… but much like the mythical city of Brigadoon, it may soon vanish into the mist. Take a moment to stroll over to http://www.emergentno.com, and see what sysop Justin has done. He has aggregated both the Slice of Laodicea and Emergent No blogs and presented them for open, uncensored commentary.

This has not gone unnoticed. Just this evening, Ingrid posted this in response, with two followups here, and here.

Why yes, Ted, I do have a few opinions, don’t mind if I do:

1) Aside from any political interest I have in this, this is a small yet significant internet “moment” that shouldn’t be missed. I don’t know if something like this has happened before, but I bet you a nickel it won’t be the last.

B) Ingrid should absolutely let this site go on. It’ll be a great place for her to send her readers to see the true colors of all the ugly “Emergents” who so viciously attack her. If anything, this site will only increase her readership and interest in what she has to say. Anyone who is any student of history (or… you know… THE BIBLE) will tell you that attempting to squish someone who offends you will only result in more someones popping up faster then you have squishing fingers.

4) This may come as a shock to some of you, but I am not an expert on internet copyright law. If Ingrid is right, and the law is on her side, the site should be removed or heavily altered. RobbyMac makes some thoughtful suggestions about 2/3rds of the way down on the talkback of this thread. For this to work, there cannot be the slightest hint of inappropriateness or illegality.

Salty) Ok Ingrid and Slicers far and wide, here’s the deal. You may have the letter of the law on your side, but please, seriously, stop for a moment and consider dropping the whole moral outrage / wounded fawn routine you’ve got going on right now. Your true colors are being flown with pride. I particularly like Jim B. deciding that the most Christian way to deal with this problem would be to print the webmaster’s home address. Douglas states that most of the people within the emerging movement are demon posessed. Carol calls it a cult.

Jimbo, Douggie, and Caroline: lend me your ears, I’m ’bout to get up all in it.

Jim: Your action is completely irresponsible. Any further comments from you regarding legality will be met with snorts of disbelief, and, if I have been drinking Dr. Pepper, an audible, sustained fart.
Douglas: When I was in high school, we had a family friend who, after many years of marriage, decended into multiple personality disorder as a result of ritualistic abuse that she suffered as a child. We, as a family, engaged this other Christian family (there were young children in their household) and devoted a significant amount of time to attempting to save this woman’s life…literally…she tried to kill herself in my parent’s bathroom where my younger sister found her and called 911. By the grace of God she survived her OD and has since progressed back to mental and spiritual health. I saw things that were intensely frightening while we were on watch with her. She wore Coke bottle glasses and when her little “child” personality came out, she could identify the difference between a quarter and a nickel from across the room without wearing her glasses. What’s the point, Doug? Well, here it is: if you think most emergent folks are demon posessed, brother, you ain’t seen a thang. When a real demon hits the room, you know it, friend, and there’s no room for speculation. You’d better be damn sure of yourself before you start throwing statements like that out, and it’s clear that you lack the information to do so. What you’ve said cheapens the profound horror that our Enemy wishes to inflict on us.
Carol: Cults have a specific set of defining charactaristics that most Christians who study them agree upon. For example, actual cults attempt to isolate the victim from friends and family. Actual cults tell you that any deviation from their beliefs is heretical… uh oh. Actual cults encourage you to give the entirety of income and assets to the group. Physical and sexual abuse are present in real cults more often then not. Oh yeah, by the way, actual cult leaders are clinically incapable of humor, and last time I checked, we’re a pretty funny bunch. Carol, you may have doctrinal problems with the Emergent movement, but to label it a cult is simply bad intel. Care to comment? You should know that, unlike talkback on Slice, facts will be helpful.

Salty Conclusion) Okay… Ingrid, I believe that you’re frustrated and even hurt by this. I believe that you feel wounded, and that someone is stealing from you and trying to purposefully inflict pain on you. These “Emergents” must seem like the nastiest lot on God’s big beautiful earth. I sincerely hope that Justin will work it out in a way that you don’t feel is a slap in the face to you. Yeah, a lot of us have flown off the handle at you. Some of us have tried sneaky things like trying to post the craziest thing we can think of to see if it would get posted. Frank is sorry. I’m sorry, we’re all sorry. Well… Morphea’s not sorry. You seem to really piss her off. Everyone else is sorry.

You really need to take a moment to read and consider some of the things that your readers have to say. You provide a public display for half-truths, half-baked arguments, insults, condemnation, slander, and extremely questionable grammar, and that’s just from tonight. Paul Proctor’s article about Kyle Lake is one of the least Biblically sound essays I have ever had the misfortune to read, and you linked to it and gave it publicity. Jesus and Mr. Proctor are gonna have some words about that little article, and it’s not gonna be pretty.

I have now written and erased three closing paragraphs to this post. It’s just not happening. So I guess I’ll just say goodnight to all of my precious brothers and sisters in Christ; may your sleep be restful. Tomorrow will be a good day for us to try and be better to one another.