Renovare
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Renovare Summary
Renovare Analysis

Quick Summary:

Here is my short, quick summary of why orthodox Christians see a critical Biblical deviation in Renovare (and also the Emergent Church).   See the attached fuller discussion.

The chief criticisms of the Renovare movement are that:

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while using Bible passages freely, Renovare focuses mostly on “meditation” and also subtly reflects a low view of Scripture (Bible “contains” the word of God, or can lead you to God, i.e. Neo-orthodoxy, and teaches that the Bible is not   'sufficient'   nor  'inerrant',   Renovare Study Bible commentary);   

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that Renovare is ‘mystical’ & ‘subjective’ rather than declarative & 'objective' – yes, New Age with a Christian wrapper;    

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it is ‘ecumenical’;  and 

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Theology is not important in order to know God; it’s your ‘relationship’ and ‘spirituality’ that are what’s all important.  

I agree with each of those criticisms:

1)      I believe the Bible really is “The Word of God” (Jesus believed it, and the scripture authors did too), and there are many demonstrations of its divine ‘inspiration’ -  God reaching down to us .   Renovare:  meditating on Bible words or passages affects us as we reach up to God. 

2)      Emotionalism, mysticism, and subjectivism leaves us with no authority other than ourselves and our feelings, and so anyone’s idea or ‘feelings’ are ‘valid’  The “meaning” of scripture is not so important as how you ‘feel’ about God, spirituality, and others.   Renovare:  I feel a connection to God and others.  Man-centered.

3)      Ecumenicalism (also many times including non-Christian religions) distorts and subtly denies the evangelical Gospel imperative.  Renovare:  although it wouldn’t be stated outright, ‘All religions can be valid’, all are the “children of God”.

4)      You won’t see “Systematic Theology”, or exegetical Bible Study for the self-revelation of God which has been the foundation of Christian growth for centuries.  Instead, with Renovare:   we reach out and within through meditation and ‘worship’, and in community to find God and our spirituality.

 

Remember that “Spirituality” is not necessarily Godliness.

 

There are many “Renovare” references on the web now, and I found one just by typing “Renovare MacArthur”.   Similar searches yielded results that document Renovare in many formerly strong Christian organizations.

some “anti-Renovare” sites are abusive and sarcastic which is unfortunate, but the ‘content’ and ‘analysis’ of those site is still very revealing.

 

   
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