Wednesday, February 25, 2015

"The Paradigm of Praise"


By Lee Edward Enochs

“But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified and I to this world” (Galatians 6:14).

In recent months I have been very forthright and diligent in electronically disseminating my aversion towards fundamentalist Evangelicalism through various modes of social media. I have also been very clear that I had a horrible time at a Southern Baptist school down in Texas. I think it is also clear that I see myself as a misfit and “Kurt Cobain type” alternative rebel within the context and confines of conservative American Evangelicalism.

Since last October, my blog has been read by over 10,000 people and have generated over 40,000 profile views on Google. In recent weeks close to a 1,000 people a week have been watching my iconoclastic videos I have posted on Facebook and elsewhere on the worldwide web. While these numbers are paltry in today’s social media obsessed world, I believe it is safe to say that I have established some sort of minor presence on the internet.

Yet, I am not satisfied with the strictly rebellious motif I have established for myself in certain circles. In fact, I am aghast that some people know me now as an incessant critic of American Evangelicalism and Southern Baptists. It actually pains me that I have positioned myself and am now characterized by some as merely a bitter critic.

This pains me because I believe I have so much more to give and so much more to say about Christianity and truth in American society.

While I do not want to be accused of formulating a form of Evangelical reductionism, wherein I truncate the majestic and vast themes of Scripture into a formulaic set of propositions, My locus classicus or primum argumentum scriptura (central doctrinal theme and primary argument from scripture), pertains to God’s self-disclosure and self-revelation of Himself in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I believe all of life pertains to Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Rather than continuing to foster a reputation as an “Evangelical Bad Boy,” I want to be seen as a person that makes God in Christ known to humanity in a relevant and Biblical manner. I also believe that God and His inerrant and infallible Word are self-attesting and self-authenticating and need no external verification. I believe authentic and Biblical Christianity is sui generis (unique unto itself) and there is nothing in reality quite like God’s disclosure of Himself in the person and salvific and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. I want to be like the Apostle Paul who was determined not to know anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

I want to somehow jettison and discard my bad boy reputation at times and promote a “paradigm of praise”(paradigma laudis). That is, I want to glorify God with every aspect of my being and make His kingdom and majestic glory known to all nations. I want to say with King Solomon of old, “That all the earth might know that the Lord is God there is no other” (1 Kings 8:60).

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