The Church and Practical Christianity

I recently listened to Dr. Bob Botsford’s two popular sermon series on “I want a Better Marriage” and about the “Emergent Church.”

To be honest, I totally planked the first subject. I wanted to have a better marriage, however on two occasions I failed miserably. Listening to Dr. Bob Botsford’s sermon series on that has somehow rekindled that desire. In fact, he was right when he said that:

… if your marriage is lacking you're not alone! The truth is, since the Garden of Eden marriage has struggled. The marriages that have succeeded have not done so apart from lots of hard work.

I must confess I did not put much of the work he mentioned. Or, we? Okay, I am going overboard there.

On the second subject, he dwelt more on how the popular emergent church’s views and theology differ greatly from what the bible teaches. It was an eye-opener. As much as I want to echo what I gleaned from the series, suffice that I quote Scot McKnight's (Christianity Today) description of the emergent church and let you decide to dig deeper:

“It is said that emerging Christians (or Emergent Church -mine) confess their faith like mainliners—meaning they say things publicly they don't really believe. They drink like Southern Baptists—meaning, to adapt some words from Mark Twain, they are teetotalers when it is judicious. They talk like Catholics—meaning they cuss and use naughty words. They evangelize and theologize like the Reformed—meaning they rarely evangelize, yet theologize all the time. They worship like charismatics—meaning with their whole bodies, some parts tattooed. They vote like Episcopalians—meaning they eat, drink, and sleep on their left side. And, they deny the truth—meaning they've got a latte-soaked copy of Derrida in their smoke- and beer-stained backpacks.”

I have been a church-goer all my life, until I had a “bump’ in my belief. I never really completely abandoned my belief, for they are well knitted in my spiritual life. However, my viewpoint shifted in the more pragmatic aspects of Christianity which most professing Evangelicals tend to neglect. A good example of which is the strengthening (emphasis on) of the home and bond of marriage. And also making the church as not only the center of worship rites but of advocacy for relevant truths, like giving an enlightenment on what’s really going with the now popular ‘emergent church.’ So as not to confuse the laity.

My sense.

By the way, if you are near San Diego county, California, you might want to find a Church in Rancho Santa Fe.