{"id":6288,"date":"2009-11-20T06:03:35","date_gmt":"2009-11-20T11:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/20\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6\/"},"modified":"2009-11-20T06:03:35","modified_gmt":"2009-11-20T11:03:35","slug":"8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/20\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Little Foxes that Spoil the Church’s Vines 6"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Fox.jpg\"<\/span>I apologize that the comments were turned off on this post this morning \u2026 not sure how that happened, but it did.<\/b><\/p>\n


<\/b>\n
On the plane yesterday the man sitting with us told us he was \u201craised Jewish\u201d but that he went to a college where he had to take some Christianity, so he\u2019s got some Christianity in him, and then he said it\u2019s all rolled up into an overriding Zen Buddhism<\/a>. There you have it: New Agers make up their own religion. True or not?<\/b>\n
\n
In their new book, Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>, Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford examine cultural scripts that work against the gospel work in the Church.\u00a0\n
<\/div>\n
Our theme today: new age. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Motto: \u201cAre we gods or God\u2019s?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I\u2019ll be honest, this theme doesn\u2019t interest me. I don\u2019t find New Age stuff even interesting \u2026 but this chapter got \u00a0me interested. Basically it argues humans need to find their inner divinity, God-consciousness or Higher Self. Knowledge of the inner dimension is salvation \u2014 it has an undeniable gnostic strain. It is monistic \u2014 unity of material an<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
So what do we learn:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
1. An emphasis on the spiritual dimension of life.<\/div>\n
2. Reveals some common problems with institutional religion.<\/div>\n
3. Questions Enlightenment\u2019s rationality as the gatekeeper.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But they see fundamental problems in:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
1. Flip flopping from materialism to spirit \u2014 a bit like transcendentalism.<\/div>\n
2. Self-salvation.<\/div>\n
3. It can\u2019t justify its larger social agenda.<\/div>\n
4. Tends to the irrational.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I apologize that the comments were turned off on this post this morning \u2026 not sure how that happened, but it did. On the plane yesterday the man sitting with us told us he was \u201craised Jewish\u201d but that he went to a college where he had to take some Christianity, so he\u2019s got some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n8 Little Foxes that Spoil the Church's Vines 6<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I apologize that the comments were turned off on this post this morning ... not sure how that happened, but it did.On the plane yesterday the man sitting\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/20\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"8 Little Foxes that Spoil the Church's Vines 6\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I apologize that the comments were turned off on this post this morning ... not sure how that happened, but it did.On the plane yesterday the man sitting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/20\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-20T11:03:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/Fox.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/20\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/20\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6\/\",\"name\":\"8 Little Foxes that Spoil the Church's Vines 6\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-20T11:03:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-11-20T11:03:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"I apologize that the comments were turned off on this post this morning ... not sure how that happened, but it did.On the plane yesterday the man sitting\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/20\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/20\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/20\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-churchs-vines-6\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"8 Little Foxes that Spoil the Church’s Vines 6\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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