Postmodern Preaching...

This is a response from a class of mine (hence why I have been busy from blogging here lately). Alot of heat was thrown by people of the older generation (with all due respect) toward this article. Some of the comments led to the article being called "demonic, born of a seductive spirit" and even led to personal attacks on the author. Read the article for yourself please

https://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=25

Now...here is my response.

Wow! Little did I know before replying (quite tardily I might add) that I was opening quite a Pandora's box of discussion. I greatly appreciate that we can have healthy debate and discussion about controversial topics...this is what university is all about. Though I do not intend to alienate any of my fellow discussion board friends, I must express my disappointment at the reception/response to this article. I feel that most of what was said were mere religious platitutes, personal opinions about how one was raised, and even unthoughtful personal attacks on an author who has written a challenging article.

Nevertheless, i do digress.
I once heard a wise man say "To hold the Bible in your right hand and to shake your fist at culture and say 'I HOLD THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH' is truly the height of arrongance. Rather one should say 'the Absolute Truth has hold of ME.' I think that much of what Bednar is saying in this controversial article is that very principle. From his story about the gay friend to the Soren Kierkegaard quote, it is difficult to make such an open-ended claim of holding truth as though it could be purchased at a store. The Word of God is NOT the Bible, its JESUS! We have to look at truth through the eyes of the man from Heaven. Understand that I, nor the author, are arguing against the inspired Word (see top of page 5)...I am simply being sensitive to the hesitance of a postmodern culture to the sort of prepackaged, "that's the way my daddy did it" gospel. Even Paul opened his ears to his culture by quoting a pagan Creten poet and asserting it as true (Titus 1:12-13). All truth is God's truth. Furthermore, Bednar argues for a distinct prophetic voice in a millenial culture, not conformation. His comments about maintaining integrity while not "eliminating the 'enemy'" are quite solid.

Finally, I do want to issue this statement with all humility. Bednar's status as a "Christian figure" has nothing to do with his contribution to this conversation. If that were true, none of us would have anything to add. That's the beauty of postmodern thinking, however...anyone can enter the dialogue. Its not a status-based validity, but an every-man movement. This is appealing and really quite Scriptural. Whether it be Billy Graham or a gay pride activist, each opinion is worthy to be heard. The truth will decide on itself in the end anyway.