How can a church and parents stoop so low as to invite this kind of self-hatred and low self-identity in to their midst and sacred spaces? Is there no decency or morals or is it "love" being expressed to the fullest extent?
A love born out of a radical necessity to label nobody immoral, right or wrong.... it reminds of a story...
These distortions and immoral positions
are rooted in a heresy in Christian theology known as antinomianism.
Anne
Hutchinson was expelled by the Puritan leaders of Massachusetts in the 17th
century for teaching this heresy. She relocated in Long Island,where she
and her children were eventually massacred by Indians. This heresy
teaches that since salvation is by grace, and since Christians are no longer
under the Law (of Moses), God’s grace and mercy extends to all in a way that
sinful behavior is forgiven by God in Christ. Holy living, required by
the Puritans, was no longer essential in Christ.
For her there was no difference between
the justification (ultimate, once-forever forgiveness) of salvation provided by
Christ, and the demands of daily life of the Christian. The Puritans
premised their theology on the thought that holy living according to the moral
law found in the Old Testament is still needed after we are saved, whereby we
are sanctified to even greater purity and holiness by the work of the Holy
Spirit.
Alternately, for Anne, love covers a
multitude of sins (1 Peter 4 : 8) was taken to mean that for all practical purposes
when we receive Christ as Lord and Savior there is no more sin in our daily
lives. Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross covers that sin.
Hopefully, we won’t repeat the sin, but if we do, Almighty God forgives us
seventy times seven times. (Matthew 18: 21-22) The sin of the believer is
not counted as sin by Almighty God.
A logical consequence of Anne’s view --
today held by many church leaders who are enjoying collecting salaries and
living in well-appointed parsonages -- is the apostasy that truly saved
Christians have the luxury of being “above the law” (of Moses) and are able to
engage in rational post-Christian secular humanism while at the same time going
to church, claiming to follow Jesus Christ, and nodding sanctimoniously to each
other, to their neighbors, and to their co-workers.
A New Testament
passage such as Colossians 3: 5-6 is ignored even though it summarizes sexual
virtues insisted upon in the Old Testament. These verses read:
“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness,
passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these
things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of
disobedience.”
God, they believe, has certified and
allowed the liberal/leftist agenda including abortion, the sexual revolution
(still one must be prudent and circumspect say the careful liberal ministers),
and the homosexual agenda which is seen as a defense of “love” and “equality.”
When this writer was enrolled at Lancaster Theological
Seminary at least two of the ministerial candidates were shacking up
frequently with their girlfriends in the seminary dormitory while others were hitting the bars and/or transgender.
What is the greatest offense or “sin” in
today’s liberal churches? To this writer, it seems their answer would be
failure to speak in a kind way to hurting people or not giving money to help
the poor. Although these points have some merit, do they address the essential
demands of a Holy God as expressed by the Old and New Testament?
However, in our era, the antinomian heresy
whereby grace is extended without repentance is now extended even further.
Christ’s death on the Cross is not vicarious atonement as traditional
Christianity has claimed for more than 2000 years, but is merely an example or proof
of God’s love.
Self-sacrifice in demonstration of one’s love -- not Christ’s
divinity, not His vicarious atonement, not His miracles -- is the key to
understanding true Christian religion. Christ came only to love humanity
as it is -- not to save humanity from its sinful nature, not to point to more
holy lifestyles, not to promise access to a heavenly eternity based on
repentance. To the modern mind, these “promises of God” are superficial
overlays of the essential Christ message -- love, love, and more love.
The present view is an outgrowth of the
social gospel proclaimed in the late 19thcentury by Walter
Rauschenbusch. However, during the first fifty years of the 20th century,
because of the dominant influence of classical Christianity, sexual immorality
was still frowned on by Christians, homosexuality as an acceptable practice or
lifestyle was a non-starter, and abortion as a woman’s right to choose was also
rejected out of hand.
In fact, abortion and homosexuality were illegal
throughout the land as well as being non-starters in churches. Now they
are the law of the land. Thus the law of the land of the U.S.A. is now
totally at odds with the law of creation enacted by Almighty God.
So, antinomianism as a challenge to
Biblical values by Anne Hutchinson in the modern era has morphed into a new
type of “toleration” of sin. Situation ethics --introduced in 1966 by
Joseph F. Fletcher -- came into vogue as a way to excuse pre-marital
fornication by Christians, and anything that could be considered Christian
judgmentalism was muted by the liberal churches. In the name of love,
increasing numbers of churches became tolerant of sin.
In the contemporary church world,
tolerance of sin is no longer considered kind enough or loving enough.
Now, as seen by Joel Osteen’s recent
appearance at an LGBTQ event, celebration of sin is the step beyond tolerance.
A “woman’s right to choose” is openly embraced by many members of the National
Council of Churches. Likewise, homosexuality among the clergy is
acceptable. When I began graduate school in the 2000's, one of my hall mates related that during his entire life growing up, he wanted to be an
Episcopal priest. When he entered seminary, homosexuality was rife. Guys
were regularly goosing each other as they went down the stairs to the dining
area. Seeing all this burst his life’s dream, and he left the seminary.
Anne Hutchinson was ejected from
Massachusetts Bay Colony because of the heresy she taught (not because she was
an uppity woman fighting against male hegemony as some have
suggested). That heresy over time became the basis for increasing
toleration of sin. Toleration morphed into celebration.
Today, the
transvaluation of values predicted by the German philosopher Frederick
Nietzsche, whereby good becomes bad and bad becomes good, is a social reality.
Under his moral/philosophical scenario, Zarathustra, the main figure in one of
his books, announces, “God is dead.” This atheistic transvaluation bodes
ill for the survival of America and the planet.
