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The gospel is not good advice, its good news. - Bishop N.T. Wright from a message on Jesus and the Kingdom So often we've turned the gospel, the Bible, Jesus . . . into good advice. 10 ways to have a better marriage. 5 ways to become a better leader. 3 ways to get rid of sin. 5 Laws from Romans that will lead you to salvation (gotta love the Romans road). The gospel is emphatically good news and not good advice. People talk about the emerging church being to loose. Or not as rooted as some of our previous traditons. I think the things that are being articulated are actually more difficult to be faithful to. To carry out. I have actually found it more difficult to be this new kind of Christian, than the previous way I was attempting to do it. But thats what is so intriguing. That's what takes this beyond fluff. Beyond sugar coated Christianity with sugar coated answers. Everybody loves sugar. It tastes good. Its not really all that good for you though. And has anyone ever seen anyone hopped up on sugar. Or better yet, a group of kids (community) hopped up on sugar. Man the hysteria. The bedlam (I've been wanting to use that word for a while). The chaos. Sugar will do that to you. The obvious correlation is to look at the churches that are hopped up on sugar. Running around in hysteria. Over the 10 Commandments being taken down. Over same sex marriages. Over Democrats. Over war. Over evangelism. When you're hopped up on sugar and living your life in a frenzied hysteria, you start playing God. And so you worry that if you don't share your faith with every person you meet, then that person's blood is on your hands. What?!? God is God. You are not. We play God. And we do it well. So much so that many people confuse Christianity with God. And the "gospel" that they believe is not actually the gospel at all. Or even worse, the gospel that many people refuse is not even the gospel at all. So whose at fault? Traditional churches want to give aliterated points that are disconnected from practical living, i.e. three simple ways to know God's attributes. God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscience (i like how the last word is science, so modern). Those words aren't even in the Bible. Jesus never really called God omnipresent, omnipotent, or omniscience. He called him Abba. The things that my friends and I are wrestling with are not shallow. We're not trying to come up with more good advice. More easy steps. Easier ways to make things "seeker-sensitive". We're embracing the cross as a lifestyle. Pick up your cross and follow me. Doesn't sound like good advice . . . hardly sounds like good news. But thats where these really strong claims and strange teachings of Jesus take shape. Thats where good news is found. In the struggle. Not in the superficial advice and self help readings of the Bible. I think we read the Bible like its one of those yellow and black "Idiot's Guide To Life". Complete with easy answers. Self-help formulas. Good advice. The gospel is good news. Not good advice.