Comments on: THE DANGER OF PERSONALITY CULTS AMONG THE NEW CALVINISTS

By: dee

dee — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:17:40 +0000

Good comment.

By: Lydell

Lydell — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:50:22 +0000

Lydia -

You write interesting comments that I mostly agree with. But, you are way off on your definition of postmodern.

By: me

me — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:27:17 +0000

Anonymous is using sophistry. Anonymous’ comment that “every group has this sin” is falacious reasoning. While true, it misses the point entirely – it is the focus of this group. It is like the difference between a group that pushes a belief in a flat earth, and saying a lot of groups have people who believe in a flat earth. It may be true, but it is off the point entirely.

By: Lydia

Lydia — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:39:22 +0000

The difference, friends, is that I do not hide my concerns from “professing Christians” with subtle insults or worldly pragmatism. I find very little “loving” with anonymous’ comments but tons of ignorance and defense of celebrity Christians.

But I suppose I am not post modern enough and should really try to wrap my words to other Christians with more whipped creme and cherries.

In other words, you want to focus on what you take offense to, call it unloving but don’t want to address the content. That is post modernism.

It is a shame that I cannot assume we are all Christians and grown ups? And I have no idea whether you know anonymous or not.

Ann, my passion is for the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. “Christians” should know better than to try to spin that hero worship is something that cannot be rooted out of the Body. Has it really gotten that bad that other Christians are not offended for the precious Blood?

It really is too bad that anonymous cannot witness one of Mohlers tyrannical tirades. Maybe he would not worship him so much.

By: Ann F.

Ann F. — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:54:16 +0000

I, too, do not know Anonymous or Garland or Observing so we are not “troops”. We simply agree that your response to Anonymous came across in a way that you may not have intended. Your passion for this subject is obvious and may that impacted your original and subsequent responses.

By: Garland

Garland — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:30:51 +0000

Please hold your horses, Lydia!
I don’t know Anonymous at all outside of the context of this blog; he couldn’t have “called” me to post if he had wanted to. Please don’t make assumptions of bad faith on my part; my only motives for posting are the ones that I’ve stated. I didn’t feel that you were being entirely fair towards him. I have read almost all of your posts as they came, and I highly respect your opinions and experience. I’m not your enemy, and I don’t necessarily agree with him and disagree with you. I love both of you, and I don’t think that this is good for either of you.
My objections to your comments have little to do with the issue of hero worship, but with the way that you have expressed yourself. Yes, it is serious business, but so is how we treat one another, perhaps on an even more important level. As Paul said, even if you know everything, if you do not have love to go with it, it is worth nothing. Of course, I’m >>not The messages of avoiding hero worship, of escaping “churchianity” or “religiosity”, of having a personal relationship with God through Jesus, are all important with a capital I. I don't think we can afford to jeopardize them by expressing them in a way that is not loving.

By: Lydia

Lydia — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:35:03 +0000

Wow, Anonymous really got irked and called out the troops! Good job!

Let me say this about all the hurt feelings: This is serious business. What anonymous said about not ever being able to root out hero worship in the Body because it is in the psyche of all people is a lie from the pit of hell. It negates the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. When we are saved, God WILL take away all our idols. That may not happen right away but it happens. God does not raise up celebrities for us to follow. He gave us HIS SON to follow. We can learn from others but we had better be Bereans and we had best encourage others to be Bereans.

You can send out 100 more objectors to my comment and I will stand by it. Quit rationalizing sin. It is sending folks to hell because they are following men instead of Christ. They know what Piper ways about the Word and they know what Mahaney says about the Word. But do they know the Word as revealed to them by the Holy Spirit because they have an intimate relationship with our Savior? That is the question for hero worshippers.

How is that for uncivil? I SAY IT OUT OF LOVE AND FEAR FOR MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST. And I am out of cherries and whipped creme to wrap it in.

By: Observing

Observing — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:01:03 +0000

Garland, I also agree with your assessment.

By: Ann F.

Ann F. — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:43:04 +0000

Garland,
Thanks for saying what I tried to say but in a much more articulate manner.

By: Garland

Garland — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:04:49 +0000

I have read almost every entry on the blog, including almost all of the comments. I am with Dee and Deb in general most of the time. I have no particular axe to grind. That said, I was rather shocked by Lydia’s comment: “BTW, Anonymous. Quit rationalizing sin of hero worship even if it is in the psyche of all men and women.” It seemed…personal and accusatory, in a very unnecessary way. And I believe that he is right that you mischaracterized what he said; I don’t think he was at all trying to “rationalize” any particular sin, but to suggest that that sort of problem could happen in any group, good or bad. Whether I agree or not is irrelevant. Your further response, “Congrats anonymous. You sound just like most of the authoritarian and arrogant leaders in Christendom.” was no better. That’s…pretty personal. There are so many ways you could have expressed that idea without it having been so personal. By that definition, I do not think it was civil. That is not an ad hominem attack. Anonymous has come with some different opinions, and expressed them in a totally nonaggressive and, I believe, honest way. How often does that happen?