Some time ago I posted a
question on social media. The question I asked was this: ‘Which is more
important Orthodoxy or Orthopraxy?’
The response was
interesting, but not surprising. Apart from a couple of people who answered
‘huh?’, most people answered orthopraxy!
Why Orthopraxy?
When defined, the words
orthodoxy and orthopraxy literally mean right belief and right action. So, my
question revealed that most of those who responded thought right action to be of
more importance than right belief.
Now I believe that when
people saw my question, they presupposed what I was really asking was, which is
more important doctrine or people? The answer then in their minds would be obvious,
it is people.
In juxtaposing orthodoxy and
orthopraxy and then asking a person to choose, I set up a false dichotomy
because, orthodoxy and orthopraxy are of equal importance. They need each
other. Right belief (orthodoxy) informs right action (orthopraxy). The problem
comes when we have one without the other or allow one to trump the other.
Why Orthodoxy?
For the evangelical bible
believing Christian right belief (orthodoxy) comes from the Bible. The Bible is
the authority, it is the framework from which right action (orthopraxy) is to
be drawn. Right belief then leads to right action. If the Bible is the Word of
God, then its precepts are to be followed, it’s doctrine to be believed, it’s
teachings to be taught and it’s principles to be lived. If the Bible is truly the
Word of God, then to deny it, to ignore it, to seek to change it is a most dangerous
thing; that would inevitably lead to wrong beliefs which will ultimately lead
to wrong actions.
Love Wins
“We should never be more loyal to an idea or an interpretation of a Bible verse than we are to people."[1]
The so called progressive
‘Pastrix’ Nadia Bolz-Weber, here sums up how progressive Christianity sees the
world. People are more important than doctrine. This sounds right doesn’t it?
After all, we should all agree that people are important. The problem with her
statement though is what she means by this.
For the progressive ‘love wins.’ This means that they, not Scripture, will determine what is the most ‘loving’ course of action for a person. This leads them to deny orthodox Christian teaching on sin because it is not loving to tell someone they are a sinner. You can’t teach orthodox Christian ethics on sex and sexuality because it would be unloving to tell a same sex attracted person that how they feel is wrong. You can’t teach the orthodox Christian belief that Jesus is the only way to heaven, because that is unloving towards those of other faiths. You get the idea.
It is obvious that this
kind of ‘all-inclusive’ progressive Christianity will be hugely attractive in an
age of social activism, identity politics and cultural Marxism. It matters not
what a person believes, they just need to know they belong.
This idea of putting people
first and God’s word possible not even second, leads to a serious deconstruction
of the historic Christian faith. That which has stood the test of time, that
which was once and for all delivered to the saints,[2]
is now side-lined as the prevailing culture determines what is now to be
accepted. This is seen most manifestly in the progressive support of homosexuality.
Zeitgeist
“I am for marriage, I am
for fidelity. I am for love, whether it's a man and a woman, a woman and a
woman, a man and a man. I think the ship has sailed and I think that the church
needs to just … this is the world that we are living in and we need to affirm
people wherever they are.”[3] Rob Bell
For the progressives the
cultural zeitgeist is more important than biblical truth, or at least, biblical
truth as understood by evangelicals.
The problem with this is
that the moment you deny the Authority of Scripture, the moment you deny there
is such a thing as absolute truth, then all is up for grabs. Everything is true
and nothing is true. So, where does this leave progressive Christianity and the
gospel – the good news regarding Jesus and the way of salvation.
The Gospel
But he was
pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed
for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his
wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have
turned—every one—to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of
us all.
Isaiah 53:5,6
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
Generally speaking, progressive
Christians would say that people are inherently good, but they occasionally get
things wrong. This view leads to the idea that people do not need to be saved
from their sin which they have stored up against a Holy God. Rather, we are
just naughty children that need to be aware that God loves us.
Because of this, many Progressive
Christians see no need for repentance or atonement. The very idea that God
would punish His only Son that we may be forgiven of sin is abhorrent to them. Steve
Chalke likens this idea to a form of ‘cosmic-child abuse’.[6]
The inclusive nature of progressive
Christianity then turns away from the need of individual repentance and faith
in Christ, to a corporate everyone and everything is in idea. The afore-mentioned
Nadia Bolz-Weber said:
“I confess that I am a Christo-centric universalist. What that means to me is that whatever God was accomplishing, especially on the cross, that Christological event, was for the restoration and redemption and reconciliation of all things and all people and all Creation—everyone.”[7]
Friends I close by
pointing out, as if it were necessary, that progressive Christianity is
dangerous. It lessens, weakens, and eliminates the gospel message and in doing
so, puts its adherents in danger of hell.
Progressive Christianity
is not Christianity at all.
[1] https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/02/02/bolz-weber-calls-for-new-christian-ethic/
[2]
Jude 1:3
[3] https://www.charismanews.com/us/38737-controversial-teacher-rob-bell-endorses-same-sex-marriage
[4]
Genesis 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his
father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one
flesh.
[5] Matthew
19:4-5 “Have you not
read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and
said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast
to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
[6] (Steve Chalke and Alan Mann, The
Lost Message of Jesus, [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003], pp. 182-183)
[7] Jesse James DeConto, “For All the Sinners and Saints: An
Interview with Nadia Bolz-Weber,” Religion & Politics, July 28, 2015, https://religionandpolitics.org/2015/07/28/for-all-the-sinners-and-saints-an-interview-with-nadia-bolz-weber/.
Comments