Extreme Theology

Is Miss California Good Enough To Be A Christian?

The Mocking Bird Blog has a great thought provoking article on the Carrie Prejean controversy. Here is the opening to the article:

The following quote appeared Wednesday on a tabloid website:

"Exclusive: Self-proclaimed bible thumper Miss California, Carrie Prejean, should start pointing the finger at herself for her own indiscretions. [We have] received exclusive images of the homophobic debutante that would clearly strip her of her Miss California crown. So much for being a good role model for the state of California Carrie. Looks like your photo shoot makes you a sinner too."

I am not bringing this up because I'm interested in commenting on Miss California per se (I think the media has that covered!). I bring it up because this snippet brilliantly highlights a common misconception in our society today: that Christianity is somehow about being good enough to be a Christian, when it’s actually about understanding that we're bad enough to really need Christ. (Online Source)

Law AND Gospel in the Carrie Prejean Controversy

The internet is currently abuzz with the latest round of critique and analysis regarding ODM blogs. This time the issue is how certain blogs are allegedly covering the Carrie Prejean story.

The controversy regarding the Prejean issue revolves around the question, What is the correct Christian response in this situation? Prejean was obviously brave for speaking up for the truth but she is obviously a sinner. Those nude photos circulating around the internet prove it.

Should we celebrate Prejean's bravery while overlooking her moral short-comings? OR should we ignore her bravery and throw her under the bus BECAUSE of her moral short-comings?

Since so many people and ODM's are discussing this issue I felt compelled to weigh in on the matter.

My Foundational Thoughts

I am a FIRM believer and proponent of strongly, soundly, and loudly exposing and debating false doctrines and practices within the church. I believe that this "politically incorrect task" serves the body of Christ well by warning it about dangerous teachers, leaders and ideas. I even believe in and practice the time honored tradition of showing the absurdity¹ of false doctrines and teachers IN ORDER to proclaim the truth and more importantly preach and proclaim the Gospel.

BUT, BUT, BUT I am NOT in favor of engaging in CHARACTER ASSASSINATION. I do not believe that Character Assassination is an appropriate tool of the Gospel.

Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Yes there is a time to throw the "heretic card" and a time to "break fellowship" with an unrepentant sinner or false teacher. But the point of throwing the "heretic card" and/or "breaking fellowship" must be motivated by a deep and prayerful desire to see the erring brother or sister come to repentance and ultimately avail themselves of the forgiveness of sins offered in Christ. Unfortunately, If a person remains unrepentant in their sin and/or false teaching, then you must continue to warn the church. Although this may seem like dog-piling or beating a dead horse, the motivation for continued exposing and warning is to prevent people from falling prey to their sin and heresies.

With that in mind, it is important to understand that exposing sin and error should NEVER be an end itself, that behavior ultimately is nothing more than the sin of gossip.

What I Believe "The Christian View" of Carrie Prejean Should Be

1. I think Prejean was brave to stand up for what she believed and exercise her constitutional right to freedom of speech in the most awkward of circumstances. Not many people display this type of bravery now-a-days.

2. The wrath and character assassination that she has been subjected to by the mainstream media and homosexual activists is chilling and frightening.

3. Despite Prejean's bravery, I do NOT consider her to be a Christian roll model. There are some obvious "disconnects" and moral "short comings" in her that I pray that as she matures in Christ that she will repent of. (JUST LIKE there are some obvious disconnects and moral short comings in MY OWN LIFE that I pray that Christ will open my eyes to so that I repent and receive His forgiveness.)

4. Despite Prejean's moral short-comings, Christians should not be engaging in the exact same type of Character Assassination tactics that the secular media and homosexual activists are engaging in.

5. The Gospel is never served by self-righteousness and moralistic finger pointing.

6. The Gospel is served only when God's law is used to expose sin and show a person their need for a savior. Once that pre-work is done, we must proclaim the good news of the free and generous forgiveness of sins offered in Jesus Christ through His vicarious death on the cross and victorious resurrection from the grave.

7. The clarion call of the Gospel is "repentance AND the forgiveness of sins in Jesus name".

8. Christians are ambassadors of the Kingdom of God which is nothing less than a Kingdom of the Forgiveness of Sins. (It is NOT a Kingdom of Self-Righteous Moralizers)

2 Cor 5:18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

So what should we make of Carrie Prejean? Should we celebrate her bravery while overlooking her moral short-comings? OR should we ignore her bravery and throw her under the bus because of her moral short-comings?

I don't see this as an either or situation.

Carrie Prejean is an undeniably brave young lady who is our sister in Christ AND she is a sinner just like the rest of us. We CAN celebrate her bravery, embrace her as a sister AND call her to repentance, while offering her nothing less than the forgiveness of her sins won by Jesus Christ on the cross.

I think that a recent interview with Os Guinness on the Issues, Etc. Radio Program on the subject of Civility is worth listening too and I hope that it will be useful in the current discussion regarding the right Christian use of the gift of discernment.

Enjoy.

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1. Satire and Laughter can a powerful weapon in the apologetics arsenal. If you're going to show the absurdity of a false teaching or false teacher then make sure to have fun while exposing that absurdity. The devil doesn't like it when you laugh at and mock his carefully crafted lies. Neither the devil nor pietists have a sense of humor.

Rob Bell's Convoluted Gospel Isn't the Biblical Gospel

Rob Bell's theology is moving in a very disturbing direction. I've never been much of a fan of his theology but now I feel compelled to throw the Galatians 1:6-9 Card. Why? In Rob Bell's latest interview with Christianity Today he couldn't even give a simple, concise or Biblically correct definition of the Gospel.

Here is the exchange from the interview that needs to be highlighted and scrutinized:

CT: All well and good, but how is this good news to people with no earthly hope? If I'm dying of aids or cancer, I probably don't give a rip about the renewal of all things. I want to know if my sins are forgiven, and when I die, if am I going to see Jesus or not.

Rob Bell: Yes, and I would say that central to that new creation is the problem with the first creation—death. The Resurrection is about God dealing with the death problem. And central to this giant cosmic hope is a very intimate, yes, you can trust this Jesus. You can trust this new creation. You can trust being with him when you die, when you leave this life, however you want to put it. Yes, there is an intensely personal dimension to this giant story that you and I get to be a part of.

CT: You're essentially reframing the gospel—at least the gospel you inherited, the gospel we have known as the gospel in North America for the last couple hundred years.

Rob Bell: I am leery of people who have very clear ideas of what they're doing from outside of themselves: "You have to understand that I'm doing this and doing this." I would say that for 10 years, I have tried to invite people to trust Jesus. You can trust this Jesus. You can trust him past, present, future; sins, mistakes, money, sexuality. I think this Jesus can be trusted.

I often put it this way: If there is a God, some sort of Divine Being, Mind, Spirit, and all of this is not just some random chance thing, and history has some sort of movement to it, and you have a connection with Whatever—that is awesome. Hard and awesome and creative and challenging and provoking.

And there is this group of people who say that whoever that being is came up among us and took on flesh and blood—Andrew Sullivan talks about this immense occasion the world could not bear. So a church would be this odd blend of swagger—an open tomb, come on—and humility and mystery. The Resurrection accounts are jumbled and don't really line up with each other—I really relate to that. Yet something momentous has burst forth in the middle of history. You just have to have faith, and you get caught up in something. I like to say that I practice militant mysticism. I'm really absolutely sure of some things that I don't quite know.

CT: How would you present this gospel on Twitter?

Rob Bell: [pay attention to Bell's answer/non-answer] I would say that history is headed somewhere. The thousands of little ways in which you are tempted to believe that hope might actually be a legitimate response to the insanity of the world actually can be trusted. And the Christian story is that a tomb is empty, and a movement has actually begun that has been present in a sense all along in creation. And all those times when your cynicism was at odds with an impulse within you that said that this little thing might be about something bigger—those tiny little slivers may in fact be connected to something really, really big.

CT: Not quite down to 140 characters.

Rob Bell: Well, you can't really tweet the gospel. I'm convinced that I am not doing anything new. I am hoping that I'm in a long tradition.

Bell's claim that you 'can't really tweet the gospel' is VERY TELLING. I think it fundamentally shows that Bell has either rejected the Biblical Gospel or that he actually doesn't know what the Biblical Gospel is.

Oddly enough the Biblical Gospel CAN be tweeted. I accomplished this easy task while on the air yesterday. Here's the Gospel I Tweeted in less than 140 characters.

The Gospel: Christ died for our sins, he was buried, he was raised on the 3rd day & he appeared to Peter then to the 12 http://bit.ly/3Wpqm

Notice that this Gospel Tweet even contains a bit.ly link to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. This passage of scripture gives the Biblical gospel in clear creedal simplicity. In fact, Biblical scholar and theologian Gary Habermas has written extensively on this passage of scripture. He is convinced that this passage contains one of the earliest Christian creeds. I think Habermas makes a great point. The very structure of this passage is creedal, especially the opening phrases.

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
he was buried,
he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve,
he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive
he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

More important than the creedal nature of this passage is the Apostle Paul's clear claims that this creed comprises the very essence of the Gospel that he preached. Paul told the Corinthian church that this creed IS the Gospel that he preached to them, which they received and it IS the Gospel they are standing on and it IS the Gospel by which they are being saved:

1 Cor 15: 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved,

It's clear from this passage that so concisely defines the Gospel that the Apostle Paul would have had no trouble AT ALL tweeting the Gospel in 140 characters or less. The fact that Rob Bell couldn't even come close and then claimed that it couldn't be done is disturbing at best.

Even more problematic is the content of Bell's "gospel". It doesn't communicate the good news that Jesus Christ, true God and true man, came to earth, lived a perfect life under the Mosaic law and died in our place as our substitute on the cross for our sins and that salvation is a free gift offered by God to all who would repent and believe this good news.

Bell's "gospel" isn't really good news at all. It is convoluted, hard to understand and doesn't touch on any of the real Biblical themes and content of the Biblical Gospel.

Sadly, I think Rob Bell's "militant mysticism" has caused him to wander off the Christian reservation and he and those foolish enough to follow him with this UNgospel are adrift at sea without a rudder.

It's time to pray for Bell and call him to repentance and the forgiveness of sins offered in Jesus' name through the true Biblical gospel found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-6.

Thank you to Adrian Piazza

Adrian Piazza is a reader of Extreme Theology and in a beautiful gesture ran the meditation that I wrote yesterday through Wordle.

Thank you Adrian!