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Originally Posted by DMcFadden  The Blue Like Jazz book [Driscoll] sees as blowing up in the face of its author, a friend of his. You get the impression that Driscoll thought he was trying too hard to be cool and edgy as well. |
I agree with the fact that the book is blowing up in Miller's face. He wrote that book, along with Searching for God Knows What, as a collection of random thoughts and illustrations of the gospel as he sees it, not as a case of an alternative Jesus or realativism. While his imagery is rather unorthodox, it's not entirely inacurrate. He reitterates the fact that his goal is to relay the gospel outside of the typical church lingo that too many Christians default to. As to whether he's trying to be "cool", I don't know. It seems that anyone these days who tries to share the gospel with contemporary language, regardless of the fact that they maintain the depiction of the Biblical Jesus, is labelled as trying to be "cool".
One of his concerns, especially in Searching for God Knows What, is the fact that churches, as he sees them, have too much emphasis in systematic theology. He makes the case that Abraham wasn't saved through systematic theology but through faith. To some this may not make a whole lot of sense, but as an example: A year ago I talking with a friend of mine from small group. I told him that when I was in high school, I trusted Christ with everything that was going on in my life, but I had never heard of the phrase "justification by faith". He promptly blurted out, "Then you weren't saved!"
That is what Miller is trying to break out of. As to whether the rest of his doctrine is solid, I doubt it. I think he has somewhat of a good idea but lacks the common foundation of most of the Reformed churches to gain any support from them.
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Originally Posted by DMcFadden Driscoll has NO patience for McLaren, Pagitt, Jones, Bell, and gang any more. He recounts dinner meetings with these guys "back in the day" as reminiscent of Genesis 3. "Do we really believe that people actualy go to hell?" "Do we really think that you can't be gay and Christian?" "Do we really think that you have to believe in the virgin birth?" You can almost hear the cadance of the serpent, "Has God really said?" Driscoll complains that they keep asking questions that pastors shouldn't be asking, and they think it is cool to refuse to answer them. Specifically, he names Bell as throwing out the baby with the bath by tossing out the virgin birth as unnecessary baggage. |
