Monday, February 9, 2009
Bad Theology
I just finished reading an article (http://www.gty.org/resources/articles/10186) about Open Theism and the Emergent Church. Both Open Theism and the Emergent Church are becoming a problem to historical Christianity. They are attacking the heart of who God is and the importance of scripture and preaching it. If you have not come across this thought process, you will. It is spreading like wild fire throughout Evangelical Christianity.
Open theism is a theology that denies the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. "Open theism is a theological movement that has developed within evangelical and post-evangelical Protestant Christianity as a response to certain ideas that are related to the synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian theology. Several of these ideas within Classical theism (a designation which is not to be taken as inclusive of all of orthodox theism) state that God is immutable, impassible, and timeless. For several versions of classical theism, God fully determines the future; thus, humanity does not have libertarian free will, or, if free, that its freedom must necessarily be compatible with God's determining actions.[1] Open theists argue that these attributes do not belong to the God of the Bible and are at odds with person hood." (From Wikipedia) What does that all mean. It simply means that God is not in control of the future. Your personal actions control the future. Yes God has a plan but that plan can not come into being without the help and free choice of humans. It takes away from the sovereignty of God. The problem is that Open theism is heresy and those who believe it deny the God of the Bible. We must reject this thought process and understanding of God. He is a God of all power, all love, all justice, all holiness, and all knowledge. He is the great and mighty creator.
Those who are involved in the Emergent Church have bought into this idea that preaching is no longer needed. Pulpits are of the past and pastors need to lead conversations, not preach the word of God. "Postmodern people don't trust authority figures. They don't want to hear someone stand up and expound the Word of God. It's unhealthy, he says. It's abusive. Why do I get to speak for 30 minutes and you don't? He asked" (Doug Pagitt) To this idea, I say no thanks. Preaching is needed more today than ever. People are living lives that are immoral and they are absolutely rejecting the teachings of scripture. If we do not open the Word of Life to these people and share the truth then they have no hope. Please pray for strong preaching in the world today. Pray that I would be a strong preacher in a weak world.
God is holy and justice and we are to serve Him with all of our heart and mind.
Open theism is a theology that denies the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. "Open theism is a theological movement that has developed within evangelical and post-evangelical Protestant Christianity as a response to certain ideas that are related to the synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian theology. Several of these ideas within Classical theism (a designation which is not to be taken as inclusive of all of orthodox theism) state that God is immutable, impassible, and timeless. For several versions of classical theism, God fully determines the future; thus, humanity does not have libertarian free will, or, if free, that its freedom must necessarily be compatible with God's determining actions.[1] Open theists argue that these attributes do not belong to the God of the Bible and are at odds with person hood." (From Wikipedia) What does that all mean. It simply means that God is not in control of the future. Your personal actions control the future. Yes God has a plan but that plan can not come into being without the help and free choice of humans. It takes away from the sovereignty of God. The problem is that Open theism is heresy and those who believe it deny the God of the Bible. We must reject this thought process and understanding of God. He is a God of all power, all love, all justice, all holiness, and all knowledge. He is the great and mighty creator.
Those who are involved in the Emergent Church have bought into this idea that preaching is no longer needed. Pulpits are of the past and pastors need to lead conversations, not preach the word of God. "Postmodern people don't trust authority figures. They don't want to hear someone stand up and expound the Word of God. It's unhealthy, he says. It's abusive. Why do I get to speak for 30 minutes and you don't? He asked" (Doug Pagitt) To this idea, I say no thanks. Preaching is needed more today than ever. People are living lives that are immoral and they are absolutely rejecting the teachings of scripture. If we do not open the Word of Life to these people and share the truth then they have no hope. Please pray for strong preaching in the world today. Pray that I would be a strong preacher in a weak world.
God is holy and justice and we are to serve Him with all of our heart and mind.
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About Me
- jstrewh2
- I am the Youth and Associate Pastor at FBC Church Hill. I am married to a wonderful woman. In May of 2008, I received my Master of Divinity Degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
17 comments:
You mention, "It simply means that God is not in control of the future. Your personal actions control the future." That ahh... isn't exactly what Open Theism teaches. And it certainly doesn't deny the sacrificial death of Jesus. Also Open Theism is hardly universally accepted by everyone in the emergent church.
Concerning preaching, there are other means to share the gospel, and if a certain style of "preaching" proves to be ineffective, then I think it would be prudent to use the other means that are effective.
Anyway, I just thought I'd mention a couple of things. Have fun preaching, I wish you the best.
The primary failure of Open Theism is that it is man's attempt to understand an infinite God with our finite minds. The best educated minds will never understand the precepts of God while living outside the Spirit. It is utter foolishness to them. God has given mankind a free will to choose a personal relationship with Him. God's soverign will, will not be twarted by our unbelief. These two truths seem contradictory, but they are not. The contradiction is in our failure to comprehend God and His plan. The Truth always comes down to - we are sinful, God is Holy, the only way to God the Father is through His Son Jesus Christ. The method of proclaiming this Truth may change, but the Message of the Truth remains the same and always will. We will either call Him Lord now, or when we stand before Him personally.
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. (II Timothy 4:2-5)
Well some interesting discussion. I must say first that Open Theism does deny the Sovereignty of God even though they do not want to claim that. Secondly, most do deny the subsitutionary atonement of Christ and some have even called it "cosmic child abuse" (Steve Chalke “British Scholar). By denouncing penal substitution one is denouncing the sacrificial death of Christ. Yes the method can change but the message must never change and the problem is that most have not only changed the method but the message as well. Christianity is moving in the wrong direction because of postmodern thought. It is destroying the fabric of Christianity.
jstrewh2, you say that Christianity is moving in the wrong direction, that its fabric is being destroyed. Do you really think that "postmodern thought" is decimating the church, or do you feel that it is a prickly little problem that will shortly be overcome? Play the part of a prophet for a moment - where do you think Christianity in America is going? Do you think 'good theology' Christianity (as opposed to the ‘bad theology’ kind you mention above) will make a comeback, or will it go out like the Indians fighting at Wounded Knee?
Well, I believe that good theology and Christianity is that which was practiced by the early church. Postmodern thought is a problem because it attacks the fundamentals of the Christian Faith. I believe first and foremost that God is Sovereign. He is holy and just and His will is what we must focus on. I believe that bad theology is what is practiced across Christianity today. It is theology that says salvation is not only in Jesus Christ. Salvation is in Christ and Christ alone. Jesus clearly states that in John 14:6. Also, anyone who rejects the penal substitution of Christ is rejecting the reality of Christianity. Good theology is the theology that the early church practiced. I believe we would do well to follow the teachings of the Apostles. Here is a link to what I consider to be my confession of faith: http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp
jstrewh2, thank you for a copy of the SBC’s confession of faith, I have one of those as well, it’s a little shorter, a copy of my confession of faith can be found here: http://anglicansonline.org/basics/nicene.html
It sounds like you see ‘bad theology’ as widespread throughout Christendom today. But I’m interested in knowing if you feel that ‘good theology’ can make a comeback and dominate over the ‘bad theology’, or do you feel that we are maybe heading toward a time where ‘good theology’ will be embattled and diminished into merely small pockets, holding forth in a sea of ‘bad theology’?
Thank you for the helpful discussion. I believe that there will small pockets of biblical (good) theology left. Christendom is heading in the wrong direction not just denominations but all of Christianity. Again thank you for the discussion.
I assume the you are a part of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), as you link their Statement of faith above, but you mention, "not just denominations but all of Christianity", does that mean you feel that your own denomination, the SBC, is also going the into the way of 'bad theology'?
Yes I am apart of the SBC. I first and foremost call myself a Christian and then I attach myself to the SBC. I think that was the case until the mid 1980's when the convention made a shift back towards historical Baptist belief. SBC Churches are autonomous local congregations. So yes I think some have been influenced by bad or liberal theology. But for the most part most SBC churches are sound doctrinally. We do not answer to the convention. The convention answers to the churches. So we are different than most denominations in that regard.
History shows there has always been good theology and bad theology. Jesus told his disciples that there were false prophets among them during His time with them. I believe God's Word teaches that bad theology will increase...
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to their own desires. 2 Timothy 4:3,4
and...
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves (2 Peter 2:1).
Perfect Response Rosie! Thank you for the awesome discussion.
jstrewh2, may I ask how’s your ministry doing, is it growing? Growing in new membership? Now, I’m not talking about growth through move-ins into your ministry, people who are good Christians before they came into your ministry, nor am I asking about the children of current members getting baptized, who have grown up in your ministry. I’m asking about growth in new members coming in from the cold.
Two questions:
1. How much has your ministry grown from people coming in from ‘bad theology’? And what I mean by this is active church goers who are convinced by ‘good theology’ to leave their church and join your ministry.
2. How much has your ministry growing from people coming in from the cold? People who are inactive “Christians”, or non-Christian backgrounds, who have joined your ministry.
Didymus,
Let me begin by describing our community. We are located in Upper East Tennessee. Most of the people in our community would call themselves Christian (95%) and out of that most would consider themselves to be Baptist (75%). This area is very different from where I went to Seminary which was predominately Catholic. So to answer question number 1, I am not sure. I do know that most of our youth are coming into our church are coming from inactive church backgrounds and to be honest I do not ask them about their theology. We have kids coming because they realize they are being loved and we are honest and open with them about what we believe and what we think scripture teaches. We do not hide our beliefs or our convictions. I am very straightforward with them during weekly lessons. Secondly we have had 4 kids come to know Christ as personal Lord and Savior in the last month. I believe because we are open and honest and straightforward these kids and their families respect us. Our church has seen people from different denominations join in my 7 months. The one comment I continue to hear from our people and people who visit is that we are willing to speak the truth with no fear. We do not give into political correctness. My desire is to see people come to know Christ. Yes theology is a concern to me. It matters what you believe. Christ is the only way of salvation and anyone that denies that denies the truths of scripture. God is holy and sovereign and it is God whom we are to worship. Man's desire and plans are not what we are to be focusing on and I think anyone who tries to change the truth of scripture because of new thought or new era is misleading themselves and others. It is important to let scripture speak for itself and interpret itself. We can not and must not change scripture just because things are different now. I hope I have answered your question. My question to you is how many people have you and your church lead to Christ and how many lives have been changed by your witness and your churches witness? Our church gives 28% of our budget to missions and I believe that is changing the world. Christ last commandment is to go into the world and share the gospel with others and I take that very seriously. And Theology of Open Theism and even some or most in the Emergent Church have and do not take seriously sharing the gospel. I do not mean to offend anybody with that but I have read and talked to many people from that background and they are more concerned with social issues (which are important). Thanks again.
jstrewh2, you asked, “how many people have you and your church lead to Christ and how many lives have been changed by your witness and your churches witness?”
That’s a difficult question to answer, and be understood; since it appears from your perspective above that I am just a heretic. I worship in the Episcopal Church, and hang out with another local Assemblies of God church plant, and then on top of that I “facilitate” an emergent discussion group, so I’m sure I have ‘bad theology’ written all over me. So, to try an answer your question from your perspective given above, I don’t lead anyone to Christ.
But from my perspective, the AoG church plant has gone from nothing to around forty or so regulars, mostly move-ins, but there are a handful that have come into it from non-faith, Mormon, and even fundamentalist Mormon backgrounds. It is a big hearted church, and has a lot of vitality. The Episcopal Church I attend is also growing, this mostly from inactive Episcopalians getting active. (As well as me, I’m new there to. I started going there about six months ago since I, one, felt a need for liturgy, and, two, felt like the Episcopal Church has a unique environment and set of problems that I want to engage.) But since I’m not in any leadership position in either of these churches I don’t have any numbers, just what I see and the people I talk to.
The emergent discussion group is a different kind of ministry; mostly we are a group of misfits from various church traditions that don’t always fit within what our churches espouse. A group of questioners, who need a safe place to question, critically examine their faith, and grow in understanding. It is also growing in number.
Didymus,
I am not sure if you are a heretic or not. Christianity is a journey and some of us are further along than others (not saying I am further along). I appreciate your desire to seek God and His guidance. You have good and legimate questions. My concern is that we are watering down the gospel and by doing that we are leading people the wrong way. I will pray for you and your churches. I will pray that God will use you and the churches and your group to reach others. By no means do I mean to hurt you. You seem to be a nice guy who is truly seeking the Lord and for that I am thankful. I do not know all the answers. I am on the same journey of faith as you. May God bless you.
jstrewh2,
Oh, I’m not hurt by anything you’ve said at all. We just disagree with on some things. I understand your concern about watering down the gospel; I have a similar concern with some of your ways of presenting the gospel.
Anyway, Happy Darwin Day, and God bless!
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