{"id":1849,"date":"2011-03-04T10:28:54","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T18:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2011\/03\/04\/news-flash-conservative-evangelicals-still-not-fundamentalists\/"},"modified":"2011-03-04T10:28:54","modified_gmt":"2011-03-04T18:28:54","slug":"news-flash-conservative-evangelicals-still-not-fundamentalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2011\/03\/04\/news-flash-conservative-evangelicals-still-not-fundamentalists\/","title":{"rendered":"news flash: conservative evangelicals *still* not fundamentalists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My headline may come as a shock to some. That would be those who equate talking about error with separating from error. But, sadly, while conservative evangelicals are more bold in their criticism and rebuke of error, they can\u2019t quite bring themselves to treat false teachers as the Bible calls for them to be treated.<\/p>\n<p>A case in point is the recent brouhaha over <a href=\"http:\/\/thegospelcoalition.org\/blogs\/justintaylor\/2011\/02\/26\/rob-bell-universalist\/\" target=\"_blank\">Justin Taylor\u2019s rebuke<\/a> of Rob Bell. Already many pixels have been brought to bear on the specifics of the case, some in support of Taylor, others attacking him. One interesting little detail is noted by <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.christianitytoday.com\/ctliveblog\/archives\/2011\/02\/rob_bells_book.html\" target=\"_blank\">Christianity Today\u2019s Liveblog<\/a>, but is largely overlooked by most commenters, and is the point that launches my post today.<\/p>\n<p>This is the detail noted by CT:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Taylor updated his post, changing some wording and deleting a reference to Cor. 11:14-15: \u201cEven Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.\u201d Instead, Taylor ended the post with the following paragraph: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Let\u2019s remember to pray. Rob Bell needs to know and teach the liberating gospel of grace\u2014including that Christ absorbed the Father\u2019s wrath on behalf of those who trust in him and repent of their sins. And there are tens of thousands of folks who look to Rob Bell as a biblical teacher and leader. May God give much mercy. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Doesn\u2019t that demonstrate my point about conservative evangelicalism? Almost\u2026 but not quite\u2026 separation.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>What does the Bible say we are to do with false teachers?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Romans 16:17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. <\/li>\n<li>2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I don\u2019t know any passage that admonishes us to pray for false teachers. Peter says of them:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2 Peter 2:12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unfortunately, the conservative evangelical is yet afflicted with the tolerance syndrome of new evangelicalism and can\u2019t quite bring himself to persist in the forthright language of Scripture.<\/p>\n<p>Pray for false teachers? I think not. Pray instead for those poor souls who are duped by them.<\/p>\n<h5>And about those conservative evangelicals\u2026<\/h5>\n<p>Are we trying to kid ourselves, fellow fundamentalists? The instincts are all wrong on their side. If we can be accused of having separation on a hair trigger, it seems one must go an extremely long way before the conservative evangelical will pull the trigger at all. Their phasers are always set on \u2018stun\u2019, to borrow another metaphor.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll have another post up shortly that illustrates the same point.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline\" title=\"don_sig2\" alt=\"don_sig2\" src=\"http:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/don_sig21.png\" width=\"150\" height=\"50\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My headline may come as a shock to some. That would be those who equate talking about error with separating from error. But, sadly, while conservative evangelicals are more bold in their criticism and rebuke of error, they can\u2019t quite bring themselves to treat false teachers as the Bible calls for them to be treated. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[105,71,44],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2fYWj-tP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}