Affirming People's Potential is More Important than Reminding Them of Their Brokenness

“At the very root of the modern liberal movement is the loss of the consciousness of sin.” -Christianity & Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen, p.64

Are people sinners? How important is it that people know they are sinners? Should we be told? How do we balance people’s sinfulness with their potential as God’s image-bearers?

Balancing Sin and Human Potential

The Christian message is not only about our sin and brokenness, but also about the renewal work to restore God’s image within us. True or False? Why?

Is the potential of people only possible through the saving grace of God and the death of Christ, that conquered sin? Why or why not?

The Bible joins both our depravity and our amazing potential we have as God’s image bearers.

Rejecting the Bible’s Teaching on Sin

Are churches that regularly teach that people are sinners guilty of “spiritual abuse” and mistreatment of their people?

Gulley denies original sin on the basis that Adam and Eve were not real people; the stories are religious “myths”. Is there a danger in denying the teaching of “original sin”? Why or why not?

Is there a danger in not viewing ourselves as “wretched sinners” deserving of damnation? Why or why not?

If people are not sinful, why did Jesus come?

What is sin? According to Philip Gulley, the classic definition of sin is…”to knowingly and willfully choose to do evil” (If the Chruch Were Christian, p. 15). Is his definition true?

Rejecting the Saving Work of Christ

If one rejects the doctrine of sin and downplays it’s seriousness, what is the reason for why Jesus died?

Do you support or reject the doctrine of substitutionary atonement? Why or why not?

Propitiation means “averting the anger of a personal deity” (The Anchor Bible Dictionary).

Expiation means “nullifying the effects of sin” (Ibid.).

Did Jesus propitiate or expiat by His substitutionary atonement? Why? Does Jesus appease God’s anger or nullify sin and its effects?

Was the Apostle Paul a liar? According to Romans 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Is humanity in need for redemption?

Scripture says, Ex 32:33 “The Lord replied to Moses: “I will erase whoever has sinned against Me from My book.”

1 Cor. 15:16-17 “For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”

Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you so that He does not listen.”

1 Jn 3:5 “You know that He was revealed so that He might take away sins, and there is no sin in Him.”

2 Cor.. 5:21 “He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

How does one reconcile the statements from Scripture about the saving work of Christ compared to Gulley and Rohr’s denial of Jesus’ need of saving work?

The church has typically understood salvation as being rescued from sin and going to heaven when we die. But what if we believed salvation was our life-long journey toward maturity, love, and wholeness? Were that the case, Jesus would not be the one who saves humanity by his sacrifice of blood, but the one who exemplifies this maturity, love, and wholeness, the one to whom Christians can look and say...’we can be like him!” -Philip Gulley, Ibid, p.44

What does Mr. Gulley’s statement mean? What then becomes the purpose of Jesus? The purpose of Christians? What affect does his statement on Christianity?

The Apostle Paul said, 1 Timothy 1:15 “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” —and I am the worst of them.”

“After one has jettisoned the doctrine of original sin, rejected the idea that we are therefore sinners in need of salvation, and denied that Jesus died on the cross for sins, what is left of historical, biblical Christianity? -Micheal J. Kruger, p.16

Bible Study Questions and Quotes based on the work of Micheal J. Kruger, The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity. Pastor Shannon Whitehouse 2022