Admittedly, this is a post born out of utter frustration and dismay. So take it as you may.
Here are some lyrics that just seem to sum up emerging thought and theology:
"The top becomes the bottom
The fantasy becomes reality
The conceptions change
The landmarks dissolve
And all becomes intermingled
To flirt with the despicable
In a trance without end
Where the ice burns
Like glowing embers I've always ignored the doubt
Answers are in the questions"
Especially the last line. It is such a summary statement that seems to fit the "conversation" so well. At every turn "everything must change" is put into practice. Definitions, doctrines, theology, methods of biblical interpretation, the very nature of God and man. These lyrics make the statement well. They spell out the emergent movement perfectly. If I had the time I could match a quote from an emergent leader, even an emergent nazarene for that matter, with each line of these lyrics. I love the line, "I've always ignored the doubt". It is so ironic.
The thing about these lyrics that is the most frightening, outside of what they actually say, is that they are taken from the band Samael and the album Ceremony of Opposites. Samael is held to be the most authentically satanic band of all time. If the pastor of my church has more in common with the people who emulate these lyrics than he/she does to the historical Christian Faith then its time for a new pastor.
We can no longer sit by and allow the "intellectuals" in our denomination to lead us down the left hand path. The difference between the Swiss brothers in Samael and the brothers in the emerging movement are that the Swiss brothers come out and tell us that the result of this philosophy is death, while the emerging brothers blindly walk the same path to the same result.
I use the word brothers though they are not my brothers, they are their own.