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Comment from Understand The Times:
Last week I attended the Rethink Conference at the Crystal Cathedral
co-hosted by Erwin Mc Manus and Robert Schuller. While at the
conference I visited the Fuller Seminary booth and discussed
my concerns about the ecumenical direction Fuller President Richard
J. Mouw seems to be headed with regard to unity with the Roman
Catholic Church.
I requested a meeting with President Mouw in order to discuss
these important issues in light of the factual information we
have documented in my books Faith Undone and Anther Jesus: The
Eucharistic Christ and the New Evangelization. I also sent a
copy of Faith Undone to the person manning the Fuller Booth.
The following article authored by Mouw for Christianity Today
reflects Mouw's affinity for ecumenical untie with Rome. All
Bible believing Christians should contact Fuller Theological
Seminary and communicate their concerns if they have concerns.
Following is the personal letter that I sent Dr. Mouw:
Dear President Mouw,
I would like to have a meeting with you to discuss my concerns
about the Roman Catholic New Evangelization Program as well as
the Emerging Church movement. Please let me know when this could
happen at your earliest convenience. I am presently in the Philippines.
I will be in southern California the first two weeks in February.
It seems that Fuller Theological Seminary is not aware of these
two trends (doctrines of demons) which lead to Rome and are leading
many who once had a Bible based faith towards the apostasy described
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
Sincerely in Christ,
Roger Oakland
Understand The Times
Contact
by phone -The Office of Public Relations - 626-584-5367
or President Mouw by e-mail - pres- asst@dept.fuller.edu
January 25 - Spiritual Consumerism's Upside - Why church shopping
may not be all bad.
Richard J. Mouw
FULL ARTICLE: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/ja nuary/29.50.html?start=2
Why church shopping may not be all bad.
I am presently co-chairing, on behalf of the Presbyterian Church
(USA), the officially sponsored dialogue between representatives
of the Roman Catholic Church and four denominations in the Reformed
tradition. In a sense, I am the most ecumenical member of the
dialogue, having belonged at one time in my life to three of
the four sponsoring Reformed denominations: I was raised in a
parsonage of the Reformed Church in America, then belonged for
17 years-during my time on the Calvin College faculty-to the
Christian Reformed Church, and am now a member of a PC(USA) congregation.
Furthermore, my wife and I often attend services in a local Episcopal
parish. So when I hear people refer disparagingly to "church
shoppers," I feel that I need to defend my own shopping.
To the degree, then, that there is anything to this charge of
consumerism, I would guess that I am the sort of Christian who
participates with a fairly clear conscience in a part of the
Christian world where that kind of thing is regularly on display.
In fact, I view the pattern that the anti-consumerists criticize
as manifesting important strengths.
Anti-consumerist elitism?
At the very least, we need to be careful that we are not betraying
an elitist bias with the way we toss around the "consumerism"
label. The consumption of sermons and worship styles by an ordinary
Christian family looking for an enriching spiritual life may
not be all that different from the scholars' consumption of theologies
and liturgies. That has led me to remark on occasion-and only
half jokingly-that more and more of our theological schools have
become "seeker seminaries." I do not consider that
to be a regrettable development. I do not want to disparage the
ministries of those who have followed a more traditional path.
I have been blessed by pastors who have never had a question
as to what denomination they might serve. But we can no longer
take that kind of path for granted. Increasingly, the question
of denominational affiliation is a matter of choice, even for
those who are preparing for significant church leadership.
Healthy spiritual consumerism
The Roman church, perhaps more than any other, has encouraged
many different spiritual flowers to flourish in its ecclesial
garden-indeed, it has even been willing to live with considerable
structural (and ecclesiological) messiness, as anyone knows who
is familiar with the many stories of tensions between, for example,
abbots and local diocesan bishops. A significant feature of the
Roman Catholic pattern of spiritual shopping-around is the concept
of "special vocation," which looms large in Catholic
environs. A person has a special vocation to join the Jesuits
or the Sisters of Charity, and this notion of an individual vocation
is regularly linked to a collective vocation. In joining the
Benedictines, for example, one joins a communal enterprise of
living out a way of life characterized by such things as celibacy,
stability, contemplation, and poverty. Other vocational communities
have different callings to cultivate their own unique blends
of disciplines and virtues.
This strikes me as a way of thinking in positive terms about
the exploration of spiritual and theological options. And I would
portray the choice of a family to move from the local Methodist
congregation to a new-style congregation that features contemporary
worship in similar terms. What may appear to some as a consumerist
decision may in fact be a serious exploration of their family's
special vocation. I see these vocational explorations as an exciting
feature of contemporary religious life. We should celebrate the
diversity of our Christian landscape, manifested ...in the existence
of Lutheranism, Vineyard Fellowships, and Stone-Campbell congregations.
If such diversity encourages a consumerist approach to the spiritual
quest, so be it.
Sincerely,
Roger Oakland
Understand The Times, International
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email: roakland@aol.com
web: http://www.understandthetimes.org |