[OBW]

I finally hit one of the links and it was in ToGodAlone's post (#9) that was to a write-up on it by one of my favorite bloggers, Kevin DeYoung. And he put it pretty much the way I did. Much more verbosely. I haven't been reading any of my blogs for the past couple of months and it was a little encouraging to get back into it after reading this one.

I will admit that among the blogs I follow, DeYoung is among the most "traditional," and is a pastor of a Reformed Church essentially down the street from Rob Bell's Mars Hill in Michigan. And if any of them tend to wax toward towing the standard "church" line, he would be the one. But I still like him.

And I think he got it right on this. He detailed all the words and tells us that there are both positive and questionable things included. My take on the whole is similar to DeYoung's. Zeal without grace. Despises self-righteousness but doesn't see the value of obedience and sanctification. Those are hard things. They will constantly show where we are not "up to snuff." But if we simply despise those who are not immediately succeeding, then we discourage them from trying and keeping on the road of sanctification. We make people think that you might as well give up if you can't just do it the first time out.

Or we could try Lee's way, which is not to try, but simply ignore righteousness while continuing to take in so-called "dispensing" until it just oozes from your pores and you become righteous.

Yes, many of the things he talks about are problems sometimes. But they are not simply "religion" and the good things simply "Christianity." And anyone (in this forum) who thinks that we are not supposed to "try" has not gone through a full detox from Lee's rhetoric. That kind of polarized, false dichotomy is designed to separate you from others, one way or the other. To with feel superior for not being in "religion" or dejected for not yet "being there." Or as some in the LRC used to call it, "making it." John So came to Dallas one time back in the 70s (I believe) and sort of mocked the rhetoric of "making it." Maybe his ouster was not simply about PL and the LSM, but also his lack of respect for the polarizing lingo of the movement.