Tuesday, May 01, 2007

More Controversy

This blog would probably not even exist if it wasn't for Bishop N T Wright and Pastor Mark Driscoll. Both these men, in their own very different ways, have encouraged me to dig deeply into the scriptures in a fresh and new way. Ironically, although they would probably disagree with each other on many topics, taken separately in moderate doses, both men provide a wealth of great teaching and preaching.

In what appears as another wave of controversy to sweep the Western Evangelical church, both Wright and Driscoll are again making headlines.

Wright: Theological Rock StarWright: According to Adrian, the Presbyterian Church in America have recently concluded that Wright is Wrong, primarily because what he is suggesting is contrary to the Westminster Confession of Faith. To those that have read Wright, this comes as no real surprise. Wright is arguing for the reformed church to be always reforming, and if you reform something, its clearly not going to fit into what came before.

Driscoll is another chap that would repeat the mantra of Semper Reformanda, although perhaps he would see this reformission more in terms of methodology than theology. However, Mark has been causing waves again, this time by releasing a controversial and subsequently "banned" church planting video to be shown at the National New Church Conference (Florida, USA). According to Mark: "Apparently the video was shown at the event, was well received by the attendees, and then criticized by Bill Hybels from the stage.". Check out Mark's take on it, and be sure to watch the video! For an alternative view on the issue, check out Ben Arment's blog.

update (02/05/07): For a final wrap-up of the Driscoll video carry-on, see TallSkinnyKiwi, who was at the conference and sets the record straight for us.


Further update (14/05/07): Seems like the video was "banned" after all. See Bob Blog for details. Having now seen the video myself, I can't really see what all the fuss is about. I get the impression that if Jeremiah or one of the OT prophets were around today, we would all be blogging how offensive he was!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

the words storm and teacup spring to mind :)

Alastair said...

quite :-) But I do enjoy hyping it up a little to make for amusing reading...

Anonymous said...

"The least likely person to go to church in the United States of America is a young man in his twenties. These are guys who have absolutely made a wreck of everything. They're bangin' their girlfriends, they are guys who are blowing all their money, staying up all night playing World of Warcraft, finding free porn on the internet and trying to figure out how to get a bigger subwoofer into their retarded car." LOL! Classic Driscoll!! Having said that, it strikes me that there are considerably worse things wrong with the world, anti the Kingdom, than these guys and their dosser lifestyles....!

Alastair said...

Globally, of course! And you right, this is classic hilarious border-line offensive Driscoll! But look at it this way: most churches simply ignore the needs, lifestyle, language and subculture of young people, and this, in Seattle at least, has resulted in a huge lack of young men in the church. He has completely turned that around at Mars Hill...and in context, he is talking about young men in a church that should be aspiring to leadership, not "bangin' their girlfriends" :-)

Al said...

Hey, I guess that one of us must be the other's doppelganger! My name is also Alastair Roberts and I am studying Theology in the University of St. Andrews. I am also a fan of NTW. I really don't know whether to be amused or disturbed... :)

I blog at http://alastair.adversaria.co.uk/.

Alastair said...

Thanks, Alastair. I did stumble across your blog before, but it hadn't clicked that your surname was also the same as mine! I've also commented on your blog with some more disturbing details of our joined lives. :-)

Anonymous said...

http://blogs.king5.com/citizenrain/2007/11/controversy_brewing_at_seattle.html