder; just who might have
come up with that little idea?
Excerpts
from article entitled
God's Dream = PEACE
A Global Kingdom Dream
Located
on
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/discernment/8-5-dream-peace.htm
"God's
Dream" seems to have become the new mantra for peace. It is bandied about
by leaders who have very similar agendas, both within and without the church.
Below is a summary of the results of our search. This represents only a small
summary of the overall picture. We must hasten to point out that we did not
simply pick and choose evidence to back up this premise. Rather, it is very
obvious that "God's Dream" does have a meaning, and this meaning
is universally shared by those who bandy the term about, and the meaning is
almost always connected to the idea of restoring paradise type conditions,
or building the kingdom of God on Earth, by man's efforts for the purpose of creating peace on Earth…
Shane Claiborne is an Emergent leader who actually worked with one of the "God's
Dream" icons,
Mother Teresa in India.
He launched The Simple Way Community in
Philadelphia and is "a prominent activist for nonviolence and the redistribution of
resources
to the poor." He has also endorsed a number of Emergent books, often
referring to "God's Dream" in the context.
·
The
prophets point us to what is ahead - the fulfillment
of God's dream for creation. And they invite us not simply to wait but to begin
enacting that dream now.[15]
·
A
dynamic and hope-filled book to provoke the ecclesial imagination. May it help
us grow closer to God's dream for the church.
[16]
·
I
don't agree with Doug on everything... and that's part of the fun. We need to
learn to disagree well, and laugh and spar together as we run after God's
dream.[17]
·
People
respond well to stories, and I think people, and especially younger generations
are aware that the world we've been handed is fragile and are already asking,
that is God's dream for the world and is it different from what we see?
Extreme poverty and conflict are hard to deny.[18]
[15.] Quoted at http://www.rmcumc.org/CHI/DistrictSites/MetroDistrict/MetroDistrictNewsUpdate062708.pdf
[16.] Book endorsement for Signs of Emergence by Kester Brewin.
[17.] Book endorsement for A Christianity Worth Believing by Doug Pagitt.
[18.] "Interview with
Shane Claiborne," by
Sara Barton,
May -
June, 2007. See also these links: Here, Here,
and Here.
Final quote from Ken
Silva’s article referenced earlier
Emerging Church spokesman Dan Kimball
has revealed to us that Emergent
Wolves Enter Your Sheep Pens Through Youth Groups. The truth is that the time has arrived when we must reject these
Emergent dreamers and their quasi-Christian universalism with its
warped and toxic neo-liberal repainted social gospel ala
Walter Rauschenbusch. And
when all said and done, in the end, Claiborne is really just a Rob Bell
with dreadlocks.