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A Response to GracePointe’s Podcast Concerning the Redefinition of the Bible
for Progressive Interpretation +
The point of my blog in
its entirety is to be an influence for the Gospel through defending Christian
truth. It is to obey the command in Jude to “earnestly contend for the faith.”
That includes address popular issues and problems within the realm of ideas
that is false. We are supposed to be sober and attentive as Christians, always
being aware that false doctrine does not creep into our lives, churches, or
interpretations of Scripture. Progressive Christianity is one such false
doctrine and it must not be entertained in our churches. Otherwise, it very
well could take over. I will demonstrate the justification for this radical
position in rejecting these views very shortly.
Before I delve into the
podcast, I want to outline—directly from GracePointe’s
website—what some of their beliefs are. This section will be brief, but it is necessary,
mainly to ensure that my readers know that I am accurately representing the
progressive position to the best of my ability. As a defender of truth, I want
to make sure I am truthfully representing another’s view. These beliefs come
straight from their website. It cannot be argued that I am misrepresenting
their views. These views are not exclusive to this church. They are the typical
values you will see espoused in a “progressive church.” Again, this is NOT
attack on this church itself; it is merely a response to the general idea of
post-modern thought being reconciled with Christianity. Two of the trends that
I have noticed (and that are outlined in this churches webpage) are that…
1) God
is a mystery to be explored, not a doctrine to be espoused.
2) The
Good News is that you are inherently united with God.
These two should sound a
little off to a Bible-believing Christian, although the first one is somewhat
tricky, because most of God’s nature IS a mystery to humans. Humans will never
fully know the nature of God. Nonetheless, this belief of the progressive
Christian movement reeks of relativism and denial of dogmatic, outlined, and
orthodox doctrines simply because they might be controversial or hard to navigate,
much less someone should take offense to a Christian doctrine or sacrament.
Logically, God is an
infinite Being. Of course His nature would be utterly incomprehensible to our
finite minds! Moreover, the Bible says in Isaiah 55:8-11, that God’s thoughts
are higher than ours and his ways the same as well. The Psalms and Paul both
speak of God’s boundless grace and mercy. Revelation speaks of his
longsuffering patience before his wrath is unleashed on a wicked world that has
turned against its Creator. Any logically thinking human and/or Bible believing
Christian realizes that God’s nature possesses a certain “mysterioso,” if you
will.
It is the last phrase
that smells kind of fishy. It is almost like they are trying to adopt some sort
of relativistic approach to the Bible, saying that we can get what we can get
and what we do not like we can throw away. That is NOT how the Bible works. 1
Timothy 3:16 says that “ALL Scripture is useful…for reproof, correction, and
instruction in righteousness.” This phrase in their doctrinal statement is
ignoring what the Bible claims about itself. There are doctrines in the Bible
and that have been adopted throughout church history. This unorthodox approach
to Scripture, especially with regard to the nature of God is a slippery slope
teetering on the edge of relativism. As far as the way it sounds, it sounds “New
Agey” to me. It’s like they’re trying to pluralize and subjectivize
Christianity into just another “piece of the pie,” so to speak. Jesus himself
says that NO MAN comes to the father, except through Himself first (Jn. 14:6). In
other section, they claim that Jesus is merely “one of many ways” to access “Sacredness.”
This is in direct contradiction to the Bible. Jesus is the only way, and that
is the truth.
Another claim posted on
their website is that the “Good News” (εὐαγγέλιον: euaggelion;
the Gospel of the Jesus Christ, in the Bible) is that all are united with
Christ. This is just false on its face. Paul defines the Gospel in 1 Corinthians
15:1-4, and it is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures.
It is NOT that “you are inherently united with God.” The second problem with
this is that the Bible says that every person was born a sinner (Rom. 3:9-10,
21-23; 5:12-21). This statement, “inherently united with God,” seems to be a
form of Pelagianism, a heresy defined by the early patristic tradition as the denial
of original sin (ref. Rom. 5:12-21 for a definition of original sin).
Now, what does this have
to do with progressive Christianity as a whole? Well, these are some of the beliefs
that they adopt. Most Progressive Christian “churches” adopt these types of
relativistic beliefs about God and the Bible. Do not take my word for it though;
go do your own research! You will find it. Compare what they believe to Scripture
and you will see the err of their ways and why Christians who believe the Bible
should never even entertain these lines of thought. The next post will really
dig into the podcast about their beliefs regarding the Bible. I just wanted to
give a little insight on what Progressive Christianity actually is before we
analyze the podcast. I did find some things I agreed with, but the vast majority of
the content was quite unorthodox, to say the least.
Until next time brothers and sisters! Keep comparing the
ideas of today to the Scripture to ensure you are believing properly what is right
doctrine!
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