Progressive Christianity:Truly False?

Oxy morons make me laugh. You know: jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly, seriously goofy...all those statements are somewhat funny and ironic, right? 

But now, there's this increasingly popular, mainstream church movement labeled Progressive Christianity. And while Progressive Christianity is indeed an oxymoron, it surely is no laughing matter. 

Rather, Progressive Christianity calls for some serious examining. 

The word progressive simply means to change or make better. That therein lies the concern. It is worth considering: How are mere mortals making what Jesus Christ (God incarnate) has said and done better? Because while humans have created low carb pizza, rocket-ships, self-driving Teslas and many other amazing inventions, let us not forget: perfection and immortality has eluded our human abilities.

But Jesus? The Historical Jesus of Nazareth. He is the only one whom has come back to life.  He claimed to be God, and while He walked the earth eyewitness testimony relays that He overcame illness, nature, sin and death. 

 He demonstrated His trustworthiness and conquered simply put: all what makes our worldly lives difficult. 

Most importantly, He promises when we ask him to, He will remove this disease we all have: Sin. Once we are forgiven, the King of Kings sees us as His blameless children.

Hashtag true story. 

Often, Progressive Christians teach that Jesus never made certain claims(regarding relevant current cultural debates). Jesus did in fact affirm the validity and authority of the Old Testament and the coming New Testament.(Luke 24:27, 44, John 15:26-27)

The Progressive Christians I've seen dub themselves followers (hence the name) but sure don't seem to put all that much stock into what Jesus Christ said.

The Bible predicts that many will come in the name of Jesus but they are not to be trusted. Very strong language is utilized for those who only appear to follow Jesus. The terminology used is: sheep in wolves clothing. ( Romans 16:17-18 )

The imagery isn't too hard to decode. They seem good and innocent but ultimately, if you get too close, they will destroy you.

So what do Progressive Christians promote?

There is often a focus on social justice, human rights and emotionalism(feelings come first).There is a tendency to devalue Scripture and they often question the necessity of the Resurrection.

Let me be clear, oppression and racism are real problems and has resulted in some terrible tragedies. Devaluing and harming all human life breaks God's heart.

 We are all equally made in God's image, we should value justice, (what is intrinsically right) . And despite what the majority of the world tells you, the Bible as a whole is prescriptive of true equity. Meaning, where we get these ideas of human rights and justice are squarely spelled in God's word, the Bible.

Bottom line: God has a heart for women, the oppressed and people of all ethnicities.

But we can not let the popular narrative detract from the central message to the Bible.

The Bible never promises riches, good looks, long lives or even that others will treat us fairly. It actually foretells a life of struggle. That the world is broken. And all people are imperfect. It's a book that's not really about us. It's about God. 

Social media will tell us there needs to be a fight for social justice. That the world's brokenness needs fixed. What I'm advocating for is that we do validate and help people but what is most helpful and what Christians are called to do is to speak the truth in love.

So with that being said there needs to be a focus on a different kind of injustice. More on that in a minute.

To be honest, these kinds of blog posts are hard for me. I myself very much want to affirm all people, Books titled: Progressive Christians are Christians Too and if God is Love Don't Be a Jerk exemplify a certain defensive stance.

And while I never want to be offensive, I do want to point out that the whole truth is imperative. I would not be a good parent if I allowed my kids to only and always follow their hearts. Their hearts lead them astray. Their hearts lead them to sugar as the primary food to ingest. Am I jerk if implement what is best? Am I not loving if my authority determines parameters that evidently keep them safe and heathy?

What is false can be completely harmful especially and absolutely when it draws humans away from the God of the Universe. A God whom loves His Creation. Who wants to know us.

Loving people as a Christian entails that we want what God wants for them.  Loving God also means that you would recognize His word as authoritative. And you approach it with a reverence and with the intention of accurately understanding what He intends for us to understand.

While Progressive Christianity pastors have claimed a gamut of diverse partial truths, the two I want to briefly evaluate are: 1)The claims against  the Resurrection of Jesus and 

2) the authority of the Bible as God's inspired word.

This is truly where Orthodox Christianity stands out. It is the one world religion that is accompanied by evidence. It's a verifiable, logically sound worldview. The core truths of Historic Christianity really hinge on a public, historical event: The Resurrection. 

Several progressive churches have claimed that the Resurrection simply does not matter. Or not only that, they may go so far as to claim that if God crucified his son then God is not good but rather a "cosmic child abuser."

Here is where they are crucially mistaken on a very important aspect of the cross. 

The Bible teaches that Jesus (being fully God and fully man) went to the cross of his own volition. Out of love, lived a sinless life and died for us. His choice to give up His rights. 

(Philippians 2:18, Mark 14:36, 1 Peter 3;18)

His choice to redeem us. It was the only way we could be redeemed.

The apostle Paul also exhibits in 1 Corinthians 15:13,16 & 17 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

If Christ is not alive, then we are still in our sins. If Christ has not been raised our preaching is useless. Oh and so is our faith.

Sin brings death. We can see this right? We lie, we cheat we steal, our relationships are affected. We hurt people. God being perfect means we are never enough. God being perfect means we imperfect people are not in right standing with Him.

God created the world and deemed it good and then our propensity to pride and be our own gods made the earth laced with corruption. Like a worm in a perfectly good apple. The whole apple dies eventually. This sin nature that we carry with us, affects nearly everything in our lives.

I've yet to meet someone who's claimed perfection and if you think humanity is not bent towards selfishness please come babysit  my toddler for an hour. Or hang with me, especially when I'm hangry or it's pretty early. 

It's been said that Christianity is a crutch. Truth is: sin is the crutch. This human condition, this crutch in fact needs dealt with. 

Meaning a good God would need to be just in order to be good. 

Justice is rooted in the very nature of God. We would never permit a judge to let a harmful criminal go free. Because that would be evil.

Why do I keep bringing up this ugly sin word? 

Because when we see ourselves rightly, when we recognize the gravity of sin we see the true injustice.

We see a God of love and the work of the cross as true injustice. God's wrath our punishment poured out on Jesus. God's own begotten son.

We tend to gloss over sin. We don't want to acknowledge it, so we minimize it. But the sin is what separates us from Him. Love is not always a feeling.  Love in it's truest sense is a laying down of one's life. Jesus is the bridge to eternity and freedom.  Jesus is the ladder towards where we were created to reside. In a close loving relationship with our Father God.

So Progressive bloggers, authors and pastors while I'm assuming you mean well, I'm advocating that we listen to the one who died for us and demonstrated his power by coming back to life.

I'm pleading that we start teaching people that God wants our hearts. He wants us to freely choose to love him. That we need him.

To love someone in return, well that calls that we have correct understanding of who they are. 

To understand why Jesus is worthy of trust, we need to accurately interpret his words.

There are exceptional reasons to believe that the Bible is God's inspired Word. Solid arguments illustrate that God's word is inspired(meaning God communicated through man) inerrant(says what the authors where intending to communicate) and infallible. (You can't add or change to it)

In a modern world that is dying and hopeless and lacking meaning. Isn't this what we all are longing for? Reading and accurately understanding the Bible gives us sincere hope in eternal life and a succinct and meaningful purpose for this life.

The Bible makes sense. Because God is a God of logic and order.

 Not only that, God's Word gives us a taste of the incommensurable good of having a relationship with Him.

 

So we can't cherry pick God's Word. True peace in our lives results in taking our eyes off ourselves and looking to Him. We seek to understand Him and His goodness. Emotional heath comes from an understanding for the need for good theology.

 

Theology is simply the study of God. Unlike Wendy Byrde from Ozarks, we should not consider how early in the day it is for theology but instead when will it be too late? When will it be too late precisely for good theology? 

So why do Progressive Christians seem to dismiss the importance of good theology? Why are progressive Christians attempting to re-create God's word? Why do they think we humans have the higher view? We have grown in our knowledge and in our wisdom?

I think it's as the popular narrative goes. Emotionalism becomes the God. Our feelings become the authority in our lives. The natural default is to popularity and ease. It's so much harder to acknowledge the crutch. 

Growing in our faith means growing our hearts. That those who enter the kingdom have a childlike faith. This should not be interpreted as blind immature faith but rather a willingness to follow and trust in loving authority.

My kids feel they can virtually do anything, that is if I go with them. Are yours this way? Mommy will you go with me? Mommy will you be with me at the soccer game? Mommy are you near when life is hard and I'm being challenged?

That is what I believe God wants. Us to recognize our need for him and His nearness. Jesus' final words before his ascension: "I'm with you always until the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

My pastor recently said something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. The Bible isn't just an instruction manual for right living. The core truth of the Bible is that God is with us. How beautiful. Personally, I can reiterate that times of my life involving sadness or fear what plainly helped me through is knowing He is with me and He loves me.

A couple of weeks ago, I drove by a new progressive church. Miles from our home. Fighting my knee-jerk fiery reaction towards frustration and sadness over the deconstruction of God's Word, I decided instead to respond by teaching my older children, my three girls. After telling them that this particular church was deconstructing the Bible and they would no longer use it to teach their congregation, my eight year old looked me in the eye and asked: But Mom what are they going to teach? 

Good question. Childlike Faith. How will they know Him if they are unwilling to hear what He has to say?

I'll leave you with what I consider a rather terrifying verse in the Bible. It is my sincere hope that you will cling to the truths of the whole Bible and the immense peace that comes from walking in relationship alongside a good God.

Matthew 7:21-23

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Do you know God? You can. That is the gospel good news. 

Romans 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Further Resources:

Alisa Childers' Book  Another Gospel

Natasha Crain's Blog Progressive Christianity is as Much of a Threat to Your Kids’ Faith as Atheism

**Jeremiah 14:14 says  Then the Lord said, “These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts.