In the spring of 2010 I read a book by
Dr. Albert Mohler which gave strong warnings concerning trends in theological
beliefs that were highly minimizing God and His Word. He warned that it
was serving to give sort of an “open door” licensing to sinful behavior and
further, to masking the true identity of the God of the Bible. When God
is made out to be something other than what He has revealed Himself to be in
and through the Scripture He has given to us then - BEWARE!
Allen
Raynor Weblog: The Disappearance of God
(Mar.
1, 2010)
In his book, The Disappearance of God: Dangerous
Beliefs in the New Spiritual Openness, Dr. Albert Mohler, President
of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary discusses the most
dangerous trends within the realm of that which considers itself to be the
evangelical church. Many have observed that the most threatening attacks
upon the church have come, and are coming, not from without but from
within. The world around us, in predictable fashion, is still yet failing
to understand the church, and largely dismisses it. But, from within the
church’s own ranks serious damage is taking place.
Mohler first discusses what he terms “theological triage,” a take-off from a
system used in emergency rooms which refers to a practice of treating the most
serious patients first. It is not that each person there does not need
treatment, but stopping massive bleeding is more important than setting a
broken bone. One is immediately life threatening. In the evangelical
church there is massive bleeding in some sectors. And left untreated will
lead to fatal results.
There is now wide-spread attack on some of the most basic and fundamental
doctrines in the history of Christianity. Most notably perhaps among
these is the disappearance of “sin” in the thinking and doctrine of an
increasing number. Sin is more and more coming to be seen as indefinite
rather than definite. Sin is no longer being seen by some as
the violation of an absolute standard, but instead as violation of one’s own
conscience. Sin further could be hurting another person in some manner,
instead of the more traditional view which says it violates an absolute
standard, usually God’s law as revealed in scripture. Sin is to be viewed
from a much more “anthropocentric” (man-centered) point of view than a
“theocentric” (God-centered) point of view. It is much more then about
our human relationships than any potential violation of God’s eternal
law. Mohler asks, “Whatever became of sin? It has been redefined,
ignored, rejected, neglected, and denied.” He goes on to write, “Sin has
been redefined as a lack of self-esteem rather than as an insult to the glory
of God. Salvation has been reconceived as liberation from oppression,
internal or external. The gospel becomes a means of release from bondage
to bad habits rather than rescue from a sentence of eternity in hell.”
Along with the disappearance of sin, there has predictably been a disappearance
of eternal punishment. Hell is viewed in a handful of differing ways, but
less and less is it viewed by the traditional understanding which the church
has held on to, for the past two millennium. To some, hell is merely a
state of mind – mental torment as one remembers various wrongs either genuine
or perceived. Hell, to others is much like it has been traditionally
understood, minus it’s eternality. People simply “burn up” and cease to
exist; this is called “annihilationism.” They say, how could anyone enjoy
heaven knowing that others are burning and suffering in hell.
Hell naturally does not fit with the current culture. Hell was never
pleasing to anyone’s palate, but in generations past, it was an understood
reality. The congregations that men like Jonathan Edwards and George
Whitfield preached to lived each day with a fear of hell in the back of their
minds. Not so anymore. That which man does not like or does
not want to have to wrestle with is all-too-easily just dismissed.
Mohler devotes 3 chapters in this book to our current cultures’
preoccupation with physical beauty over and above other forms of beauty.
Much of culture’s value system is based upon its concept of its ideals for
physically attractive features. Rather than valuing what is fixed or
changeless, this culture has become fixated upon certain aspects that are
fluctuating and changing – chief among these is physical beauty. One need
not look far to see what sells magazines, garners TV ratings, box office
ratings, or is the image made for billboards. The intellect, personal
character, and a host of other qualities take a distant back-seat to physical
beauty. Consequently our culture thinks much more with the “senses” than
it does with the organ specifically designed to think with – the mind.
The church is further not exempt from this worship and
service of the “creature” rather than the “creator.” The typical church
service these days is much more about man than God. And, consistent with
the title of Mohler’s book, God is disappearing from many of our
churches. The obsession with physical beauty is tied closely with the
pleasuring of all five of our senses both outside and inside the church.
Our society, and our churches, are obsessed with the wrong things.
Mohler addresses perversions of Christianity such as that found in the
phenomenon know as the “Emerging Church” which takes the wholly pragmatic
approach when it comes to it’s philosophy for gaining adherents. It
minimizes everything which it perceives as “stumbling blocks” to people coming
and being a part. It essentially focuses on that for which the majority
can agree. The Emerging Church is particularly dangerous because it
devalues the Bible. It openly tells people that we really cannot know
what the Bible actually says. Scripture might condemn homosexuality, for
instance, or it may not – we just cannot be clear about it, and we certainly
should not be “dogmatic.” The natural outcome is that it produces people who
are always searching but are never able to come to a knowledge of the
truth. It is something akin to the X-Files approach – “The truth
is out there.” It is just never quite found!
In four successive chapters, Mohler shows the digression away from biblical
church discipline which has, in many ways, led to the other problems and
movements we see today. How could theologians like Clark Pinnock, for
instance, who openly advocates “open theism” (a belief that God does not really
possess fore-knowledge but is surprised as are we when something happens) be taken
seriously and sell books and even have a real voice in the debate?
How can we be effective evangelists and missionaries when we cannot even come
to widespread agreement about the basics? Mohler sees these issues which
are cropping up with greater and greater frequency as distractions to the
commissioned work of the church. He ends the book by making a passionate
call for the Bible to be exposited by faithful, God-called preachers. The
best way to fight against lies is with truth. The drift in beliefs are
best combated with the truth. As the church of Jesus Christ becomes less
and less biblically literate, for many reasons, the drift away from authentic
biblical doctrine continues. As this doctrine drifts away, that which we
know about God drifts away along with it. The best thing we can do is get
to know the Scriptures and allow them to teach us, equip us, and guide us.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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