When Doug Wilson posted a book review of the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, I confess a certain element of anticipatory hand rubbing. My thoughts, had they been collated, would have amounted to "hoo boy, another one bites the dust", and perhaps long hours of archived James White podcasts have conditioned me to expect the divisive, "stand over there, away from me" approach from any Reformed perspective. Wilson's positive review left me stymied, but I think it signals an alternative perspective to dialogue within the Christian camp, one which I haven't yet made my mind up on yet.
There are some in the "big tent" of Christianity who look to engage in what our postmodern college professors trained us to call "othering" at every turn. "Oh, you aren't a (Calvinist, Arminian, Credo-baptist, ESV reader, RC Sproul fan, 1689 London Confession adherent, supralapsarian)? Well IIIII'M sure glad that IIII have all the answers". It's a process I am prone to, and, were I to be honest, is more prevalent in the "New Reformed" of the 21st century than elsewhere. The extremes of this viewpoint can replace smugness with outright contempt. Taken too far, this mindset shifts from "I'm sure glad I have all the answers" to "I'm sure glad I don't have to share heaven with THOSE people". Seven things are detestable to the Lord our God, and one of them is sowing division among brothers (Proverbs 6:19). While it can be fun to wave the flag in support of one's position, it's vital that we ascribe to Christian unity the value that Scripture does.
Nor does it let us off the hook to paraphrase the Apostles in asking "and who IS my brother", because (unsurprisingly) Scripture tells us that, too. Paul, in Romans 8, saying that the elect are conformed to Christ, identifies Jesus as the first among many brothers, but in doing so he echoes Christ himself in Matt. 12:47-50. What unites brothers is their unity in Christ. We share his image in his resurrection, in baptism, his death, and in the Gospel, his message. All who cling to the cross for salvation are our brothers in Christ, and profession of that faith should supersede issues of doctrine, as Paul admonished the Corinthians. And this returns me to Wilson and Warren.
As a glass-half full type, Wilson is prone to see the good in the works of his fellow Christians, whereas as a "what is this glass doing here, I ordered a hamburger" type, I often see only disagreement. When Wilson reads Warren, he says "look how deft the prose and apt the use of various translations!". I say "yeah, he needs those to aid his evangellyfish obscuring of the gospel". And here is where I and the Reformed, need to watch themselves. It is all too easy to transfer "gospel" to my opinion, "brothers" to people who agree with us, and "true religion" to "let me see your Reformation Study Bible". The Kingdom of God has all sorts of weirdos in it, because the bride of the Lamb still has the veil on. It's still one Kingdom and one bride, and God is doing work with, and in, all of it. Cling to the Reformed faith, sure, but acknowledge that God is drawing straight lines with crooked sticks. Crooked sticks like Rick Warren, and you, and me.
I do want to close this, the inaugural post of this new blog project, with a note of caution. Like most issues, dialogue between religious folks has more than one extreme, and both ends are pointy. The other poky bit, in this case, comes from none other than The Most Humble Man in the World (tm), who doesn't always praise false religions, but when he does...I pause to raise the image of, as 16th century Ottoman galleys circle Italy, a Roman bishop standing and shouting "hey you know what would help us with this Islam thing? Dialoguing with them about shared values to confirm them solidly in their identity!" The point here is not the continuing slide of the Vatican into utter postmodernism, although this is a striking example (note esp. the outright pelagianism in 254!), but to caution the Federal Vision, Doug, and others who point out, correctly, that we share a Triune God and a baptism into the death of that God, with Catholics. Catholics, at least now, profess to be our brothers, and brothers some of them may be! But the Judaizers of Galatia said they were too. The tent of Christianity is big: but it's big in such a way that it can only be filled by Christ. Unity is important, and so are our brothers, but that brotherhood flows only from the death of that First among us...and the well cannot be traded for the water.
~JS
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