Eugene Peterson Rocks My Whole Face Off Yet Again
Yesterday I read an article in a recent issue of the magazine "Christianity Today" that was an interview with author Eugene Peterson. He's a rare mix of highly intellectual author-type who writes insightful and meaningful devotional books.
The title of the article is "Spirituality for All the Wrong Reasons: Eugene Peterson talks about lies and illusions that destroy the church" by Mark Galli. For those of you that know me, there's not a snowball's chance in hell I could pass up an article with that kind of title interviewing that guy.
A few selected quotes:
"I don't want to suggest that those of us who are following Jesus don't have any fun, that there is no joy, no exuberance, no ecstasy. They're just not what the consumer thinks they are. When we advertise the gospel in terms of the world's values, we lie to people. We lie to them, because this is a new life. It involves following Jesus. It involves the Cross. It involves death, an acceptable sacrifice. We give up our lives."
"We're after life. We're learning how to live. I think people are fed up with consumer approaches, even though they're addicted to them. But if we cast the evangel in terms of benefits, we're setting people up for disappointment. We're telling them lies...Do we realize almost exactly the Baal culture of Canaan is reproduced in American church culture? Baal religion is about what makes you feel good. Baal worship is a total immersion in what I can get out of it. And of course, it was incredibly successful. The Baal priests could gather crowds that outnumbered followers of Yahweh 20 to 1. There was sex, there was excitement, there was music, there was ecstasy, there was dance. 'We've got girls over here, friends. We've got statues, girls and festivals.' This was great stuff. And what did the Hebrews offer in response? The Word."
"But this is slow, slow work, this soul work, this bringing people into a life of obedience and love and joy before God. And we get impatient and start taking shortcuts and use any means available. We talk about benefits. We manipulate people. We bully them. We use language that is just incredibly impersonal--bullying language, manipulative language...This impatience to leave the methods of Jesus in order to get the work of Jesus done is what destroys spirituality, because we're using a non-biblical, non-Jesus way to do what Jesus did. That's why spirituality is in such a mess as it is today."
This man rocks my face off every time I read him.
Yesterday I read an article in a recent issue of the magazine "Christianity Today" that was an interview with author Eugene Peterson. He's a rare mix of highly intellectual author-type who writes insightful and meaningful devotional books.
The title of the article is "Spirituality for All the Wrong Reasons: Eugene Peterson talks about lies and illusions that destroy the church" by Mark Galli. For those of you that know me, there's not a snowball's chance in hell I could pass up an article with that kind of title interviewing that guy.
A few selected quotes:
"I don't want to suggest that those of us who are following Jesus don't have any fun, that there is no joy, no exuberance, no ecstasy. They're just not what the consumer thinks they are. When we advertise the gospel in terms of the world's values, we lie to people. We lie to them, because this is a new life. It involves following Jesus. It involves the Cross. It involves death, an acceptable sacrifice. We give up our lives."
"We're after life. We're learning how to live. I think people are fed up with consumer approaches, even though they're addicted to them. But if we cast the evangel in terms of benefits, we're setting people up for disappointment. We're telling them lies...Do we realize almost exactly the Baal culture of Canaan is reproduced in American church culture? Baal religion is about what makes you feel good. Baal worship is a total immersion in what I can get out of it. And of course, it was incredibly successful. The Baal priests could gather crowds that outnumbered followers of Yahweh 20 to 1. There was sex, there was excitement, there was music, there was ecstasy, there was dance. 'We've got girls over here, friends. We've got statues, girls and festivals.' This was great stuff. And what did the Hebrews offer in response? The Word."
"But this is slow, slow work, this soul work, this bringing people into a life of obedience and love and joy before God. And we get impatient and start taking shortcuts and use any means available. We talk about benefits. We manipulate people. We bully them. We use language that is just incredibly impersonal--bullying language, manipulative language...This impatience to leave the methods of Jesus in order to get the work of Jesus done is what destroys spirituality, because we're using a non-biblical, non-Jesus way to do what Jesus did. That's why spirituality is in such a mess as it is today."
This man rocks my face off every time I read him.
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