Jun
22
2012
When Dialogue Avoids Truth
Thomas Oden on the problem with the mainline church’s infatuation with dialogue:
Lowercase orthodox believers are not seeking a debating society that would aspire to be a religious version of the United Nations. They do not see organic union as the final objective, especially if that objective is reduced to rhetorical evasion and organizational tinkering. What they want to see is the living confession of Jesus Christ transforming human, personal, and social experience. Wherever they see that, they know instantly from the heart their deep affinity with it. Wherever they don’t hear that, they know inwardly how alien and distant are these temptations.
The seductions of dialogue typically draw believers toward subjective feelings, mutual congratulation, and institutional horse-trading. They thrive on negotiation or arbitration models of interaction. They thereby draw us far away from the truth that is declared in Jesus Christ in whom all believers are called to participate by faith. So it should not be surprising that classic Christian believers tend to regard undisciplined dialogue as a temptation…
Confessing Christians have a long history of experience with the frustration and futility of such undisciplined dialogue not ordered under the written Word. It less often leads to the question of truth than to the question of how we “feel,” and how we can accommodate or negotiate our competing interests. That is different from the question of truth announced in the gospel, which alone engenders the unity of believers.
If the central question of Christian unity for classic Christian believers is the truth of the gospel, then the apostolic testimony made known in Jesus Christ is the first step toward unity. All other dialogue, however altruistic it may appear, is truly a diversion, a pretension of searching for truth, a ruse that substitutes narcissistic talk for integrity. What seems an innocent and generous invitation to dialogue actually amounts to a disposed predetermination to replace the truth question with what we “feel” about our own experience. In this way dialogue becomes an instrument of manipulation already shaped by the wrong premises. Global orthodox believers seek unity in the truth, no unity apart from truth, not unity as a substitute for the truth, but unity in the truth of the revealed Word. (Turning Around the Mainline, 66-67).
6 Comments
(Turning Around the Mainline, 66-67).
Any mainlines ever been turned around in the last 100 years?
@Truth Unites…and Divides,
Are you asking the question, “Any mainlines (denominations) ever been turned around in the last 100 years?” If you mean denominations the answer is yes. The Southern Baptist Convention was becoming extremely liberal in the 20th century. When the late Dr. Adrian Rogers became president in the late 1980s and early nineties they brought the denomination back under the authority of Scripture. It was in incredible turn around.
It all depends on the nature and end game of the conversation, doesn’t it?
After all, it all began with a conversation:
“Did God really say…?”
Contrast this with a conversation regarding Christian liberty from a humility of “I do not know the Bible very well and haven’t been a Christian very long. Does it say anything about….?”
If the goal is to obey and honor God because you love Him, the conversation is probably worthwhile.
If the goal is to figure out where the llast line of acceptableness is with God so that you can ride that line because you love the thing or activity and want to ensure you can do that and still have God on the side, it is probably not worthwhile.
Hi Faithworks,
I actually was aware of the turnaround within the Southern Baptist Convention, and I thought the turnaround began under the God-honoring leadership of Dr. Albert Mohler (not to take anything away from Dr. Adrian Rogers).
IIRC, there was a loud wailing and gnashing from the liberals when Mohler cleaned house.
I don’t know if there’s a mainline denomination right now where Biblically-faithful Christians have the institutional authority to rid their mainline denominational temple of liberal money-changers.
I am a seminary student, working on my MA in Christian Counseling at Gordon-Conwell, through their distance program. I grew up in and around some of the most liberal denominations in the country. Oden hit the nail on the head with this analysis. Thanks for posting this article. Take care; God bless.
[...] – When Dialogue Avoids Truth: Kevin DeYoung shares a wise word from Thomas Oden. “If the central question of Christian unity for classic Christian believers is the truth of the gospel, then the apostolic testimony made known in Jesus Christ is the first step toward unity. All other dialogue, however altruistic it may appear, is truly a diversion, a pretension of searching for truth, a ruse that substitutes narcissistic talk for integrity.” [...]