Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Radical is not so "Radical"

The word "radical" is popular today among us at CrossRoads due to David Platt's book Radical that we studied last fall.

However, last week at a conference at Southwestern Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX Rick Warren (as reported in Baptist Presson Feb. 6) said this:

"What was so radical about the Radical Reformers?" asked Warren, a graduate from Southwestern, during his presentation. "Today, the word 'radical' means 'extreme,' 'over-the-top,' 'edgy,' 'out-of-bounds,' 'extravagant' and maybe even 'hip.'"

However, Warren pointed out, the word radical means "of the root," as portrayed in most areas of life: In Botany, for example, "radical leaves" on a tree are closest to the root; in mathematics, "the radical is the root of the equation;" and in grammar, "the radical is the root with all prefixes and suffixes removed," he said. In most areas of life, Warren said, "radical" does not mean "extreme."

"It means 'rooted,'" he said. "And what we need today are radical reformers who are rooted in Christ, rooted in the Word, rooted in the church and rooted in church history, because what we have today is a generation growing up that is rootless. They are fatherless, and they are rootless, so they get blown around like tumbleweed."

Like the Radical Reformers of the 16th-century, Warren called Christians to return to the root, "to the New Testament" and to the "apostolic church."

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