“Who am I to judge…? Part V: Getting Discerning

(continued from Part IV)

Okay, we have finally finished our trip through the spooky McLaren forest and are dusting ourselves off now that we have reached the other side.  Now it’s time to talk turkey.

(By the way…  I still have no idea where that saying comes from.)

We haven’t even attempted to answer all the hard questions we just asked in Part IV, though I don’t know that it really matters much at this juncture.  It is time to stop fretting about not having the answers to those questions, some of which may never be answered, and instead focus in on a single, confounding mystery.

What right do I have, as just another Christian brother, to “discern” that McLaren is on a shaky theological path when he chooses to celebrate Ramadan?

Or, as some folks put it, with a far broader brushstroke…

“Who am I to judge…?”

Perhaps because I am keenly aware of my own fatal flaws I tend to look at McLaren as equally mortal.  At the end of the day Brian D. McLaren is merely a man, a man prone to the same confusion and frailties as any other man. He can, and I suspect has, conjure new, “secret” messages of Christ not because they are really all that secret but because he just doesn’t like what he hears when he reads the Bible at face value.

Let’s face it.  The Bible isn’t exactly a stroll in the park in the “God’s wrath” -vs- “God’s love” department.  Some passages in the Bible will turn people off because they just don’t like what they hear.  (A call to purity, the notion that homosexuality is sin, the imperative to tithe faithfully, the reality of the sin nature and its consequences, love your neighbor as yourself, turn the other cheek, watch out for false prophets, care for the poor and impoverished, etc., etc., etc….)

Who’s to say that McLaren isn’t just rewriting a historically accepted, orthodox, Protestant theological understanding of the Bible to meet his personal comfort level, not because that theology legitimately must be changed?

Maybe McLaren came up with his book, “The Secret Message of Jesus” and is now celebrating Ramadan because he just doesn’t know how to answer ticklish questions like…

Why is some weak-kneed, selfish Christian like Mr. NoMoreGreed going to get a free pass to heaven while a transformational global leader like Ghandi might be rotting in hell?

To be honest, I don’t know what to do with that one either.  I “hope” God gave Ghandi a chance at eternal life (ie: faith in Jesus) somewhere along the line, but I honestly don’t know.  The answer to that one is way above my pay grade.

What I do know is this.

I am not “judging” Brian McLaren merely by asking hard questions and then holding him accountable for his choices. I am “discerning” that Brian McLaren may be on theologically shaky ground.  I am sensing that his new, self-revelatory take on Christianity and this specific outreach to Muslims under the auspices of observing Ramadan is really nothing more than an attempt to make a rigorous faith (Christianity) more comfortably appealing to a world for whom the fullness of the Gospel story may be a little tough to stomach.  Saying that Jesus is the one, true, Son of God, equal to God, dying to forgive my sins, and sitting at God’s right hand is not exactly something every person in the world will either want to hear or accept.

So Brian McLaren’s attempt to build bridges may be noble, but in the end it may also miss the point.

The Gospel of Matthew (noted earlier) makes all of this clear. God never promised us that we would have cuddly relationships with other religions if we preached faith in Jesus as the sole path to eternal life.  God called us to lead all people to His throne through the truth of the Cross.  What we are guaranteed is that if we speak the truth in love, and stay true to the singular message of Jesus as the path to salvation, we will be reviled and persecuted along the way.

How many Christians in Muslim-dominated countries have been jailed or put to death over the span of decades or millenia for staying true to their faith?

Is McLaren in any danger of getting locked up or killed as a result of his choice?

Didn’t think so.

Let me put it another way.

It is one thing to observe Ramadan.  It is entirely another to use it as a platform for sharing the message that Jesus is the one path to eternal life and salvation.  So far, I am not seeing a whole lot of that kind of honest writing flowing from McLaren’s pen.  The theological caution flags have gone up as a result.

Doing the “loving” thing is not about whether we get in bed with other religions.  Love is knowing how to treat those folks with respect and dignity while at the same time sharing the spiritual truths we, as Christians, hold as pervasive and eternal.  What they do with the truth we share is ultimately beyond our control.

And so we come full circle.

“Who am I to judge…?”

I do not stand in judgment over Brian McLaren.

I do not want to stand in judgment over Brian McLaren.

Judgment is God’s domain, not mine.

When you are the greatest of sinners and the weakest of saints you better not presume to stand in judgment over a guy like McLaren.  Neither do I.

What I do know is that Brian McLaren seems a tad confused about the clarity and singularity of his leadership calling in Christ.  He also seems conflicted about the true nature of his position as a global church leader in the name of the Jesus Christ who said…

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)

That alone is reason enough for my discerning eyes, ears, and brain to accept McLaren’s Ramadan celebration with a skeptical eye.

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