Africa - 3

We met Josh McDowell on the airplane yesterday. Josh is a once popular author ("Evidence that Demands a Verdict") and communicator. He is still travelling, writing and speaking. He stopped by our seats after we recognized him and had a chat.

He began by saying how frustrated he was with the new emergent stuff. QUOTING... brian mclaren says truth changes, but truth doesn't only the culture does. Youth pastors are leading this movement and they are not educated enough. modernism and postmodernism are wrong. modernism is a reaction to pietism (feelings, inner spirituality, mysticism) and is rational, logical and absolute (all good things). postmodernism is a reaction to modernism and is emotion and experience based (suspicious). He calls for balance because balance is always biblical and being biblical is always balanced.

I responded that it would be fun to have all the leading thinkers on the subject, including him and mclaren, on a panel and he rejected it. He said he doesn't want a panel but a debate. He then spoke of his son debating all the liberal, gay, evolutionist professors at Berkley and seemed proud. His son is good at this because he can take someone's logic a part because of his degrees in philosophy and systematic theology.

My impression:
I appreciate his influence and heart for truth. He did seem to self-promote and sell his son to us. I felt uncomfortable with the right vs. wrong approach to life and the power involved when you can prove someone wrong. It seemed truth was defined as propositions about truth instead of the person of Jesus. We both share a love for John Wesley and it was good to interact with him, even though he was in first class and we were sitting with the goats and chickens in the baggage compartment!