UNITY AT THE COST OF THEOLOGY

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Unity at the Cost of Theology

We are overflowing with words, ideas, arguments, worldviews, verbal self-revelations, and i-messages, and yet theology has become a dirty word. This disdain takes many forms, even among Christians. Here’s one Facebook example:

·       I'm done debating theology… I trust in the mercy of The Lord, that he knows I call His name. I can't get caught up in the minutiae of everyone's different theology - everyone tugging in different directions. I have to go with what makes the most sense to me, where I see the most unity and continuity and what speaks to my soul.

This “theology” reflects the thoughts and feelings of many, and their disdain for theology. Okay, theology requires work and much of it is become culturally unacceptable. Besides, Christians disagree, but so do scientists, but nobody uses this as a rationale to reject science. Instead, it should be a reason to do more hard work!

Even more important than this, theology – the truths about God - are not optional. Jesus explained to a Samaritan woman He had encountered at a well that worship had to entail truth:

·       “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, [and because of this] salvation is from the Jews [- the distinctive revelation given to them]. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:21-24)

Truth (theology) is a necessary ingredient of salvation and worship. We are not at liberty to conjure up any understanding of God that might feel right to us. I can’t even do this with my wife. She wants to be loved and appreciated for who she is! If I love her because she reminds me of my first flame, our “relationship” is in jeopardy. Instead, love and relationship must be built upon a foundation of truth.

Paul had a similar concern about the Galatians. They were straying away from the truth of the Gospel:

·       I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—  which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! (Gal. 1:6-9)

Today, a growing number of people believe that they can have Jesus without the Gospel or theology of Jesus. However, Paul passionately argued against such an idea. Turning to a different Gospel is also turning to a different hope and Savior. If we turn to a different gospel, we turn to a different “Jesus” – one that cannot save. Therefore, to embrace Jesus was also a matter of embracing His Gospel – His theology (teachings).

We care about how others regard us. God too cares profoundly about our thought-life regarding Him. In a dream, He warned King Nebuchadnezzar how he had to think about God. The Prophet Daniel interpreted his dream:

·       “This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king:  You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times [or “years”] will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.” (Daniel 4:24-25)

Evidently, the King didn’t take this warning to heart. After all, it was just a matter of theology! A year later, while standing on top of his palace overlooking Babylon, the King exulted:

·       “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30)

He was immediately struck down with insanity, and for the next seven years he thought he was a cow, until his mind was restored. Then Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged the very theology that God had revealed to Him and was restored to power.

To reject the knowledge/theology of God is to reject God Himself. Therefore, Paul warned that when Jesus returns:

·       He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 Thess. 1:8)

If we have rejected His Gospel, we have also rejected Him. We cannot separate the salvation of God from the truth of God; nor can I separate the love of my wife from knowing about my wife. As I have come to better know about her, our relationship has deepened.

Although we live in an age that pours forth words and communications of various sorts, it is also an anti-intellectual age. The immediacy of experience has trumped the contemplation and acquisition of wisdom and knowledge. In our postmodern age, what is “true” for me might not be “true” for you, but there is a high value placed on self-fulfilling experience – immediate gratification that doesn’t interfere with your lifestyle as doctrine would. Therefore, Peter’s words sound unbelievable to this generation:

·       Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him. (2 Peter 1:2-3)

This is troubling for another reason. Knowledge makes demands and even issues personal rebukes (Prov. 1:29-30). Wisdom also requires work (Psalm 1) and it raises uncomfortable questions about “unity.”

While unity is something that is required (Eph. 4:1-5; John 17:20-23), we cannot create unity where none exists. Even the most skilled midwife cannot bring forth a baby where there is none! Fr. Tony Palmer is an Anglican Bishop, but he is also an official member of the Roman Catholic Ecumenical Delegation for Christian Unity and Reconciliation. In his work to bring about unity – a return to the RCC – he equates the Protestant emphasis on doctrine with “spiritual racism” that “divides what Christ had united.” In a UTube video, he condemned any “doctrine” that would cause division, claiming that in doing this, “we elevate doctrine higher than the cross itself.”

Palmer attempts to separate theology from the cross, as if they are two distinct things. However, the cross is doctrine/theology. When we embrace the cross, we do not embrace a literal tree but instead, the teachings of the cross – the Gospel.

Besides, Scripture often teaches division instead of unity, where there is no Gospel-basis for unity. Paul argued against being “unevenly yoked” and the need to be “separate” (2 Cor. 6:14-18).

Admittedly, Paul didn’t teach separation from other Christians (except in cases of church discipline), but it’s just hard to know where and how deeply to draw the line. Who are the true believers? Should we embrace all who claim Christ as Savior – the New Age Jesus, the mystical Jesus, the Prosperity Ministry, the Televangelists, the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Catholics, the Postmodern, Emergent, Agnostic Church? Should we separate completely? When does their Jesus become another “Jesus” and another “gospel?” How do we know where there is a “unity” worth preserving and presenting to the world?

These can be perplexing questions. However, rather than allowing the quest for unity to reduce theology to the lowest common denominator, we have a Scriptural mandate to be faithful to what we already understand about God:

·       So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. (Rom. 14:22-23)

We must remain faithful to our theological beliefs. If we compromise them for the sake of “unity,” we sin. But we must also grow into the doctrines of the Bible, and God gave us teachers and pastors to provide us a theological foundation:

·       Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Eph. 4:13-15)

According to Paul, unity and stability could only be achieved through growth in “the knowledge of the Son of God.” Consequently, we are not at liberty to throw away doctrine and theology for the hope of “unity.” Instead, these are the foundations of unity.

IMMORTALITY AND THE HUMAN QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Immortality and the Human Quest for Significance

Is there one drive that especially characterizes us? In The Significant Life, attorney George M. Weaver identifies our drive to establish our self-importance:

·       Individual humans are not concerned so much about the survival of the species as they are about their personal survival or significance. In order to push ourselves beyond our confining space-time limits, we as individuals try to set ourselves apart from the rest of humanity. It is unsettling to admit that one is average or ordinary – a routine person. (7)

Weaver documents this in many ways:

·       Salvador Dali once said, “The thought of not being recognized [is] unbearable”…Lady Gaga sings, “I live for the applause, applause, applause…the way that you cheer and scream for me.” She adds in another song, “yes we live for the Fame, Doin’ it for the Fame, Cuz we wanna live the life of the rich and famous.” (7)

Perhaps one reason we never achieve our longed-for significance is that it always seems to be comparative. We need to be more significant than the next guy. Writer Gore Vidal had been very transparent about this:

·       “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.” (58)

Clearly, this drive for significance tears at friendship, dividing instead of bringing together. The jealousy displayed by comedian Al Jolson is reflective of the human condition:

According to his biographer, “He once had a team of performing elephants fired because he thought the audience liked them too much.” (59)

Some are very candid about their quest for significance and pursue it without hesitation. But when anyone detracts from their esteem, they become murderous. Haman, the protagonist in the Book of Esther, planned to kill the entire Jewish race because of the disrespect of one Jew:

·       Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. (Esther 5:9)

For some, the closest they can come to immortality is the acclaim of the crowd. Even the fantastically successful never outgrow this quest. Napoleon foolishly boasted:

There is no immortality but the memory that is left in the minds of men… History I conquered rather than studied.” (12)

But what is so important about the “minds of men” that we so depend on their fleeting opinions for our “immortality?” Rather than immortality, this seems to represent a servile dependence on what others think. However, we tend to feel that the acclaim of others enlarges us.

People achieve their “immortality” in many different ways. In Fame, The Psychology of Stardom, psychologists Evans and Wilson argue:

·       What we try to create… is some illusion of permanence. The desire for permanence drives people to carve their name on trees and rocks, just like the handprints on Hollywood Boulevard. We need to have an impact on life – to leave something behind us when we go. (19)

Humanity so desires to attach itself to something greater to elevate self. However, success is never enough. Weaver cites President Lyndon B. Johnson as an example of this:

According to one commentator, “It is a curious footnote to history that long before he ran into trouble, Johnson had turned central Texas into a living monument to his heritage and his journey to the summit (the L.B.J birthplace, the L.B.J. boyhood home, the L.B.J. state park, the L.B.J. ranch and more).” (22)

However, “success” and significance can be achieved in other ways. Weaver writes about the opposite attempt to establish one’s mark on the world:

·       In 2005 Joseph Stone torched a Pittsfield, Massachusetts apartment building… After setting the blaze, Stone rescued several tenants from the fire and was hailed as a hero. Under police questioning, Stone admitted, however, that he set the fire and rescued the tenants because, as summarized at trial by an assistant district attorney, he “wanted to be noticed, he wanted to be heard, he wanted to be known.” (44)

Evidently, this drive for significance is so powerful that it can overrule the moral dictates of conscience. One mass-murderer gunman explained in his suicide note, “I’m going to be f_____ famous.” (45)

This drive for significance can even override all other affections. On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman, a zealous fan of the Beatle, John Lennon, first obtained his idol’s autograph before gunning him down. He explained:

·       “I was an acute nobody. I had to usurp someone else’s importance, someone else’s success. I was  ‘Mr. Nobody’ until I killed the biggest Somebody on earth.” At his 2006 parole hearing, he stated: “The result would be that I would be famous, the result would be that my life would change and I would receive a tremendous amount of attention, which I did receive… I was looking for reasons to vent all that anger and confusion and low self-esteem.” (47)

By attaching himself to someone greater, Chapman was able to elevate himself. Was it “low self-esteem” or merely Chapman’s own way to achieve what everyone else is trying to achieve – importance? Weaver reports that:

·       More than two hundred people confessed in 1932 to the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. (50)

The need for importance is so powerful that it seems that people are willing to pay almost any price for it. However, observing the insubstantiality of this pursuit, some have converted absurd quest into a quest for ultimate meaning. It might take a moral-crusader form. The UN claims: “The precious dignity of the individual person is a central humanist value” (82-83). Even if true, is this mission also a reflection of the pursuit of significance, disguised as a “nobler” quest? Is it a deceptive perversion of something more immediate and tangible?

Meanwhile, others have forsaken the temporary attainments of this world in favor of attaining enlightenment and ultimately of being absorbed into a person-less nirvana, the only reality – a universal consciousness where individual distinctions do not exist. This is the monistic answer – a rejection of the illusory worldly strivings in favor of a singular other-worldly pursuit, a real immortality, or so it seems.

However, the poet Miguel de Unamuno protested that the:

·       “Tricks of monism avail us nothing; we crave the substance and not the shadow of immortality.” (84)

According to Unamuno, monism presents a false hope. To whom does it offer immortality if the individual no longer exists in the monistic heaven, but rather just a universal consciousness? Is this immortality any more substantial than a dead body thrown in the ground with a tree planted over it, eventually lifting its nutrients into its branches and fruit? Is it any more substantial than Napoleon’s hope of immortality in being remembered by others, by history, by something grander than himself?

Chapman felt himself elevated by Lennon’s autograph; others by achieving success and praise, even worship. It seems that all of these attempts to take hold of immortality are also attempts to join ourselves to something greater.

What do we make of this quest? Is it entirely aberrant or does it reflect something essential about our human reality? Often, our desires are curiously matched with real-world objects. We hunger, and there is food; we thirst, and there is drink; we tire and there is sleep; we are lonely, and there are friends and family. Is it possible that our desire for significance is also matched with a real-world fulfillment? Is there a God who has created us for relationship with Him? Is it possible that our pursuit to be connected to something greater than we is a reflection of a divinely implanted desire for God?

This desire remains strangely unfulfilled in most people. Could it be that it has been misdirected onto the wrong objects - success and notoriety? The Prophet Isaiah offered an alternative solution consisting of spiritual food:

·       “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money,    come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live… Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” (Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-7)

To receive from God is to be free from our need to establish our self-importance, from the endless burden to prove and to define ourselves! Instead, we were created to be beloved by God and to love Him back.

WHY WE SHOULDN'T REJECT A JUDGMENTAL AND PUNITIVE GOD

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Why we shouldn’t Reject a Judgmental and Punitive God

Many people reject the Bible because they find the idea of a judgmental, punitive, and holy God highly distasteful. Here are many of their arguments and possible responses:

“Most people are good and don’t deserve punishment!”

The Prophet Jeremiah thought this way, but God would not allow his mis-assessments to go unchallenged. He therefore presented Jeremiah with several teachable moments:

·       "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city” (Jeremiah 5:1-2).

Jeremiah was convinced that God’s assessment of Israel was way off. He was convinced that there were many righteous people in Jerusalem:

·       I thought, "These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God" (Jeremiah 5:4-5).

However, God provided Jeremiah with some compelling object lessons. Jeremiah found that not only were the elites corrupt to the core, but even his own family had been plotting against him. As a result of these lessons, Jeremiah swung to the opposite extreme and prayed God’s judgment against them all. It’s interesting how our problems with God change as our perception of man changes.

We tend to think that our own kind are good and worthy people. However, God even corrected the Prophet Samuel because his opinions were merely based upon superficial observation and our human prejudices. Perhaps we think too much of our own judgments to properly esteem God’s.

Meanwhile, the Bible’s assessment of humanity is consistently negative (Rom. 1:18-32; 3:10-18). Jesus put it this way:

·       “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light [truth] because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19-20)

If this is so, perhaps there is justice in God’s judgments, even in His harsh judgments of the Canaanite nations.

“God will not judge the people he has created. Therefore, we shouldn’t.”

For one thing we tend to think that there is something illegitimate about judging and punishment. Often, we think of Jesus’ words, “Judge not that ye not be judged” (Mat. 7:1). However, if we read further, we find that this this isn’t an absolute prohibition against judging but rather judging hypocritically, when we do the same kinds of things without confessing them. In fact, there are many biblical commands to judge (James 5:19-20; Gal. 6:1; Mat. 18:15-19) and critiques of churches that have failed to judge (Rev. 2:14, 20).

Not only must we judge, but God also has judged and will judge. Peter argued that if God judged in the past, He will also judge in the future:

·       For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,[a] putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless… if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. (2 Peter 2:4-9)

Perhaps our problems with God reflect our narrow perspective. Just to illustrate, if we were to ask a cow about God’s judgment of the Canaanites, the cow would undoubtedly wholeheartedly agree with their destruction. This would also pertain to the young children the Canaanites sacrificed to their gods. Perhaps, we are just too anthropocentric.

“If we are compassionate people, we will love and not judge.”

However, if we love, we will discipline. We will demand that our 3-year-old holds our hand when crossing the street. If she violates this rule, we wisely punish. Besides, the Bible repeatedly teaches that if God loves us, He will discipline us for our own good (Heb. 12:5-11).

Besides, if we love the church and society, we will try to restrain evil. A teacher who does not discipline her class is a teacher who does not love.

“We don’t really warrant punishment because sin is not real. It’s just something humanity invented to maintain order.”

This is a view that is popular in the secular West, where life has been relatively comfortable and safe. Few of us have had a family member or members who had been brutally murdered. We marvel that these families cannot move on until justice is done. Instead, we myopically tend to regard them as vengeful.

However, in our heart, we know that there are some things that violate objective moral law. We know that it is wrong to torture babies and sex-traffic girls. However, the Western university has co-opted our thinking to believe that morals are human inventions, just relative to culture and human impulses.

However, the Bible is unequivocal that moral law is universal and immutable and that punishment for violating them is just. We find that even the New Testament saints justly demanded justice and punishment:

·       They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer. (Rev. 6:10-11)

In a world where there are no absolute moral laws or truths, there will necessarily be a diminished appreciation of justice and punishment. If no one is breaking an absolute moral law, then no one truly deserves punishment. Justice and righteousness become no more than pragmatic tools to maintain the kind of society that suites the majority or the powerful.

Interestingly, if morality is simply something that we humans made up and is therefore relative to our culture, then we have no objective basis to take issue with any form of injustice. We might not like it, but injustice doesn’t violate any law or objective truth if none exists.

How then can we claim that God is barbaric because He had ordered the Canaanite destruction? If God didn’t violate any law, then it can’t be wrong.

“Even if a higher moral law does exist, we still don’t deserve punishment because we are ignorant of it.”

If people really don’t know moral truth, then it would seem that ignorance is a perfect excuse. Even the Bible affirms that ignorance is an excuse:

·       Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” (John 9:41; 15:22, 24)

However, the Bible is even more affirmative that we aren’t ignorant, and that we are wired for God’s truths (Rom. 1:18-32; 2:14-15). Therefore, we can’t plead ignorance, and our guilt remains.

“We are merely sophisticated bio-chemical machines and therefore lack freewill. Because we are totally governed by bio-chemical reactions and lack freewill, we could not have done otherwise. Consequently, we are not deserving of punishment.”

One atheist friend admitted that he denies freewill because his guilt was simply too difficult to endure without this denial. Of course, he also acknowledged that we do not have a right to punish anyone. According to him, we still need to have police, but they are no more than a necessary evil.

Surely, if the Canaanites could not have acted otherwise, then God is unjust for punishing them. However, the Bible uniformly holds us accountable for our sins. Nowhere do we find a verse suggesting that we are not responsible (James 1:13-15; Rom. 2:2). Consequently, God has every right to judge us when we sin.

If I doubt my very evident perceptions/intuitions that I make freewill choices and that I bear guilt for them, I must also doubt everything that I think and feel. (We can easily distinguish between our freewill actions and those, like breathing, that overrule freewill choices.) However, if I do this, then I can no longer live coherently and sanely. Consequently, those who deny freewill cannot live in a consistent manner. The denial of freewill is contradicted by almost every word that pours forth from our mouths.

“If God is omnipotent, he certainly could have changed us or made us more obedient so that we wouldn’t be deserving of judgment.”

This statement reflects a misunderstanding of omnipotence. While God can do anything He wants to do, it doesn’t mean He can do it in any manner. He is constrained by several factors. He cannot sin, violate His nature, His plan, or perhaps even logic. While the Bible asserts that the Canaanites got what they fully deserved, and that God had been fully just, we do not know if any further divine forbearance would have violated other divine considerations.

“A loving and omnipotent God could have made a better world, one where severe punishment would have been unnecessary.”

To make such magisterial judgments about the universe requires supreme wisdom. Job had made such a judgment about God’s justice. However, God eventually showed him that he lacked the wisdom to even begin to make such judgments. Job reacted appropriately and repented in dust and ashes (Job 40, 42).

We cannot answer every question comprehensively. Does this mean that we should abandon the biblical revelation? Certainly not! Science cannot answer any one question comprehensively. It cannot even comprehensively define the basics like, “What is light? Matter? Time? Space? Do we then reject science? No! Instead, we value the limited wisdom that science has given us. I would suggest that we approach the character of God in the same manner.

CHRISTIAN LOVE, PROGRESSIVE STYLE

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Christian Love, Progressive Style

While Progressive “Christian” churches boast that they include all, Evangelicals – those who are Bible-centered – are consistently bashed. While Progressives talk about their brotherhood with Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists, they have nothing but disdain for Evangelicals. Sometimes, this yuck-word is left unspoken, but the message is clearly and consistently an Evangelical head-hunting orgy. One Episcopal rector disguised his attack like this:

·       Christian faith is not about submission to dogma [doctrine, teachings]… We walk by faith and not by doctrinal certainty.

This is an unmistakable portrait of Evangelicalism, which has always been Scripture and doctrine-centered. As such, we try to live as Jesus instructed:

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21)

Oddly, for someone who declared that the Christian faith is not about doctrine, the rector’s sermon was all about doctrine. He insisted that Jesus was “ultimate love” – a love that receives everyone without any qualifications regarding their beliefs or lifestyles (not like those pharisaical Evangelicals).

The Progressives have cast us into the role of the judgmental, narrow-minded Pharisees. They excluded people, especially the marginalized, just as those Evangelicals do. Meanwhile, the Progressives liken themselves to Jesus Himself who included everyone, or did He?

If Jesus is “ultimate love,” was He all-inclusive as the Progressives insist? Did He receive everyone without concern for their doctrine and lifestyle? Certainly not! He set the bar high for His followers:

But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)

They not only had to grab hold of His plow; they had to keep their hand on it:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mat. 16:24-26)

Was Jesus all-inclusive? Was He against the use of all power and coercion? No! In fact, He spoke the first word on excommunication:

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.  But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector” [and separate from them]. (Mat. 18:15-17)

While Jesus did receive everyone who was willing to truly follow Him, there were also qualifications. They had to repent of their sins:

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:2-5)

For Jesus, repentance wasn’t merely a quality-of-life issue. It was salvation itself, as He taught in His commission to His Apostles:

Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46-47)

What then is love? Is it merely a matter of receiving everyone – (as long as they are not Evangelicals) - regardless of their sins? Instead, if we care, we will warn and point to the only Source of hope. Meanwhile, in the minds of the Progressive “Christians,” the Evangelical is a Pharisee, because, faithful to Scripture, he insists on repentance.

Also, in their zeal to demonstrate that they are truly the ones who love as Jesus did, the Progressives eliminate any doctrinal requirements. Doesn’t removing these artificial barriers between people prove that they love as Jesus did? It depends on what Jesus taught. Did He teach, “It doesn’t matter what your believe as long as you are following me.” Certainly not! He taught that His disciples had to abide in Him by abiding in His teachings:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[b] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you… If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love… You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” (John 15:5-14)

Keeping Jesus’ commandments aren’t optional, and to keep them, we first need to believe and understand them. Nor is it optional what we think about Him. He warned the Pharisees:

“I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

This again raises that contentious question, “What is love.” Is love a superficial “making nice,” or is love a matter of being devoted to the ultimate welfare of the other? And isn’t this welfare a matter of eternal salvation! Is it therefore pharisaical to point to salvation through Jesus alone? Certainly not!

At this point, you find that the Progressive “Christian” jumps ship. It is here that you will discover that what is most holy for the progressive is not Jesus’ teachings or Scripture. Instead, it is they! Instead of Scripture judging them, they are sitting in judgment over Scripture. They are the ultimate authority. Sometimes, they will admit that they pick-and-choose those verses that support their own worldview. However, Jesus would never approve of such a thing. Quoting Deuteronomy 8 against the Devil, He stated:

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Mat. 4:4)

According to Jesus, we are not free to stand in judgment over the Word but must submit to “every word” as He did. It is therefore a gross charade, when the Progressive churches will read Scripture and then claim that this is “The Word of God.”

Progressive ministers also use Scripture in their sermons. Of course, they expect you to regard their selected verses as authoritative – as the final word and proof to settle any question. However, these hypocrites discard everything else in Scripture that they find unappealing. They choose to maintain a façade of Christian love as they conform their modernized religion to the values of the day. Meanwhile, they disparage those who take the Bible seriously, falsely claiming that doctrinal confidence has never been the focus of Christianity.

Is it unloving to call these deceivers, “hypocrites,” or is this something they need to hear? If Jesus is our model of “ultimate love,” then we have to observe how He talked to others:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” (Mat. 23:13-15)

We are all undeserving sinners. Without the Lord’s light, we’d all be hypocrites and worse. However, this is not the question. Instead, the question remains, “What is love?” Clearly, sometimes love requires shaking. Jesus loved the Pharisees, so He shook them so that some light would enter through the newly formed cracks.

Progressivism is a modern form of liberalism and skepticism – a gross perversion of the Christian faith. Shouldn’t we shake it until the ugliness of its hypocrisy is exposed!

DIALOGUES WITH "CHRISTIAN" UNIVERSALISTS

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Dialogues with “Christian” Universalists

Universalism can look very appealing. Here is what the Christian Universalist Association (CUA) writes about it:

·       Are you looking for a faith that boldly proclaims God’s unfailing love for all people? A faith that accepts Jesus as Savior and holds him up as someone who shows us the heart of the Creator, as someone everyone can follow with joy and integrity — and yet a faith that does not use fear of eternal hell as a stick to force you into the fold? Are you searching for a faith based on the premise that in the end there will be no one left behind — a faith that through this blessed hope can truly break down barriers and bring people together in a spirit of joy and “good tidings to all”?

This form of universalism is appealing in a number of ways:

1.     It allows you to retain some semblance of your Christian faith.

2.     It also coincides with today’s secularism that denies any eternal punishment, removes all distinctions among peoples, eliminates any fear of judgment, provides a popular but simplistic faith, and is all-inclusive.

However, not everything that is appealing is true. Here is a slightly edited dialogue (of my own words) that I recently had with universalists at the CUA Facebook group. I hope it illustrates some of the problems with universalism.

Daniel, you can't have "Mercy enduring forever" and eternal torment too. One cancels out the other right? Which would you prefer to win or last forever? Is your god, eternally angry, hateful, judgmental vindictive? Or does your heaven have NO eternal forgiveness, grace of unconditional love?

Even biblically, there is so much we don't know about hell and eternal judgment. Is it a matter of annihilation (and not eternal anger)? If annihilation is the eternal consequence (or one of them), then it isn’t a matter of God being eternally angry, but rather a matter of people refusing to come to the light and be eternally healed. Is it something self-chosen due to our hate of the light (God) John 3:17-20? In this case, how could we call God “vindictive” for allowing the lover of darkness to choose his destiny?

Unless, you can precisely define the nature of hell, we cannot begin to suggest that the existence of hell contradicts the nature of God as presented in the Bible.

Consequently, I do not see contradiction where you see it. I am willing to live with a certain degree of tension and uncertainty about the nature of hell because I am convinced that God will reconcile it all lovingly and justly in the end.

I am also left to wonder where your evidence and confidence about universalism arises, now that you have rejected the biblical revelation. Do you have a more trustworthy revelation?

Daniel, the evidence for the existence of a loving God is everywhere, not just in the Bible. Just google "proof of God," and then start reading. Close your eyes and try to imagine yourself not existing. Unimaginable. Try to imagine a God who by His nature is the very definition of love, and at the same time hateful and vindictive towards those who want to believe in Him, but can't. Unimaginable! We all know in our hearts that God is love, because God has planted those feelings there. Trust your gut. Trust your heart. God will fill in all the details when you are ready to know more. For some, that won't come until after death. But that's OK. Whether we believe it or not, God loves us and is always with us. So, just go out there and live your life to the fullest and follow your heart.

Along with you, I certainly believe that God is love. However, I don't think that this contradicts the fact that God is also righteous (judging), just and holy. Meanwhile, based upon what you regard as imaginable and unimaginable, you impugn the biblical God as “hateful and vindictive towards those who want to believe in Him, but can't.”

What if instead, they refuse to believe (Rom. 1:18-32; 3:10-16) because they hate God and refuse to come to Him and be saved (John 3:19-21). Unless you can prove that humanity is as innocent as the CUAs make us out to be, then you cannot make the case that the biblical God is “hateful.”

It seems that a lot of our differences arise from the way the CUA seems to imagine humanity, God and hell. While your imagination conjures up a relatively innocent humanity, and an unjustified hell and a God who is less that righteous, just and holy, the Bible presents an entirely different portrait.

Daniel, instead of viewing [God’s here-and-now judgments] as vindictive, we view them as remedial and restorative in purpose.

I too would have trouble with the vindictive part. However, to the prophet Ezekiel, God reveals:

·       "Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’" (Ezek. 33:11)

Perhaps then hell is a matter of annihilation for those who refuse to be connected to Life and find restoration or perhaps hell is self-chosen. Since they detest the presence of the Light as they have in this life, perhaps for them, darkness will remain preferable to the Light in the next life.

Oh no! Who refuses to be connected to Life, who detests the presence of the Light? They are the ones whose souls have been warped, wounded, and wasted, deprived of love and compassion, and poisoned from the well of warfare, hatred, and greed. None of us can boast of our goodness, we fall so short of the mark. Our destiny is not in our hands, but in the hands of a forgiving and compassionate creator. We are all, in the words of Kalen's book, DESTINED FOR SALVATION.

What if humanity is far worse than our relative innocence you imagine? What if we have truly become evil to the core, as so many verses suggest:

·       As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”  “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways.” (Rom. 3:10-16)

If this portrait corresponds to the real nature of humanity, wouldn’t you have to revise your assessment of our innocence and God’s “hatefulness” by judging?

Daniel my brother, you can't have both judgment and mercy enduring forever. You cannot hate and love at the same time. One cancels out the other. In Christ, mercy triumphs over Justice. That's in your bible too!

You insist that judgment is incompatible with love and cite “mercy triumphs over judgment” in support. However, you seem to believe that this teaching eliminates any need for judgment. However, when we take a look at this passage in context, we have to reject this possibility:

·       Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:12-13)

Instead, James insisted that judgment is still on the table for those who aren’t merciful. What then is mercy? According to Jesus, mercy is predicated on repentance:

·       Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:2-5)

Daniel, you can find passages of scripture that support annihilationism. Those same passages, however, are subject to more than one interpretation. The word in the Bible that is translated "destroyed" simply means "lost." That which is lost can also be found. That which is dead can be made alive again. That is what the Gospel of Christ is all about. The Bible clearly teaches that in Christ "all shall be made alive." Yes, the wages of sin is death and the destruction of the soul, but the gift of God is life. All we like sheep have gone astray and become "lost." Jesus will not lose any of those sheep permanently. He will seek them out and eventually bring all of them back into the fold.

I certainly agree that the doctrine of eternal judgment is a difficult one. It is for this reason (among others) that I am reluctant to associate it with a God of Hate but rather of justice.

You are right that “in Christ, all shall be made alive.” However, we have no basis to apply this to those outside of Christ. Instead, Scripture offers little hope for those outside:

·       Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,  so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Heb. 9:27-28)

I might not like this exclusivistic message, but I am bound to submit to it, even before my understanding catches up to this revelation.

Daniel, do you really believe that that the Gospel is about justice? It is exactly the opposite. It is the height of arrogance to believe that you are "justly" going to heaven, while the mass of "unjust" humanity is going to spend eternity in Hell.

You are right! Entering heaven is not a matter of justice but of mercy, and mercy can be discriminate.

What kind of justice is it that prepares a "place" of eternal suffering for temporal misdeeds? This even goes way beyond the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" scale-balancing justice of the Hebrew Bible. We might even be able to live with a scale-balancing justice like the "12-months-in-Gehenna" pictured by the rabbinical scholars of Jesus' day, but a never-ending conscious torment?

Before we can conclude that hell is either unjust, we first have to determine the exact nature of hell. However, we are told that hell will be different for different people. It is also possible that those in hell might eventually be annihilated. It is also possible that hell is self-chosen, and that some would prefer darkness to the presence of God – something they detest.

Therefore, before you can disparage the justice of eternal punishment, you need a better idea of what it will consist.

Daniel, you are completely missing the point. The purpose of God's judgments is rehabilitation and restoration and repentance.

Is it always such? Can you support this contention? Perhaps punishment is a just payment for our sins.

Daniel, unbelief is by definition ignorance of the truth. If one is not ignorant of the truth, then by one would obviously be believing the truth. Jesus refers to our sin as a kind of blindness. On the cross He asked the Father to forgive his tormentors because "they know not what they do."

I think that you will find that Jesus regards such ignorance as culpable:

·       "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19-20)

Also see the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16) where the problem of unbelief is not about a lack of evidence.

Daniel, yes, we are culpable or held accountable for our sins, regardless of whether they are committed in ignorance or not, because our sinful attitudes and behaviors are harmful to ourselves and others. So God does chastise and correct us. That is not the same as banishment to Hell for all eternity.

If God didn’t rescue them from their willful ignorance and rebellion in this life, why should we expect that He’ll do so in the next? In fact, we are taught to not expect this. Peter argued that if He condemned the rebellious angels to hell, we should expect that he will do the same with us:

·       For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness[b] to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless… if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. (2 Peter 2:4-9)

If you were all-powerful and able to change peoples’ hearts and minds through the influence of your indwelling spirit, would you not be completely able to bring your wayward son to repentance, after you feel he has suffered enough to learn his lesson?

I think that this is your strongest point. However, it just doesn’t seem that our Lord does this. Instead, we see many who become hardened in their unbelief and vitriol. Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing." (Mat. 23:37)

Jesus declared that He had done what He either could or would. Why doesn't God become more coercive with all unwilling people? I don't know. However, I trust that He has his reasons. I am willing to live with a certain degree of uncertainty in this area, while taking Him at His word.

Meanwhile, you insist that Her will not condemn anyone or allow anyone to go to hell, because this doesn't correspond with your philosophy. However, it does seem to correspond with Scripture.

I believe all the words of Jesus. Of course, He grieved over the lost condition of the nation of Israel. Remember this also. That which is lost can also be found. Jesus didn't come to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. He is more than able to accomplish all that He set out to do.

Indeed, He can "accomplish all that He set out to do." But did He ordain to accomplish the salvation of the entire world? So many verses indicate that although He had paid the price for the sins of the world, many will not avail themselves of it:

·       “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it... 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!’" (Mat. 7:13-23)

While it is true that Jesus acknowledged that He didn’t come to judge the world, this still leaves open the possibility that the non-believer will judge himself and flee from the light – the presence of God – which he has always hated and into the darkness of lies and denial.

Universalist Carton Pearson started this thread by writing:

·       What happens after this life we can only speculate about and trust that in the ultimate reality, intrinsic good will prevail in us, for us, through us and as us.

It is noteworthy that Pearson confesses agnosticism about his universalistic heaven. It points to the possibility that agnosticism is endemic to universalism. Why? Can the universalist really believe in the mercy of God if he denies the inevitable judgment of God without it? It would seem that mercy of the cross is predicated on our understanding that we need the cross, and that without it, we face judgment.

It also makes me wonder if the Spirit will validate such a faith in those who have rejected the fullness of the biblical revelation. Instead, this agnosticism would seem to prove that the Spirit will not endorse a faith based on picking-and-choosing those verses we find appealing. Instead, we when submit to God, we submit to the totality of His Word (Mat. 4:4). By doing this, we honor Him and He honors us:

·       “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name [who I am]. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16)

Does the universalist know God or has he re-created him in a form that he finds appealing? In this way, has he thus rejected God?