Kingdom Triangle Discussion

Monday, September 1, 2008

Kingdom Triangle at New Life Church

On Sunday August 31st, JP Moreland spoke at three services at New Song Church in Irvine, CA.

JP's talks specifically emphasized the "second leg" of the Kingdom Triangle with it's emphasis on internal spiritual formation.

Of his time at New Song Church, JP said,
It was a wonderful time! People are hungry for authentic spiritual living and, based on feedback from the church staff, the message was quite impactful. We sold about 100 copies of Kingdom Triangle people were very enthusiastic about reading the book. Before the second service, I met a person who had already read Kingdom Triangle and enjoyed it immensely.

It is so very sad to me to see part of the church reject the experiential, more "mystical" aspect of our walk with the Lord Jesus, thinking that they are biblical and doing the right thing. All they are actually doing (though I believe they are well-intentioned, but, of course, the road to hell is paved with good intentions) is robbing themselves of their God-given invitation to a tender, intimate walk with God. I have even seen it argued, that because Henri Nouwen was uncomfortable with the claim that Jesus was the only way, that anyone who loves his spiritual writings and promotes some of those teachings is hurting people and promoting heresy.

This sort of "argument" would not last a day when Christians were more aware of why they believed what they believed. If a person teaches about a-k, and is wrong about, say, b, it does not follow that the person was wrong about d, e and f. I seldom agree with every thing anyone teaches, including Nouwen, but there are treasures in his thought that have enriched millions to walk more faithfully with God.