Amazon<\/a>? and 113 of McLaren\u2019s book.)
\nYou ask me the big one: \u201cWhat should I tell my brother?\u201d Here are my suggestions:
\nFirst, pray for him and for his church. Pray for yourself.
\nSecond, your brother \u201caccepts\u201d (you said you thought it was really \u201ccapitulating to\u201d) his pastor\u2019s authority and the decision of the elders, but you think he\u2019ll be miserable. When a group study had done what you say they did \u2014 compare key doctrines and show differences between these two thinkers and then chart out all the things everyone liked and disliked \u2014 you know they\u2019ve vested serious interest in one of the most important things Christians can do: think critically together about current trends in light of biblical theology. For the life of me \u2026 I wonder if the elders might have been better off participating with that study group.
\nPastoral authority is a double-edged sword, sometimes used to help and other times improperly to divide the body. But I don\u2019t like that pastors or elders would put some books on a ban when at least (you didn\u2019t mention others) one of them (your brother) was a pastoral leader in the church \u2014 and the group was thinking critically and not naively about the books. And the minute you ban a book you\u2019ve got yourself a problem \u2014 you increase interest in the book and you drive some folks away. (Which you say the pastor thinks is a \u201csign of election,\u201d or non-election \u2014 which I\u2019m guessing is what you meant.)
\nI think the way to deal with Rob Bell and Brian McLaren is to read them, look them in the eye, assess their eyes against the Bible, and render evaluation. Tell me, Holly, if you could \u201cban\u201d one thing for Christians what would it be? Would it be Rob Bell or Brian McLaren or something or someone else? (I\u2019ll be interested in your answer if you take this on as a serious question \u2014 and if you do I know you\u2019ll have lots of interesting things to say.)
\nWhat I\u2019m saying is this: the pastor and the elders, probably for pastoral reasons, have overstepped their limits. Leaders pastor and guide. The only way for lay folks to grow into their gifts with responsibility is to learn to think biblically for themselves \u2014 and banning doesn\u2019t allow it.
\nThird, now here\u2019s what I suggest you do: I suggest you ask your brother to spend some time in prayer and then meet with a mentor (outside that church) and then figure out how to raise the issue of banning books with the pastor and the elder board in a non-threatening (if firm) way. It could be a weekend retreat where he shares with them what they learned, where they differed, and how he thinks this is actually training Christians for critical engagement in our world.
\nAnd I suggest this: that you ask your brother to figure out a way to get the pastor and elders to think about this question: Why in the world is Rob Bell so attractive to so many young Christians? (In other words, get them to think critically about Rob Bell.) And then get them to do the same with McLaren. It has probably occurred to you that, if they do read Bell and McLaren, they just might come up with the same observations your brother\u2019s group came up with. Now I\u2019m getting mischievous: if that happens, you might get your brother to suggest to the pastor that he is doing a good job teaching the lay folks if they are coming to such similar results.
\nI\u2019ve got to leave; Kris and I are about to go to the airport.
\nYou know what I know: my suggestions are ideal. There is a real chance that this could lead to a breakdown in relationships. I hope they can pursue working together, getting beyond differences, but sometimes these things don\u2019t work out. New wine often bursts the old wineskins. It should. Empowering lay folk through good teaching and critical thinking skills is a good thing.
\nBlessings,
\nScot<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Holly, What you tell me about your older brother doesn\u2019t surprise me, but I agree with you that it is really sad. It\u2019s not very often that things like this are so clear \u2014 your brother is working in an evangelical church, he has some emerging leanings because he\u2019s a youth pastor, he and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1736],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emerging-movement"],"yoast_head":"\n
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