Happy One-Year Anniversary!

It’s been one year since Jon Barnes designed and launched my new website. I’ve been very happy with it. Apparently you have been too, as visits have quadrupled compared to the former site.

My Top Ten Blog Posts: What You’re Reading

Here are the ten blog posts that you read this past year at RPM Ministries.

1. Let’s Roll!: Not surprisingly, my 9-11 post on Lisa Beamer was my most read blog post of the year.

2. Stephen Hawking: Brilliant, but Foolish: Thousands of you wanted to read a biblical perspective on why one of today’s most brilliant men is also a fool.

3. Brian McLaren, I Accept Your Invitation: I penned a multi-part series sharing my biblical counseling perspective on Brian McLaren’s latest book. If I combined all the parts in this blog series, it would have been the most read of any of my posts.

4. A Biblical Model of Grieving: My 1,000-word summary of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses became a compelling read.

5. 100 Fastest Growing Churches: This likely says a great deal about the power of being linked to by The Gospel Coalition and Tim Challies!

6. Report on the Historic Biblical Counseling Coalition: You were quite interested in my summary of the Biblical Counseling summit. There’s much more to come in 2011. Stand by!

7. My Top Ten Books of 2009: Top ten lists are ever-popular, as were this one and the next one.

8. My Top Ten Trends in Biblical Counseling: You wanted to know what I thought the top ten trends over the past ten years had been related to the biblical counseling movement.

9. How Do You Break the Stranglehold of Strongholds?: We all want biblical wisdom regarding spiritual victory.

10. Every Life Has a Story: This was my favorite post of the year. I’m a little surprised it was not higher on your reading list…perhaps because it was posted somewhat recently.

Top Dozen Site Landing Pages

Here are the pages on my site that you’ve visited the most over the past year.

1. Home Page: Not surprising that you would land here. Based upon the time on this page, most of you were reading my blog from this page.

2. Free Resources: I’m delighted that so many people have benefited from the hundreds of free resources that I offer. Keep it up.

3. Store: Of course, I’m pleased, too, that so many of you are benefiting from my books, e-books, and e-documents. Did you know that in addition to my books, I have nearly a dozen other e-books and documents? It’s also nice to know that over 90% of the people who visited the store, then purchased a resource from RPM Ministries.

4. Writing: God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: Thousands of you wanted to know more about my latest book—I’m sure many of you read the free sample material, the 1,000-word summary, and the top three dozen quotes of note from the book.

5. Schedule (Where’s Bob?): This one surprised me, but apparently a lot of you want to know Where’s Bob? Perhaps you thought it was a game like Where’s Waldo?

6. Book Reviews: With over 500 reviews now, this has been your sixth most popular destination.

7. Consulting: Another surprise, but maybe I shouldn’t have been, since I’m doing a lot of consulting, especially about 4E Ministry—Equipping Counselors for the Local Church.

8-11. Writing: If I combined these (Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, Sacred Friendships), they would be much higher on the list. I’ve had a boatload (big boat—luxury liner) of visits to each of these pages that provide summaries of each of my books, including free sample chapters.

12. Reject Shrinking Thinking: This was part of what started as a mini-series on overcoming anxiety, but became a maxi-series with scores of posts.

Join the Conversation

What was your favorite blog post this past year on RPM Ministries?

Brian McLaren Says Evangelicals Dislike Him

Brian McLaren has been a frequent guest blogger on the Huffington Post lately. Yesterday (April 5, 2010), he penned a post with the intriguing title, Why Do Evangelicals Dislike Me So Much?

Why Does Brian Dislike Evangelicals So Much?

As I read Brian’s article, the question kept coming up, “Why does Brian dislike Evangelicals so much?” He describes Evangelical leaders as “testy under stress,” “multiplying their power,” “keeping moderate elements afraid,” “the most strident inquisitors,” etc.

He seems to be equally disdainful of Evangelical “followers.” He compares people disagreeing with his theology to subjects in Milgram’s classic authority/pain experiment. In the experiment, actors posing as authority figures commanded subjects repeatedly to press the pain and punishment button on their innocent fellow subjects. It supposedly demonstrates the extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any length on the command of an authority figure.

Brian then claims that the reason so many Evangelicals “dislike” him is because they’re afraid of their authority figures and therefore, like the Milgram subjects, keep pressing the punishment button to hurt Brian. According to Brian, these fearful, robotic, submissive, mindless followers become “agents in a terrible destructive process.” Out of fear of being zapped for daring to agree with Brian, these followers compliantly “press the punishment button when anyone dares to differ by giving the ‘wrong’ answer.”

In Brian’s thinking, they subject Brian and his followers to the pain buzzer in many ways. “Our motives are judged, our words are twisted, our proposals are misinterpreted, and our books are even banned or burned. But we aren’t complaining; we’re just sayin.’”

So…anyone who disagrees with Brian…dislikes him, wants to punish him, judges his motives, twists his words, burns his books—and does it all either to maintain power (if one is a “leader”) or out of fear of authority (if one is a “follower”). Not a pretty portrayal of Evangelical leaders and followers.

Another Version of the Story

There’s something a tad sad when a rich, successful, white male plays the victim card. And it’s very sad when he plays the victimizer card against anyone who disagrees with his theology.

I’ve read a good deal and written a good deal about Brian’s latest book, A New Kind of Christianity. Not a single thing I’ve read, nor a single thing I’ve written has even had even a hint of dislike for Brian, no questioning of his motives (even though he questions the motives of Evangelical leaders and followers), no twisting of words, no banning or burning of books, no desire to inflict pain or punishment.

Could it simply be that some of us, Evangelical leaders and followers alike, have a mind of our own and choose to disagree respectfully and lovingly with Brian? Why is it terribly destructive to disagree with Brian, but totally fine for Brian to disagree with 2,000-years of church history? (See my Final Recap for all the links to my posts where I respond question-by-question to Brian’s new kind of Christianity.)

Join the Conversation

Why do you think Evangelical leaders and “followers” disagree with Brian?

A Conversation about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity

Final Recap: Links to Responses to A New Kind of Christianity

Welcome: I’ve finished blogging my way through a series of responses to Brian McLaren’s book A New Kind of Christianity. My focus has been on pastoral theology or practical theology response. As a pastor, counselor, and professor who equips the church for biblical counseling and spiritual formation, I was asking: “What difference does our response to each question make for how we care like Christ (biblical counseling) and for how we live like Christ (spiritual formation)?”

Final Recap: Word Document Format

I’ve created an edited version of my entire blog series in a Word Document format. It’s free, so I’ve posted it along with my other Free Resources. You can enjoy over 100 free resources for your life and ministry at RPM Ministries. 

Feel free to download and to share my final recap in Word Document format: A Conversation about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity.

Final Recap: Blog Format

If you’ve benefitted from this blog series, and if you think others would benefit also, please feel free to reference this series, link to it on your site, or post it on your site.

Here are all the links in my blog series on A New Kind of Christianity.

• Post # 1: Brian McLaren, I Accept Your Invitation

• Post # 2: A Biblical Counseling Response to Brian McLaren

• Post # 3: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 1: The Narrative Question

• Post # 4: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 2: The Authority Question—The Bible

• Post # 5: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 3: The God Question

• Post # 6: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 4: The Jesus Question

• Post # 7: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 5: The Gospel Question

• Post # 8: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 6: The Church Question

• Post # 9: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 7: The Sex Question

• Post # 10: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 8: The Future Question

• Post # 11: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 9: The Pluralism Question

• Post # 12: Responding to Brian McLaren’s Q # 10: The What Now Question

• Post # 13: Conclusion: The Final Word and the Word After That

Six Views

I’ve also collated other responses and reviews to A New Kind of Christianity.

• 6 Views on Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity

Join the Conversation

Which question do you think is most important and why?

A Conversation about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity

The Final Word: And the Word After That

Welcome: You’re reading the final post, Part 13, of my blog series responding to Brian McLaren’s book A New Kind of Christianity (read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, and Part 12). Many have engaged Brian’s thinking by focusing on a systematic theology response (read 6 Views on Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity for a boatload of links). My focus is on pastoral theology or practical theology. As a pastor, counselor, and professor who equips the church for biblical counseling and spiritual formation, I’m asking: “What difference does our response to each question make for how we care like Christ (biblical counseling) and for how we live like Christ (spiritual formation)?”

The Final Word: I’m Thankful for Brian’s Questions

While it’s obvious that I disagree with many of Brian’s answers, I’m thankful for each of Brian’s questions. I agree 100% with Brian that we should be having deep theological and practical conversations about these ten questions. I won’t repeat them here. I’ve engaged Brian about them for two weeks and thirteen posts.

I’ve not only indicated my theological disagreements along the way, I’ve also shared my “relational disappointment.” I don’t believe the conversation was nearly as inviting as it could have been. I think Brian repeatedly painted extreme stereotypes and pejorative caricatures of others, while consistently painting himself and his views with saintly hues. This not only turns off those Brian is speaking against, it also grossly misinforms those to whom Brian is speaking. Additionally, it’s unfair of Brian, in my opinion, for him to expect others to remain quiet or to response submissively while he attempts to demolish and deconstruct what they consider the bedrock of biblical Christianity.

I understand that there’s a long history here for Brian and some of those who disagree with him. I also know that some who have read A New Kind of Christianity have said, “That’s it. I’m done. There’s no reason even to try to reason together with Brian.” Call me naïve. I’d like to think there could still be a respectful conversation.

I think it would be interesting to read a co-authored book with Brian and someone from “the old kind of Christianity.” I’d envision those two authors engaging their differences candidly and respectfully. I’d expect those two authors to portray each other accurately, even while lovingly and at times forcefully disagreeing. I’d anticipate those two authors exegeting Scriptures—perhaps even the same passages, to support their divergent views.

The Word After That: The Biblical Counseling and Spiritual Formation Perspective—For All the Church

Little did I know what I was signing up for when I volunteered myself to offer a biblical counseling response to Brian’s answers to his ten questions. However, I’m glad I did.

I’m passionate about pastoral theology and practical theology. I think they’re missing ingredients in these conversations. We rightly approach these issues from the “academic” theology perspectives of systematic theology, biblical theology, and exegetical theology. But we often omit the “spiritual” theology perspectives of how a book like A New Kind of Christianity impacts real life and everyday ministry. When we fail to respond to Brian from a practical theology perspective, we further enhance the false caricature and the extreme stereotype that “the old kind of Christianity” is all about academic theology and not also equally about practical theology.

Biblical counseling and spiritual formation are subsets of practical/pastoral/spiritual theology. They include many types of one another ministries: soul care, spiritual direction, spiritual friendship, etc. They go by many names: biblical counseling, Christian counseling, discipleship, mentoring, coaching, etc. Whatever we call them, I trust that as a side benefit of my responses, readers have glimpsed a clearer and a bigger picture of “biblical counseling and spiritual formation.”

Biblical counseling is not simply what happens between two people in an office. Biblical counseling and spiritual formation are ways of thinking about life, ways of doing ministry, and ways of living out the daily Christian life. The biblical counseling perspective on the sufficiency of Scripture has much to offer all Christians. The spiritual formation perspective on progressive sanctification has much to offer the Body of Christ.

The biblical counseling theology of people, problems, and solutions provides robust implications and applications for doing life and being like Christ. The spiritual formation methodology of soul care and spiritual direction provides comprehensive insights for the personal ministry of the Word. They are profitable for all the church.

The Rest of the Story

In my next post, I’ll share a “Final Recap” that includes links to every blog in this series, plus links to other reviews, and a new link to a Word Document version of my entire series.

Join the Conversation

Of everything in A New Kind of Christianity and out of everything in my responses, what do you think has been most important?

A Conversation about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity

Responding to Brian McLaren’s Question # 5: The Gospel Question

Welcome: You’re reading Part 7 of my blog series responding to Brian McLaren’s book A New Kind of Christianity (read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6). Many have engaged Brian’s thinking by focusing on a systematic theology response (visit here for a boatload of links). My focus is on pastoral theology or practical theology. As a pastor, counselor, and professor who equips the church for biblical counseling and spiritual formation, I’m asking: “What difference does our response to each question make for how we care like Christ (biblical counseling) and for how we live like Christ (spiritual formation)?”

The Gospel of Brian

Brian’s trek toward his new kind of Christianity began fifteen years ago when he repented of his belief that the Gospel was about justification by grace through faith (p. 138). He now proclaims that the Gospel is not about solving the problem of the Fall and original sin (p. 139), or about avoiding hell and ascending to heaven after death (p. 139). It is the “good news” of the liberating king who sets God’s people free from oppression (p. 138). The Gospel is helping the poor and the downtrodden, healing the planet, and stopping war (p. 140). The Gospel is the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is the “peace revolution, new love economy, sacred ecosystem, beloved community or society, dream, dance, and movement” (p. 277).

Mike Witter summarizes these two chapters well in his post What Is the Gospel?

“How does Brian think salvation happens? He dismisses penal substitution and justification by grace through faith, but doesn’t offer anything in their place. All that’s left, although he doesn’t spell this out, is that we are saved by following the example of Jesus the liberator, who came to show us how to love our neighbor. Brian’s understanding of sin is insufficiently developed, which leads to a corresponding weakness in his explanation of salvation. He needs to clearly explain what sin is, why everyone has it, and how Jesus saves us from that sin.”

The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul—The Gospel of Jesus

The biblical Gospel can be summarized by four vital components—each central to salvation and to sanctification: justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption.

*Justification offers us forgiveness and cleansing for our sin—Christ’s solution for the penalty of sin—new pardon.

*Reconciliation offers us the way back to God from our state of rebellious relational alienation—Christ’s solution for the partition caused by sin—new peace.

*Regeneration offers us a new nature (as new creations) from our state of total depravity—Christ’s solution for the pollution of sin—new purity.

*Redemption offers us new freedom from enslavement to sin—Christ’s solution to sin’s prison—new power.

For all of Brian’s talk of hope and peace, if there was no original sin, then there’s no need for salvation. Omitting original sin doesn’t bring hope; it results in despair.

Biblical counseling and spiritual formation are Christ-centered and Gospel-Centered. They seek to anwser the age-old question, “How can we change?” I’m unclear what Brian’s answer to that question is. Perhaps it’s that Christ’s example so motivates us that we naturally change.

As any sinner (i.e., all of us) can tell you, change is not natural. It is supernatural. How do people change? We change because we have already been changed—by Christ, through salvation.

Perhaps Brian mistakenly concludes that “the old kind of Christianity” sees salvation as only focused on justification. As vital and absolutely essential as justification is, our complete salvation through Christ equally involves reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption. Without these four “gowns of salvation” we are powerless to change (see Soul Physicians, pages 337-424 for practical teaching on our salvation in Christ).

Brian believes that we can’t get a coherent doctrine of anthropology, sin, and sanctification from Romans (p. 276). Think about those three categories—they’re Creation, Fall, and Redemption. They’re the categories of people, problems, and solutions. To use the systematic theology concepts, they’re anthropology, hamartiology, and soteriology.

They’re each central to biblical counseling and spiritual formation. True biblical psychology is the study of the soul—the nature of human nature (people), the study of what went wrong with the soul—sin (problems), and the study of how God in Christ conquers our spiritual problem—salvation/sanctification (solutions). (See Soul Physicians, 425-499 for how to apply our salvation to our progressive sanctification—growth in grace). Brian’s gospel robs biblical counseling and spiritual formation—robs us blind and leaves us blind.

In the spirit of conversation, I’d ask, Brian, how do people change? Without justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption, Brian, how do you help people to follow Christ’s example? Where do people find the power to live Christlike lives? What is your model of growth in grace? What is your process for progressive sanctification?

The Rest of the Story

In our next blog post, we respond to Brian’s answer to the church question. “What do we do about the church?”

Join the Conversation

How do people change?

A Conversation about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity

Responding to Brian McLaren’s Question # 4: The Jesus Question

Welcome: You’re reading “Part 6” of my blog series responding to Brian McLaren’s book A New Kind of Christianity (read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5). Many have engaged Brian’s thinking by focusing on a systematic theology response (visit here for a boatload of links). My focus is on pastoral theology or practical theology. As a pastor, counselor, and professor who equips the church for biblical counseling and spiritual formation, I’m asking: “What difference does our response to each question make for how we care like Christ (biblical counseling) and for how we live like Christ (spiritual formation)?”

Jesus: A Community Organizer

Early on, Brian asked, “What are the deep problems the original Christian story was trying to solve?” For Brian, the deepest problem is not original sin and relational separation from God. He says the “Fall” is not a fall into sin, depravity, and alienation. Rather, Genesis 3 narrates a “compassionate coming-of-age story” (p. 49). Specifically, Genesis depicts humanity’s movement from hunter-gathering to agriculturalist and city-dweller (p. 50).

It’s against this backdrop that Brian asks, “Who is Jesus and why is he important?” Brian’s clear on who Jesus is not. In the Gospel according to Brian, Jesus did not come to address and remedy the Fall so that we could avoid eternal condemnation due to original sin (p. 128). By eternal life, Jesus is not promising life after death or life in eternal heaven instead of eternal hell (p. 130).

In two chapters, covering sixteen pages, and using over 8,000 words, Brian never once calls Jesus God; never calls Him Savior, and never mentions His crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection in a salvation-from-sin context. However, Brian does save enough words to talk about “his loyal critics” eight times.

When Brian quotes John 1:29 about Jesus being the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, he interprets it to mean not the sacrificial lamb of Leviticus, but the lamb slain in Exodus to liberate people from oppression. The one time Brian mentions Jesus’ death and resurrection, he makes it mean liberation from physical oppression, not from spiritual condemnation. “Jesus and his message have everything to do with poverty, slavery, and a ‘social agenda’” (p. 135). Everything? Really?

For Brian, Jesus came to save us from the sin of oppression, not to save us from the oppression of sin. Read that again. Slowly.

In Brian’s new kind of Christianity, Jesus is our example who models the way of peace. He is a liberator of the oppressed. He is not our Savior from Sin. Jesus is…a community organizer.

Is this a new kind of Christianity or is it the old kind of liberalism? H. Richard Niebuhr aptly described it in 1959, explaining that liberals believe that, “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”

Practical Implication # 1 for Biblical Counseling: Our Greatest Problem Is the Oppression of Sin, Not the Sin of Oppression

Of course, the ultimate practical implication is clear—we’re going to die in our sins with this “Jesus.” I’m struggling to write anything else in today’s blog post. What’s left to say? However, my self-chosen task is to respond with a biblical counseling perspective to Brian’s handling of each of his questions. So I shall continue.

In my book Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, I quote ex-enslaved African American Pastor James W. C. Pennington. Reflecting on his conversion, he seamlessly expresses his understanding of suffering and of sin. Without minimizing for a moment the evils of slavery, he maximizes for all eternity the horrors of his own enslavement to sin and Satan.

“I was a lost sinner and a slave to Satan; and soon I saw that I must make another escape from another tyrant. I did not by any means forget my fellow-bondmen, of whom I had been sorrowing so deeply, and travailing in spirit so earnestly; but I now saw that while man had been injuring me, I had been offending God; and that unless I ceased to offend him, I could not expect to have his sympathy in my wrongs; and moreover, that I could not be instrumental in eliciting his powerful aid in behalf of those for whom I mourned so deeply.”

Our deepest problem is not our emotional woundedness for which we need a therapist. Our deepest problem is not our societal oppression for which we need a community organizer. Our deepest problem is sin—our personal, willful, relational, stubborn, spiritual rebellion against God for which we need a Savior.

Practical Implication # 2 for Biblical Counseling: Even in Facing Suffering (Being Sinned Against), Our Greatest Need is a Suffering Savior

Let’s be clear. Christians should be concerned about social issues, social justice, the needs of the poor and the oppressed. But that’s not the social gospel. The social gospel is no gospel at all—it removes the need for a Savior from sin because it removes sin. Christians practice a Gospel-Centered concern for social issues, believing that our ultimate problem is sin and that those rescued from the sin problem gratefully share the good news of salvation from sin and compassionately meet the needs of the hurting, suffering, wounded, and oppressed.

Let’s also be clear that truly biblical counseling deals both with the sins we have committed (practical implication # 1), and with the evils we have suffered (practical implication # 2). As I frequently say, we live in a fallen world and it often falls on us. That’s why I wrote God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting.

However, even in a biblical sufferology (a biblical theology of suffering), our greatest need is a crucified, resurrected Savior. The Apostle Paul did not want the believers in Corinth to be ignorant of the suffering he endured in Asia Minor. So he candidly shared his heart, explaining that he despaired of life and felt the sentence of death (2 Corinthians 1:8-9a).

Paul doesn’t stop there. He continued. “But this happen to us so that we might not rely upon ourselves, but upon God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9b). The casket of suffering draws us to the empty tomb of our resurrected Savior.

Do we really want to help the oppressed? Do we have deep compassion and empathy for the suffering? Do we have hearts that long to comfort the hurting? Then for goodness sake, don’t practice identity theft on Jesus! Don’t make His eternal existence, life, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, present intercession, and future return simply be about “Jesus meek and mild” the community organizer!

Rev. Pennington got it right. The enslaved, the hurting, the wounded, and the oppressed first and foremost need a Savior from sin. Then they can find healing hope by celebrating the resurrection of their loving, forgiving, reconciling, redeeming Savior. Biblical counseling deals thoroughly with suffering and with sin through a Christ-centered focused on Jesus the God-man. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).

The Rest of the Story

In our next post, we explore the gospel question. Brian asks, “What is the gospel?” We’ll respond to his gospel presentation through the lens of biblical counseling and spiritual formation.

Join the Conversation

What difference does Jesus make for biblical counseling and spiritual formation?