Progressive Christianity: Engulfing the church!

Sally Escol

Oct 29

In this world of uncertainties, things are not the same the way you thought it would be. There is a strong possibility that either you, your church or the people you know and loved who profess to be Christians are drifting to a very dangerous brand of Christianity which is demonically influenced in which they don't even realized. When heeding to the end times, one warning Jesus said everyone to watch out is the coming out of false teachers with their faulty and deceiving teachings could lead you astray. Haven't you wonder does God really requires the church to increasingly progress to cope up with the new age? Haven't you wonder what are these things you need to compromise as you escalate? Would you dare to face them and making sure you've got a hundred percent settled uncompromised faith in Jesus?

PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY…AS ANOTHER GOSPEL:

Allen Parr the writer of the Book "Misled" explains; about this brand of Christianity emerged since 20 years ago but so prevalent, wide spreading fast like now a days. Their premise is as the world progresses , as culture has changed, as things are gone shifting, and evolving then God has progressed His view of these things and therefore Christian's need to progress as well and cope up in this new modern age. You and the church need to EMBRACE NEW THINGS, NEW IDEAS, NORMS CULTURES, AND BELIEFS in order to be a progressive and productive church. Shifting the way the church look to THINGS and MINISTRIES are necessary for them to achieve success and approval by the people. Unwilling to make necessary changes in their very own lives as directed by the Bible because they see Jesus in their own terms. They should do whatever they want in their bodies and in the church as it pleases them for God's desire is happiness for everyone.

We've all seen the "memes" that populate the internet like: LIVE YOUR TRUTH, FOLLOW YOUR HEART, YOU ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE TO LIVE, DO THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY, JESUS' UNCONDITIONAL LOVE ACCEPTS AND AFFIRMS WHO YOU ARE. They sound nice and positive. But what if these slogans are actually lies that unhinge us from reality and leave us anxious and exhausted?

Alisha Childers author of "Another Gospel?" invites you to examine modern lies that are disguised as truths in today's culture. Everyday messages of peace, fulfillment, and empowerment swirl around social media. On the surface, they seem like sentiments of freedom and hope, but in reality they are deeply deceptive. She considers the PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY AS ANOTHER GOSPEL, because it doesn't center and fully absorb Jesus and the BIBLE TRUTHS. It's a misdirection that leads Christian's to refocus their attention to the new culture this world has offered and engulfing the church in the looseness approach to ministry away from the basic Bible truths. Like Alisa have you encountered the ideas of progressive Christianity in your everyday life and aren't sure how to respond? Here's the belief of the Progressive Christianity as Alisa imposes as ANOTHER GOSPEL!

The Eight Points approach to Progressive Christianity. The points are a description of how progressive Christians approach life, and other church organizations have adopted these points as a place to begin a progressive life. The Center for Progressive Christianity symbol is an eight-pointed star, representing the eight ideas that they hold in common.

The points are summarized below:

• Focus: The teachings and life of Jesus provide them with a path to God.

• Pluralism: They recognize that others follow their own paths to God which are equally true for them.

• Communion: They view the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus' name to represent "an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples."

• Inclusivity: All are welcome to become involved; persons of all genders, sexual orientations, traditions, races, etc.

• Reciprocity: How people treat one another is the "fullest expression" of their beliefs.

• Search: They find more grace in searching for truth than in accepting certainty.

• Community: They form communities to support each other in their quest for peace, justice, a restored environment, and to provide hope.

• Cost: Following Jesus involves a personal investment in "selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege."

Their intriguing and appealing questions:

Do you find more grace in the search for meaning than in absolute certainty, in the questions rather than in the answers?

Do you have religious interests and longings but cannot accept the beliefs and dogmas you associate with Christianity?

Are you repelled by claims that Christianity is the "only way"?

Do you find solace, meaning, or connection to the teachings and the path of Jesus of Nazareth?

DENIALS OF PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY:

1.THE ATONEMENT:
Often, progressive Christians will refer to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as horrific or unnecessary. The idea that God the Father would require the blood sacrifice of his Son is perceived to be an indictment on God's character, turning him into a divine abuser. This is sometimes referred to as "Cosmic Child Abuse."

2.BIBLICAL AUTHORITY OR INSPIRATION:
In the progressive church, the Bible is viewed more like an ancient spiritual travel journal than the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God. The Biblical writers are viewed as well-meaning ancient people who were doing their best to understand God in the times and places in which they lived, but they were not necessarily speaking for God. Scripture is also seen as contradictory, not internally coherent, and not authoritative for Christians.

3.ORIGINAL SIN:
The doctrine of Original Sin is roundly rejected in progressive Christianity, with the idea of Original Blessing put in its place. Progressive Christians don't typically DENY that SIN EXISTS or that it is a BAD THING , they don't believe you can TOTALLY BE CLEANSED FROM SIN. They often deny the idea that we have some sort of a sin nature that was passed down to us from Adam and Eve. Instead, progressive Christians often teach that sin isn't what separates us from God because for them God is so gracious and no one can separate us from the love of God. In the progressive view, it's often taught that we simply need to realize that we were never separated in the first place…that we are beloved and accepted by God just as we are.

4. THE DEITY OF JESUS:
Certainly not all progressive Christians will deny Jesus' deity, but this doctrine tends to be downplayed. The concept of "Cosmic Christ" is sometimes presented as our ultimate goal…that Jesus is a model and exemplar of someone who was christened as both human and divine, and we can follow his example by finding the divine within ourselves.

5. THE PHYSICAL RESURRECTION OF JESUS:
Again, not every progressive denies the physical resurrection, but the idea that Jesus was bodily raised back to life is often deemed less important or significant than the meaning we can draw from the idea of resurrection.

6.THE TRINITY:
A denial of the deity of Jesus would naturally be a denial of the Trinity. But some progressive Christians take it further and affirm the view of pantheism, which states that the universe is God. Others will affirm a slightly less radical view called panentheism, which is the belief that God and the world are inter-related. God is in all and all is in God. This implies that God is somehow dependent upon creation, which casts serious aspersions on the nature of the Trinity.

7. THE SINLESSNESS OF JESUS:
You probably won't find many progressive Christians who outright declare that Jesus was a sinner and had mistakes. However, Jesus' humanity tends to be emphasized. For example, in Matthew 15, Jesus tells the Syrophoenician woman, "It's not good to take children's bread and throw it to the dogs." They viewed this as Jesus' having racial biases that were recognized and corrected during this exchange.

THE DECEPTION OF THEIR AFFIRMATIONS:

1. INCLUSIVISM: an idea that Jesus was inclusive He loves, accepted and affirmed everyone. LGBTQ Relationships and Marriage one of the hallmarks of progressive Christianity is the shift on issues of sexuality and gender. There is an almost universal acceptance of same-sex relationships and marriage, a belief in the validity of transgenderism, and a rejection of cisgender norms. Being inclusive is a pillar of progressive Christianity.

2.UNIVERSALISM: Universal Reconciliation
The primary view of heaven and hell in the progressive church is Universalism, which is the idea that no one will be punished in hell, and everyone will eventually be saved and restored to right relationship with God. Progressive Christians say that all have sinned and cannot claim of without sin but believe Jesus will save everyone.

3.The Gospel of Social Justice and Critical Theory: In progressive Christianity, the gospel is not seen primarily as the good news of God saving sinners and reconciling them to Himself. Instead, social justice issues become the heart of the gospel message, with what one does being viewed as more important than what one believes. Often, the secular framework of critical theory is embraced, where the world is viewed through the lens of oppressed vs. oppressor.

4.Pluralism: Religious pluralism is the idea that all roads lead to God, and no one religion holds ultimate truth when it comes to who God is and how he reveals himself to the world. Often, progressive Christians will tout the mantra, "Everyone has a seat at the table," meaning all creeds and religions are true in their own way and the people who embrace them are equally accepted by God.

5.Pantheism, Panentheism or Perennialism: As stated above, many progressive Christians affirm pantheism or panentheism. Another view that is promoted in the progressive church is perennialism, the idea that although different religions look different on the outside, at their core they share the same truth. In other words, they share the same source and come from the same ultimate or divine reality. This divine reality can be discovered through mysticism and contemplative practices.

PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY: AS NOT CHRISTIAN

If for Alisa Childers "progressive Christianity is not simply a shift in the Christian view of social issues . It's not simply permission to embrace messiness and authenticity in Christian life. It's an entirely different religion—with another Jesus and another gospel." If she termed it as "Another Gospel" I totally agree with her and for me it's not to be considered christian at all if they don't believe JESUS as the ONLY WAY but just a way like other religions have their ways to God. They're not Christian at all if they don't view the entire Bible as God's word and as entirely coherent from Genesis to Revelation but they highly regard of it as a good book but not authoritative as revealing the true nature of God. For them writers had their opinions and biases, so they disagree sometimes to other interpretations.

Their claim of Jesus was inclusive in that He loves unconditionally and affirmed everyone regardless of who you are, is so prevalent in the LGBTQ Relationships.

Biblical response to this is: "Love cannot rejoices in wrong doing". Jesus welcomes all but condemned the sin and cleansed you from it. "Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art MADE WHOLE: SIN NO MORE, lest a worse thing befall thee."John 5:14 ASV

Many are gotten to their stand of "What you do is much more important than on what you believe" there's more value on QUESTIONING than in ABSOLUTES. You don't ask questions because you want to know the answer for there's no ABSOLUTE TRUTH FOR THEM and so they justify their actions. There's a CULTURE OF DOUBT and DOUBT itself is a thing CELEBRATED and DEBATABLE for them. A lot of words are redefined. They're talking about a system that the people were talking about. They adapted a system of a culture: "There's no CERTAINTY in a certain doctrine or beliefs". These alone disqualify them as Christians for rejecting JESUS:AS THE ONLY WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. "In a Culture of Endless Questions, You Need Solid Answers" and JESUS CERTAINLY IS THE ONLY ANSWER!

Do not change the TRUTH which the BIBLE HAS CLAIMED just to give into your changing world. All of creation are subject to change and are progressing as to learning for the good of life, But GOD IS NOT , WILL NOT, HAS NOT EVER PROGRESSING NOR CHANGING IN HIS VIEW OF ALL THINGS! "HE'S THE SAME YESTERDAY TODAY AND TOMORROW!" Hold on to this very thing when you're engulfed by these progressive culture!

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever." Hebrews 13:8 ASV