Re: "God" and "Emerging" (was RE: [asa]... )

On 6/23/06, Janice Matchett <janmatch@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> At 03:25 PM 6/22/2006, Rich Blinne wrote:
>
> On 6/22/06, Janice Matchett <janmatch@earthlink.net> wrote:
> .......
> @ Of prime importance to me (as with all right-thinking Christians), is how
>
> one defines the God head. Most of us won't be interested in how "emerging"
> is defined by professing Christians in science until we first find out how
> they define "God".
> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1653369/posts ~
> Janice
>
> Here's your answer. Despite the sermon in question, the 75th GC
> formally got it right.
>
> D069
> Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 75th General
> Convention acknowledges the authority of the triune God, exercised
> through Scripture. ~ Rich
>
> @ "Triune God", huh?
>
> You need to get out more. :) Don't you know that these days, "It all
> depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." Postmoderns allow each person to
> make up his own "truth" as he goes along -- and that includes the definition
> of "Triune God".

I am aware of postmodernism and am also familiar with its M.O. If this
really was a postmodern statement it would look like this:

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 75th General
Convention acknowledges the authority of the triune God, exercised
through the Holy Spirit.

For example, when Louie Crew spoke against B033 he said it would "cut
the tongue out of the Holy Spirit". The postmoderns do not appeal to a
different interpretation of Scripture. Rather, they bypass it
altogether. What was agreed to has God's authority mediated by
Scripture contra postmodernism. The original form of this resolution
was proposed by Canon Kendell Harmon, who is one of the conservatives.
The purpose of the resolution was to conform to Windsor that the
actions of TEC be grounded in Scripture rather than the subjective
vagaries of postmodernism. While I found the original resolution
superior, the resolution that passed is nonetheless orthodox and
conformed to the purpose raised by Canon Harmon.

All of this is not to say that there are not disturbing trends in the
mainline denominations. The PB-elect's sermon about mother Jesus I
find deeply troubling. I guess you could make the argument from the
descriptions of God in Scripture having nurturing characteristics of a
mother. But, given our postmodern society and all the conflict rife in
TEC the language shows at best a lack of care particularly when
orthodox Primates are parsing every phrase of the PB-elect.

As for the PCUSA's action this is a legitimate cause for concern and I
noted that to you in our private correspondence. Some things should be
noted, however:

1. The actions of one denomination should not be imputed to another.
2. The report did not change the orthodox formulation of the Trinity
in the context of baptism.
3. Most importantly, the report was RECEIVED and not APPROVED.
(http://www.layman.org/layman/news/2006-general-assembly/trinity-paper-is-received.htm)

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Received on Fri Jun 23 12:06:14 2006