Carson on authenticity
Emergent blogger Bob Robinson went to hear D. A. Carson speak on the emergent church in Akron, OH. He quoted Carson as saying, “the Emerging Church is making a plea for authenticity. That’s good. But since the Emerging Church does not use the Bible as its standard of what is authentic or not (relying more on feelings and cultural acceptability), then the authenticity has to be called into question.”
This brings up a good point I’ve thought about quite a bit. How do we define authenticity in Christianity? And how would we recognize it in today’s world? Here is where the pragmatic definition of truth runs into trouble. If we define authenticity in pragmatic terms (truth is what works for me), where do we end up? Pretty hard to say.
The notion of “working” can be pretty subjective. What does it mean when we say something “works?” Is Osteen’s church “working” when he attracts 47,000 in attendance? Well, he still hasn’t matched Sung Myung Moon’s success. Unfortunately, while I believe results matter, in the absence of objective guidelines for what God considers success, results tell us nothing. Carson is right. Only scripture can give us the spiritual standards by which to judge results.
Christians should spend time pondering what God teaches on this question. Exactly what are we looking for when we say “this approach works?” What do others say on this? What can we get from scripture? There must be multiple answers.
This is at the heart of the question when it comes to authenticity. Authenticity isn’t just a feeling we get because people are being intense. It has to mean that our service for God is real; that God is working in our midst. How would we know?