Progressive Christianity

Progressive Christianity imitates culture, but Christians should imitate Jesus by recognizing and making a strong stand against the false teachings of this growing movement.

“Post-modern Christianity falls into line with basic post-modernist thinking. It is about experience over reason, subjectivity over objectivity, spirituality over religion, images over words, outward over inward. Are these things good? Sure. Are these things bad? Sure. It all depends on how far from biblical truth each reaction against modernity takes one’s faith. This, of course, is up to each believer. However, when groups form under such thinking, theology and doctrine tend to lean more towards liberalism.” https://www.gotquestions.org/post-modern-Christianity.html

Progressive Christianity is a recent movement in Protestantism that focuses strongly on social justice and environmentalism and often includes a revisionist (or non-traditional) view of the Scriptures. Since the movement entails a number of different beliefs and views on various topics, it is difficult to label the whole movement decisively as “biblical” or “unbiblical.” Each claim and belief of any movement should be filtered through the Word of God, and whatever does not line up with Scripture should be rejected.

A progressive Christianity church can be identified by the following:

A lowered view of the Bible

Biblical authority takes a backseat to one’s personal conscience as the highest authority for truth.

Comments from progressives:

The Bible is a human book

I disagree with the Apostle Paul on this issue…

As Christians, we view the Bible as the Holy Word of God and its authority over our lives.

Feelings are emphasized over facts

Feelings and opinions tend to be valued above objective truth.

In progressive Christianity, there is a strong push for same-sex marriage, but it doesn’t stop there. In many progressive circles, the entire Christian ethic of sex being enjoyed only within the bounds of marriage between one man and one woman is considered outdated and even harmful. Advocacy for abortion rights is becoming more normalized.

Young people are facing similar criticisms from progressive Christians, but with the added weight of being called a “bigot” or “hateful” or “intolerant.” Some even go so far as to claim that anyone who holds to a historic Biblical sexual ethic is an unsafe and harmful person.

Comments from progressives

I thought homosexuality was a sin until I met and befriended some gay people

I just can't believe Jesus would send good people to hell

Essential Christian doctrines are open for reinterpretation

The church's historic position on sexuality is archaic and needs to be updated within a modern framework...

Historic terms are redefined

Shift words to mean what they want them to mean. (linguistic theft).

It's not our job to talk to anyone about sin—it's our job to just love them....

God wouldn't punish sinners—He is love....

The heart of the gospel message shifts from sin and redemption to social justice

The Core Message of Christianity is this: “Jesus died for our sins, was buried and resurrected, and reconciled us to God.”

Comments from progressives

Sin doesn't separate us from God—we are made in His image and He called us good....

God didn't actually require a sacrifice for our sins—the first Christians picked up on the pagan practice of animal sacrifice and told the Jesus story in similar terms....

We don't really need to preach the gospel—we just need to show love by bringing justice to the oppressed and provision to the needy...

Here’s the danger. To the untrained ear, the progressive Christian message can sound a lot like biblical Christianity. There’s talk of God, Jesus, the Bible, love, and compassion. If a child has never learned to think more deeply about theology and what the Bible actually teaches, they can easily mistake progressive Christianity for biblical Christianity.

Article: the trouble with Easter: how to (and not to) talk to kids about Easter.

Jesus died for you/your sins (this is “psychologically damaging”)

God intended for Jesus to die (this is “confusing and jarring”)

Jesus died to save them from God’s judgment (“an atonement theology of inborn corruption in need of redemption has no place in a conversation with kids about Easter”)

Teaching kids apologetics isn’t about putting their experiences in a “box.” To the contrary, apologetics is about stepping outside personal experience and examining what reason there is to believe Christianity is true regardless of our feelings.

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Here are five ways to do stand against progressive Christianity.

Progressive Christianity is marked by a “what’s true for you is true for you” attitude

As Christians, we are called to:

Uphold Biblical Authority

As followers of Jesus, we must align our view with what He taught about the Bible.

How did Jesus speak?

“As it is written” - this is how he overcame temptation. He appealed to the authority of Scriptures.

Jesus referred to the OT as the Word of God.

John 10:35

Scripture inspired by God.

Stand for Biblical Sexuality and the Sanctity of Human Life

Jesus categorizes sexual immorality as something that defiles a person. And according to the Scriptures that Jesus affirmed, sexual immorality meant any sexual activity outside of the confines of marriage.

Get a backbone

John 15:18, Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

Seek the Objective Truth

Proclaim the Gospel