6/36 Another view of Dan Kimball’s Book … not all agree!
As we continue to look at he issues surrounding the Emerging Church, some of the controversy can be summed up in the book by Dan Kimball. However, now everyone agrees with his viws. We present a part of a review with some very revelavent points to our discussion from http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=3292 , February 22, 2007.
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“Many people today, especially among the younger generations, don’t resonate with the church and organized Christianity. Some are leaving the church and others were never part of the church in the first place. Sometimes it’s because of misperceptions about the church. Often they are still spiritually open and fascinated with Jesus.”
This is a ministry resource book exploring six of the most common objects and misunderstandings emerging generations have about the church and Christianity. The objections come from conversations and interviews the church has had with unchurched twenty and thirty-something at coffee houses.
Each chapter raises the objection using a conversational approach, provides the biblical answers to that objection, gives examples of how churches are addressing this objection, and concludes with follow-through projection suggestions, discussion questions, and resource listings.
However, how everyone agrees with the book!
While the book is a theological disaster, many new believers probably won’t know that. But this presents some serious concern.
One of the most respected leaders in Christendom has his endorsement in the book. Josh McDowell tells readers “it would be foolish” to not carefully study Kimball’s book. Gregory Koukl of “Stands to Reason” (an apologetics ministry) also endorses the book:
“With insight, gentleness, and an unswerving commitment to the wisdom of the past, Dan Kimball shows us what we don’t want to see but must see if we care about the Great Commission in the twenty-first century.”
McDowell’s and Koukl’s endorsements are nestled between staunch emerging church/New Thought promoters: Leonard Sweet, Tony Jones, Mark Oestreicher (Youth Specialties) and several others.
One example of Kimball’s poor biblical theology is in his chapter titled: “The Church Arrogantly Claims All Other Religions are Wrong.” Kimball refers to John 4 where Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman. Kimball says: “He [Jesus] stopped and asked questions of the Samaritan woman and didn’t just jump in and say, ‘Samaritans are all wrong.’”
However, when you read the passage that is exactly what Jesus did! He didn’t ask her any questions. Kimball has misled his readers! Jesus confronted her straight on; something Kimball says (throughout his book) is a terrible thing to do to an unbeliever.
Kimball’s entire premise is largely based on this type of faulty reasoning, that Christians should not do or say anything that might offend unbelievers, even if that anything is truth and Scripture. But the Bible says that the message of the Cross is offensive and foolish to the unbelieving heart: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18).
“Perhaps what is most damaging about this book is Kimball’s black and white, either or reasoning (the very thing he accuses Christians of). He makes it very clear that you cannot be a Christian who takes the Bible literally and also be a humble, loving thoughtful person.
“They are two different things, according to Kimball. There is no such thing as a loving, humble Christian who takes the Bible literally. His book further alienates believers in a world that is already hostile to those who say Jesus is the only way to salvation, the Bible should be taken literally, homosexuality is a sin, and we are called out of this world to live righteously by the grace of God.
Some of Kimball’s other black and white statements are: “The church is homophobic” versus “The church is a loving and welcoming community.” Kimball denounces those who take any kind of stand publicly against homosexuality.
Another book reader’s comments: “The church arrogantly claims all other religions are 
wrong” versus “The church is respectful of other people’s beliefs and faiths.” Once again, Kimball says it can’t be both ways. Christians who do claim that all other religions are wrong contrast those who are respectful of other people. He says they can’t be both.
“It is the Word of God that pierces the soul and reveals truth. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was another generation of confused, searching young people, many who were looking for life’s meaning. The hippies were as every bit as different as the generation of young people today.
Yes, some of the atmosphere was different, but the sins, the questions, and the problems were not. When multitudes of hippies began getting saved, what caused that? Did the pastors of the day start going barefoot and wearing their hair long? No, they gave the hippies the Word of God. Straight forward, loving but uncompromised. Did they take LSD so they could better understand where we were coming from? No, they gave us the Word of God.
“Did they apologize to us for telling us we were sinners – as Kimball suggests the Church needs to do today? No. They gave us the Word of God. It is that Word that brought so many of us into His Kingdom of light. The church then presented the Word, and we saw Jesus Christ, and He became our Lord and Saviour. They didn’t have to say things like, “I wish the drug thing and the free sex thing weren’t sin issues.”
“Kimball masterfully condemns Christians who are pro-Israel, take the Bible literally, study Bible end time prophecy and talk about hell, and likens them to negative, arrogant, unloving and vengeful people. He makes a mockery of the Bride of Christ and thus a mockery of Christ Himself.
“Kimball is careful to install built in defences into the book that will self-validate his message. He says that if you are uncomfortable reading the book, it may be that you NEED to read the book because you are guilty of all these things. So who is going to want to say anything bad about Kimball’s book?
“Who is this Jesus that Kimball tells us these unbelievers “like and respect”? Is it the Jesus of the Bible, or is it a Jesus that the world has formulated to fit into their mold. The biblical Jesus told the Pharisees that if they did not believe that He was God in the flesh and Christ, they would die in their sins.
That is the very essence of dogmatism. Jesus didn’t dialogue with them and say, “I can understand why you don’t think I am the Messiah, and I can respect that.” He was dogmatic! As Paul says in Scripture, it is another Jesus that they preach; for if it were the real Jesus, they would not like or respect Him until the day they bow down before Him, worship Him as God, and give their lives 100% to Him, denying all other gods and belief systems.
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We invite you to add your comments to the posts as we go along. Agree? …or disagree? … What do you think?
Susanne Fengler, Blog Author
www.christianfoundations.jesus-treeoflife.info
Tags: Kimballs' book
Filed under: Challenges to the Christian Faith
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