welcome to the story.

This is an excerpt from a web community that I'm a part of. Its basically an online dialogue about issues that are going on in the emerging church. The communtiy is called The Emergent Village. The dialogue is as follows and within we are discussing the Postmodern versus Modern battle that is oftentimes manifested within the Christian community. I am eggnog42. tonyj 12/13/02 4:15 PM Ha! Seriously, why do so many evangelicals get so bent out of shape when someone threatens their beloved "absolute" truth? posberg 12/14/02 2:01 PM More Love More Power I think many churches have been singing this song to long. The concept of "my" absolute truth provides people or organizations the false feeling of power, and control. madison 12/18/02 12:34 AM is it even possible to talk about this i haven't read younger evangelicals yet but robert webber seems to think that there is a barrier between moderns and post-whatevers that is impossible to break through. i definitely know it's difficult. but perhaps more than power is it impossible for them to even understand our perspective without their whole world crumbling around them? skcoop63 12/19/02 9:30 AM Question Is it absolutely wrong to murder? eggnog42 12/19/02 9:33 AM the same goes for us it is also equally hard for us to understand their view without our world crumbling apart. we have to be careful in our terminology and our practices that we don't turn this into a "us" versus "them" battle. i know it can be hard when the modern way seems to be a bit more close-minded in their approach. but at the same time we have to be careful that we don't use their attitude as justification for attacking moderns who view the world with a lens different than our own. joncarltonshirley 12/20/02 1:05 AM why is it so hard? why is it so hard for us to at least embrace what and who has gone before us? The grumblings sounding from our post-????!! communities could very well register on rictor scales soon, and all the while we're commanded to do all things without grumbling and arguing. What if we try at least appreciating what has been passed down. Post modernity is a threatens the way things have been DONE, and at times the way things have BEEN. If our fathers gripe about it - should we gripe back? eggnog42 12/20/02 10:42 AM exactly it honestly is a little harder though at times with the generation before us. where as we are a little more open to new ideas and new experiences (which leaves us vulerable to plurality and relativism), the modern generation is a little more close minded (which leads them to hard, cold, and even bigotted stances at times). we just have to understand that there are many different lens through which to view the world. these plausability structures shape everything we see and view. lesslie newbigin discusses this in his book "The Gospel In A Pluralistic Society" and at the risk of sounding like a suck up, McLaren does a good job of shedding some light in "A New Kind of Christian". the modern (whatever that means anymore) way is no better than the postmodern (whatever that means anymore) way. both are lens through which we view the world. my lens as a 22 year old arrogant, white trash, lustful, ignorant screwup is no better than an 80 year old grandpa who is "modern" thru and thru. if i begin to counter attack "moderns" when they attack me, then I am no longer an intelligent God fearing man, that trusts in a God big enough to work things out. i simply become an angry "postmodern" instead of an angry "modern". its all the same. I'll try to continue to update as the dialogue develops.