“Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name..." - Genesis 11:4
...if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment... - 2 Peter 2:6-9
We make it a habit to say less than we know when we oppose ministries and their leaders here on Baylyblog. We don't want to overreach. This has been true of our criticisms of Redeemer Presbyterian Church and her pastor, especially.
Back in the early nineties we first started recommending Redeemer to souls moving to New York City, and by now we have close to two decades of listening to those men and women who have become a part of Redeemer's congregations.
Our second thoughts about Redeemer started seventeen years ago...
when one man back for a visit warned us not to assume Redeemer was Biblical simply because it was a part of the national organization of churches called the "Presbyterian Church in America." He said he'd been talking with a member of Redeemer's pastoral staff and had found his support for Biblical sexuality almost nonexistent. It seemed to him Redeemer's pastors had no heart to preach or teach or counsel those under their care in the basics of Biblical sexuality. And as he saw it, their silence was not just pragmatic, but principial.
By now, this is all old hat. Charges have been filed against Redeemer's presbytery for endorsing woman officers and woman teaching and exercising authority over man has become ho-hum within Redeemer and her networks. Ocassionally Redeemer pulls in her horns for a bit, but her commitments have been unmistakeable for many years and church courts don't want to mess with her.
It's the nature of leaven to spread, though, and Redeemer's liberalism is climbing over the top of all her ministries like my butternut squash is climbing over the cantelope in my garden just now. Like mint, doctrinal compromise is hard to contain; like poison ivy, it's hard to kill.
One of the best indicators of a decadent culture is the deification of the arts. A quilter out in the Midwest is only a grandma with time on her hands, but poets and photographers and painters and playwrights in New York City are high priests with museums, opera houses, and galleries their temples, and patrons and subscribers their faithful worshippers pouring sacrifices of dulia, hyperdulia, and latria on their altars to their gods.
Redeemer gets this and through her Faith & Work ministry is calling her congregants to make pilgrimages to symphony concerts, operas, museums and galleries, jazz bars, and movie theaters looking for God's majesty. Congregants will then return and share with other Redeemerites the visions artists revealed to them. Ostensibly, they'll come back to worship prepared to share with their fellow believers all they saw of "God's glory" and the "evidence of His work of renewal" in the works of, say, James Cameron, Tattoo Lou, Woody Allen, and James Levine.
Here's the plan as announced by Redeemer's Faith & Life ministry:
“GLIMPSES” – FRIDAY, NOV 4th, 2011WHAT’S A “GLIMPSE”?A cultural event (1) based in New York City, (2) experienced in community, (3) which points toward evidence of God’s glory and Sovereignty over all things.WHERE YOU COME IN:What do you love about NYC? What is an area of interest or expertise for you? Are you moved by the Spirit when experiencing a certain part of culture? How might this point to a “glimpse” of God’s glory and evidence of His work of renewal in small or big ways? Could you lead 10-15 others on an interactive journey and guide their process of re-envisioning a particular aspect of this city?Each of you has the exciting opportunity to help others see how God is indeed at work throughout the city. When done prayerfully and in the Spirit’s power and wisdom, leading a “glimpse” could not only change others’ view of the City, but yours as well!WHO WILL PARTICIPATE IN A “GLIMPSE”?New Yorkers, including people from Redeemer and other area churches.>> STARTER IDEAS >> Food Tour · Metropolitan Museum · BAM · NYPhil · Brooklyn Heights History Walk · Brooklyn Bridge Architecture Walk · The Morgan Library · Times Square “Branding” Walk · Off B’way · Carnegie Hall · City Opera · City Ballet · IFC · Angelika · Lincoln Square Cinema · Jazz @ Lincoln Center · Fashion Show · Joyce Dance · B.B. King’s · NY Historical Society · The MET · Rockwood Hall · Living Room · 92nd St. Y <<SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSALS BY JULY 15:We need to select 30-50 “glimpses” for Friday night, November 4th. These could be walking tours, museum visits, theater, opera, food tours, architectural tours, concerts, or any other interactive experience you create. If one of our ideas above seemed like a good fit, claim it as your own. We need YOU!Chosen submissions will be notified by JULY 30. If selected, you will receive coaching and support from the CFW staff via a training session prior to November 4th.
The conceit of city-dwellers is mind numbing. What bondage! What perfect delusion! Compare Redeemer's message to New York City to the one the Apostle Paul brought to Athens. True believers tremble at Redeemer's precious self-deceptions.
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. [So he lifted up his voice among the Athenians, and preached this to them:] “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” - Acts 17:16; 29-31
