Comments on: One Size Fits All Christianity

By: Occult Investigator » The Wilkerson Debate, Part 2

Occult Investigator » The Wilkerson Debate, Part 2 — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 22:48:45 +0000

[...] The other day I posted about an interesting conversation which had developed over on Pastor Rob Wilkerson’s blog about emergent Christianity. Wilke [...]

By: Arizona

Arizona — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:33:19 +0000

I don’t have a problem with “One Size Fits All Christianity” or any orthodox or dogmatic faith, so long as it is up to the individual to choose it for him/herself. In a free and open society people should have the option of using Micro$oft products or Open Source products. I use a bit of both myself. Likewise, people can feel a part of Christianity while making their own sense of it.

If this Wilkerson is whingeing about emergent Christianity, chances are that he feels threatened by it, worried that it will take away some of his market share. If you whinge back at him, Tim, it might just be a reassertion of your right to choose your own mix between orthodoxy and novelty.

I actually read Jesus’ message as essentially subversive, anti-orthodox and heretical, so I see orthodox Christianity as oxymoronic. The best passage on sheep is in the Thomas Gospel, saying 107:

Jesus said: The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep; one of them, the biggest, went astray; he left (the) ninety-nine (and) sought after the one until he found it. After he had laboured, he said to the sheep: I love you more than the ninety-nine.

I read this as Jesus saying that the person most resistent to sticking with the herd, the rugged individual, is precisely his favourite person. Simply because that’s how Jesus was himself.

By: bill

bill — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 09:18:25 +0000

ooops, didnt go through
http://www.friesian.com/why.htm#why

By: bill

bill — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 09:17:03 +0000

Heres and interesting essay about christianity from a philosophy website….

By: bill

bill — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 02:48:42 +0000

This guy sounds too much like Bill Gates to me. Yeah standards are best when they control them.

You didn’t mention to him all of the neat books that didn’t make the canon or the fact that they used to throw the errant sheep to the wolves in those magical days of yore in which many ecclesiastical folk set their anchor. Oh, but his anchor is set in the reformation when those nasty Reforemers sucked many unsuspecting sheep into a black hole of read-the-Bible-yourself theology.

By: Occult Investigator

Occult Investigator — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 01:57:46 +0000

Thanks! In the past, I’ve spent a lot of time ripping these people all kinds of new orifices. But I eventually realized that as intellectually satisfying as it may be, it never goes anywhere. I feel comfortable enough within Christianity that I feel like I’m getting closer to being able to describe what the hell I’m saying using their own language. I hope he responds, but who knows.

By: slomo

slomo — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 01:49:18 +0000

BTW, Tim, great letter to Wilkerson. Very calm and measured. Peace-loving Buddhist that I am, I would have been more inclined to rip him a new asshole.

By: Occult Investigator

Occult Investigator — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 01:48:27 +0000

You could also bring in the whole “teach a man to fish” argument here, I think. Teach the sheep to shepherd themselves. Then when wolves come, posed as shepherds, we won’t have as many problems.

By: slomo

slomo — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 01:45:28 +0000

Heh, I love the Wilkerson quote, which is very similar to something a Catholic priest once told me:

Pastoring is shepherding, keeping the sheep away from danger, away from pasture that may not be good for them, and water that might poison them.

Course, he forgets to add the part about the sheep getting eaten by the shepherd’s employers…