Eight Marks of Progressive Christianity

Introduction

Our identity as an independent fundamental baptist church might seem to be just holding on to the past because as we asked the question Who are we? we have spent a lot of time looking at the past. It might seem as if the battles were fought and they are all over with today. We don’t see as many Liberal churches out there any more and they aren’t trying to make their way into our churches any more right? Fundamentalism and New Evangelicalism have split into two groups so that battle seems to be over with? The battle seems to be a thing of the past, but is it really?

In our churches today, liberalism is still making headway into the churches; it has just changed its name and focus. Today we call it Progressive Christianity. Back in the early 2000’s we used to warn about what was called the emerging church movement. This movement was led by three well-known names: Brian McLaren, Mark Driscoll and Rob Bell. The emerging church incorporated postmodernism into the church. Trying to figure out what they believed was like trying to nail Jello to the wall as one author put it; but I bring this up because atleast two of those names are leaders in what is now called progressive Christianity. Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Marcus Borg whom I have mentioned in this series, Scott McKnight and tony Campolo are some of the most notable preachers in the movement. You might have heard of Sojourners Magazine and Red Letter Christians which are both progressive outlets.

When you see the theological and core values of this movement, I think you will see that this is just another form of Liberalism that has crept into the church. Unlike traditional liberalism which is now confined to their own denominations for the most part and New Evangelicalism which also has its own denominations, progressive Christianity is a subversive for of Christianity. While their are progressive churches and denominations, its effects are felt in churches that are not progressive. Some of these names are men who have had a broader influence on Christianity. So as we end our discussion on Fundamentalism, it is important for us to remember there is still a battle to be waged.

Tonight we are going to look at how progressive Christianity contradicts scripture. The following eight marks are how progressive Christianity defines themselves. When you are debating or dealing with someone you disagree with, it is intellectually honest to make sure you understand what they teach from their perspective; so I went to their websites to come up with these points. You can check it out on their website progressivechristianity.org based on their 2011 statement of their core values

Panentheism

The first point of progressive Christianity is a belief in panentheism. According to their Core Value they believe

Believe that following the path and teachings of Jesus can lead to an awareness and experience of the Sacred and the Oneness and Unity of all life.

You may not be aware of panentheism, but you probably have heard of pantheism. Pantheism is the belief that the universe or nature is God. Those two letters different in Panentheism mean that God is in everything. This is not to confuse God with creation but a belief that there is a divine spark in everything.

Panetheism basically teaches that God is like a hand in a glove. The world, nature, is the glove while God is the hand. You experience the hand as you touch the glove. But also the hand can only experience through the glove. So God and the world become interdependent.

Acts 17:28 “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” is the classic passage used to support a belief in panentheism. But those who take this verse to teach panentheism need to back up just a few verses.

Acts 17:24 “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;” The transcendence of God. Paul affirms the creature/ creator distinction and points out that God’s dwelling place is not in this physical world in temples made with hands. So God is separate from his creation.

Acts 17:25 “Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;” The key phrase in this verse is as though he needed anything. God is not dependent in any way on his creation. He is self-sufficient. The theological term for this is the aseity of God.

Acts 17:29 “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” asserts that God is different than gold and silver and statues we can imagine.

Pluralism

Affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide but one of many ways to experience the Sacredness and Oneness of life, and that we can draw from diverse sources of wisdom in our spiritual journey;

in our approach to heaven

Pluralism believes that Jesus is only one of many. So I can experience God through Buddhism or Hinduism or Satanism. Any of these ways can get me there. If you know your bible, I don’t have to spend a whole lot of time on this point. John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

In this verse, Jesus affirmed the exclusivity of the gospel. There are not many ways, there is only one way. Jesus says no one gets to heaven where the Father is except through Him.

Inclusive of all people

Seek community that is inclusive of ALL people, including but not limited to: Conventional Christians and questioning skeptics, Believers and agnostics, Women and men, Those of all sexual orientations and gender identities, Those of all classes and abilities.

Inclusivism is a moral virtue in our society today. Many forget that it is Christianity that introduced inclusivism into our society. We look back after 2000 years of Christian influence on culture and dare to criticize the foundation we stand on. As with many of these points there is a half truth mixed in here. Christianity is very inclusive.

Galatians 3:27–28 “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

When we are talking about the makeup, and value of the members of the body of Christ we see three distinctions that are erased:

Ethnic distinctions

Economic distinctions

Gender distinctions

It doesn’t matter if you are black or white in the Church, Chinese or Russian. We are all equal in God’s family and being part of that family unites us together. We also see that rich and poor can worship together in the church. James condemned favoritism based on economic statues in James 2. If a church is functioning as it should, we have care and concern for the needs of each other. We also see that in Christianity, men and women are equal. God has ordained certain roles of service for men and women, but none are better than the other.

All are welcome in the church, but we must not think that sin will be unaddressed in the church. The type of inclusivism that progressive Christianity advocates is one where sin is ignored. Sinners are welcome in the church, Christians who struggle with sin are welcome in the church, but that does not mean we accept sin. Paul in addressing the Corinthian church made these comments:

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

Those who live a continual, unrepentant life-style of these things show that they are not truly Christians. What things are included: fornication- sexual relations outside of marriage, idol worship, adultery- sexual relations to someone who is not you spouse, but I want us to notice these next two phrases because this is who the progressives would have us accept in Christianity:

effeminate- the passive partner in a homosexual relationship

Abusers of themselves with mankind- the active partner in a homosexual relationship.

But 1 Corinthians 6:11 “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” is the key. And such were some of you. The Corinthian church included those who had been homosexuals. Even the homosexual is welcomed by the gospel, but notice the tense of that verb. It is past tense. Christianity is intended to bring a change. It doesn’t just accept the sin; it changes a man.

Behavior is more important than belief

Know that the way we behave towards one another is the fullest expression of what we believe.

Behavior is important in christianity, but what this core value is stating is that belief is unimportant to our Christianity. All of us have seen people who say they believe something and then they never practice it. Hypocrisy has become one of the cardinal vices that our society rejects. The progressive Christian doesn’t want to discuss theology, they want social activism. It doesn’t matter your religious background as long as you act like a Christian. Belief is virtually unimportant.

The problem with this view of Christianity is that behavior and belief cannot be separated. They are like breathing. To breathe, you must inhale and you must exhale. Really you can’t do one without the other. Proverbs 4:23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.” Your heart are the thoughts, values, desires inside you. The issues of life are everything that issue forth out of your heart. It is like the mississippi river. The waters of the Mississippi flow out of Lake Itasca in MN. If you poison the lake, you poison the river. So if the beliefs of your heart are wrong, the actions that flow from them will also be wrong.

In their effort to fight against hypocrisy, they have instead created an inverse hypocrisy. Instead of believing something but not doing it; they are doing something but not believing in it. Belief and theology are an essential part of Christianity and without it, you do not have Christianity. 1 Corinthians 15:1–4 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” The gospel is a message we believe and it is this belief that transforms our lives.

Questioning is more important than absolutes

Find grace in the search for understanding and believe there is more value in questioning than in absolutes.

We have already dealt with the fact that Jesus is the only way to heaven, but in John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The source of all truth is Jesus Christ.

Postmodern society has elevated scepticism as a virtue. If you say you know what you believe you are automatically an evil person, but if you say I am still looking into and I don’t know that we can know that, you are virtuous. Again there is a half-truth here because there are some things we cannot know.

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” There are some secret thing, but there are also some revealed things that we must know. This is a reaction against those who believe something just because they were told it by a preacher once upon a time. You should be willing to study things out, learn, be teachable; but the search for answers that God has given us is not an unending quest.

2 Timothy 3:7 “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” describes men in the end times. They will be ever learning- always seeking new information; but the information they seek never leads them to know. They cannot come to a knowledge of the truth. Truth is unknowable, we can never really be sure. So how do we come to know things:

When it comes to theology and questions of faith and practice, the answer is in the revealed word of God. Reference back to deut 29. If God has spoken it I should be studying it and seeking to find the truth in it.

Social Justice

Strive for peace and justice among all people

God is a God of justice and desires us to seek justice. Micah 6:8 “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; And what doth the Lord require of thee, But to do justly, and to love mercy, And to walk humbly with thy God?” Christians should be against treating people unjustly. Most of the law of Moses was about how to treat people fairly and justly.

Progressive Christianity is influenced though by progressive politics. Social justice does not mean what justice means in the bible. Voddie Bauchum warns:

Social justice is the ultimate trojan horse term where it seems to mean one good thing as most people understand it.  Social justice - a more fair and equal society, but it actually means something else.  That something else is very specific and most people if they knew what they were encountering would be unlikely to accept it.  The idea advertised by the phrase social justice doesn’t match the ideology and worldview bearing the seemingly identical name.  Social justice means something more specific.  It means critical social justice.  This is in fact an ideology that aggressively pursues the social, cultural, institutional, and political installation and enforcement of a very specific and radical understanding of social justice as derived from various critical theories and their analyses of various socially constructed dynamics of systems of power.  As such, they do not necessarily seek to achieve social justice in the broad sense or the sense that many people would assume of the term.  Instead, they seek to empower and enforce their particular worldview that revolves around one narrow and authoritarian interpretation of the concept. 

Environmentalism

Strive to protect and restore the integrity of our Earth

Environmentalism is also tied to progressive Christianity because of their belief in panentheism. Christians should steward the earth that God has given us. Genesis 2:15 “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Our responsibility is to nurture the earth, but also to cause it to flourish. But environmentalists forget that God also told us to Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

We are to cultivate and protect; but we are also to develop and use it responsibly. Environmentalism falls short because it doesn’t take into account the distinction between man and animal. Man was created by God in His image and the animals and plants are of a lesser value. When talking about eating meat, Paul says that God has given all things richly to be enjoyed. And so it is a matter of priorities.

Love

Commit to a path of life-long learning, compassion, and selfless love.

Christianity is to be known for its love. John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” But to the progressive love is acceptance of all variant behaviors that oppose God’s word. True love doesn’t lie to people. True love doesn’t rejoice in evil. True love speaks the truth.

Conclusion

So is there still a battle to be won. For sure there still is and we must beware of these influences creeping into our churches. We must stand strong, fight the fight of the faith and not back down. Fundamentalism has not lost its purpose; maybe it just needs to be reminded of the real battle we still face.