Belief-less Christianity - Really?

On this day after Easter, we can be reminded to give God the glory for what He has done in our lives, offering us the opportunity to come to know Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2 says:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Jesus calls us to walk with Him, to experience the new life that only He can offer.  Salvation is a free gift, and it is received through...faith.  Our entry into Christianity is predicated on our belief in the Word of God and our acceptance of what Jesus did for us on the cross.  We cannot do enough good works to earn the favor of God, but as we align our lives and are controlled by His life, the proof of His presence is through the expression of His love through us in the form of good works.  Through the supernatural work of Jesus on the cross and in His resurrection, we can experience the transformed life!

+++++

The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, wanted to encourage the people in that region to not be lured away by teachings that were not consistent with Jesus and the principles of Christianity:
6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,
7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

An Oregon minister has written a piece for the Patheos website, choosing to post it on The Friendly Atheist blog.  It's called, "I'm a Presbyterian Minister Who Doesn't Believe in God."

The writer's name is John Shuck, who is based in Oregon and is a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA.  The Christian Today website has a report on the article, in which he claims that, "[b]elief-less Christianity is thriving."

Shuck is quoted as saying, ""We all have been trained to think that Christianity is about believing things," adding, "Its symbols and artifacts (God, Bible, Jesus, Heaven, etc) must be accepted in a certain way. And when times change and these beliefs are no longer credible, the choices we are left with are either rejection or fundamentalism."

According to the article, Shuck asserted that there are many liberal or progressive Christians who have "de-emphasised" their belief in the concept of Heaven and Hell, as well as belief in Jesus Christ's supernatural nature, the truthfulness of the Bible and of Christianity being the only true way.  "Yet," according to Shuck, "they still practise what they call Christianity."

I went to the article, and Shuck makes the following contentions, saying:

I believe that:

• Religion is a human construct

• The symbols of faith are products of human cultural evolution

• Jesus may have been an historical figure, but most of what we know about him is in the form of legend

• God is a symbol of myth-making and not credible as a supernatural being or force

• The Bible is a human product as opposed to special revelation from a divine being

• Human consciousness is the result of natural selection, so there’s no afterlife

In short, he writes, "I regard the symbols of Christianity from a non-supernatural point of view."

In the book of Galatians chapter 1, the apostle Paul refers to those who preach "another gospel."  In the culture of that age, he was specifically dealing with the Judaizers, who were attempting to make the new Christian converts conform to a set of Jewish laws.   Paul spent the entirety of the letter to the Galatians refuting those teachings and refining the overall view of Christianity, warning the people to embrace God's grace rather than attempt to curry favor with God by doing good works.

I think that the Reverend Shuck's contentions represent a prevalent thought in our culture today - that truth is relative and can be defined by our own personal whims.  There are those that would want to put a "God-stamp" on philosophies and behavior that do not line up with the Scriptures.  We must guard against believing "another gospel."

On this day after we have celebrated the resurrection of Christ, I think it's important that we reinforce our beliefs based on Scriptural truth.  For one thing, we recognize that the only way that we enter into the Christian life, into a personal relationship with Christ is through - believing!   Ephesians 2 tells us that by grace we have been saved through...faith!   Romans 10 prescribes the way of salvation; we are instructed to confess the lordship of Jesus and believe in our hearts that Jesus was raised from the dead.

I think we have to recognize and acknowledge who Jesus is in order to experience His salvation.  He not only claimed to be the Son of God, as His accusers claimed, but the Scriptures teach that He was the Son of God - Emmanuel, God with us!!  His life represents to us the supernatural work of God. To de-emphasize or explain away the supernatural is to erase an important component of the ministry of Jesus.  Not only were His miracles instances of God's supernatural power, but the events surrounding His death had an incredible supernatural component.  Plus, He's risen!  That is a testimony to the work of God.

So, we can recognize the role of faith and the supernatural nature of the ministry of Jesus.  And, with regard to Heaven and Hell, Jesus was very specific.  And, concerinng the exclusivity of Christianity, He taught that He was the way, the truth, and the life - one could only experience a relationship with Jesus through the Father.

I think that we have to reinforce the reality of the truth of Christ in our own lives.  The world would want to sell us "another gospel," a so-called "gospel" that distorts the image of Jesus and the reality of His nature as we find those components in the Scriptures.  On this day following Easter Sunday, I would hope that we can be more certain than ever of the reality of a living Lord, who came to preach and live truth, Who has come to give us new life, and Who has given us truth so that we can walk in His ways.