Redefining It?

Throughout his writings to Timothy, the apostle Paul is directing and equipping him to adhere to the
truth of Christ. He writes in 2nd Timothy 3:
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Scripture. Is. Sufficient.  Think about that.  God's Word is the starting point for our interpretation and application of Scripture - that sounds a bit obvious, doesn't it?  But, we have to be careful that we don't start with our own ideas and then attempt to make the Scriptures fit.  We can't pick and choose Scripture verses; we have to submit to the authority of the entirety of God's Word.  As we read and study the Scriptures, God will work in our lives in profound ways.

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In the era in which we live, the times in which God has placed us, we can be challenged to live in the
light of Christ and recognize His truth. John 1 says:
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.' "
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

The skilled marketers have instilled within our society the concept of "all-new," the "new and improved," the "bigger and better."  We are treated to promises of more flavor, better ingredients, and a greater fulfillment of our desire for instant gratification.

If we're not careful, we will apply this thirst for the "new and improved" to the Church, to God's truth.  And, while we may deploy new methods in order to reach people for the gospel, we have to make sure that the message isn't changed.

Within the past few months, there seems to have been a parade of "new and improved" conferences regarding the Church.  I have spent quite a bit of time on the "Revoice" conference, which attempts to substitute homosexual identity for identity in Christ and to treat same-sex attraction as something to be accommodated rather than to follow the Biblical prescription and mortify that sinful desire, as we are to treat all sinful desires.  As it's been pointed out, we don't need to "re-" anything; God's Word is sufficient.

But there seems to be those who believe that God's Word doesn't work for them, so instead of conforming their lives to His truth, they are attempting to conform their interpretation of the Scripture to their own experience.  I came across a story on the Haaretz website, which is published in Israel, which covered a conference called, "Liberating Evangelicalism," held in Chicago, which is described in this way:

The conference represented a more radical challenge to the notion that evangelicals are necessarily affiliated with the right. The conference focused instead on the place evangelicals can have in social justice politics, which is becoming more prominent among America’s progressive left.

The article included, not surprisingly, an analysis of a trend among younger people to disassociate themselves from Israel.  Pastor Skip Heitzig, of Calvary Chapel in Albequerque is quoted in the article:

We all know there are groups trying to move the conversation more to the left, and to a place of less support for Israel,” he says. “It’s been on the radar for years, and a lot of it starts in college campuses. I think it’s fair to say this trend is growing, but it’s still very far from being mainstream. If we don’t find smart ways to counter it, over time it will have more of an impact.”

Heitzig connects changing views on Israel to broader ideological changes. “Some younger evangelicals that I meet, they are trying to challenge a lot of what older generations believe in,” he says. “To some degree, that’s a normal thing — every generation challenges the ones that preceded it. But we need to do a better job of educating young people about Israel, not only because of the biblical aspect but also because it’s a unique, democratic country in a difficult area of the world.”

Recently, there was a conference that had another of those futuristic titles, the "Evolving Faith" Conference, about which a report on the Religion News Service website stated:

In most of these sessions, the work of deconstructing one’s faith was balanced by figuring out what — if anything — to replace it with. “I think our faith is evolving now, because we are waking up to the reality that that faith — that twisted, malformed faith that spoke human hierarchy into the world and reinforced it — we’re finally waking up to it and saying ‘no,’” said activist Lisa Sharon Harper during the final session. “But now we have to figure out what it’s supposed to be. What is the vision for what it’s supposed to be?”

The catalysts of deconstruction may have been different for each speaker — racism, sexism, colonialism, LGBTQ exclusion, illness or the “problem of evil” — but their experiences mirrored one another: personal doubts and questions, hostility and even rejection from their churches once they questioned authority or otherwise came out of the closet.

So, was this a Biblically-centered conference or a celebration of identity politics?  Sean McDowell, on The Stream website, offered a critique of the premises of one of the speakers, Jen Hatmaker, analyzing a post she wrote related to the event. He writes:

In sum, Hatmaker argues that good fruit is teaching that benefits the marginalized. That includes women, the LGBTQ community, the poor and so on. If teaching does not lead to the flourishing of those on the margins, it is bad fruit. In other words, we should judge biblical teaching by its practical effects on the lives of the marginalized according to how well they flourish (Hatmaker notably doesn’t define what she means by flourishing).

Sean, the son of renowned Christian apologist Josh McDowell, admits, "As Christians, we should care deeply about the marginalized, as Hatmaker emphasizes." But, he digs deeper:

Nevertheless, the key issue here is how we adjudicate between differing views when part of the church calls something good and another part calls it bad. To answer this, we have to address the question of what Jesus meant by “fruit.” And this is where Hatmaker makes a costly mistake.

Jesus did not teach that bad fruit is the negative experiences people have when they are told to obey God. It is not the harm people experience because of traditional theology (which isn’t actually true, by the way). Jesus did not teach us to evaluate Scriptural teachings and doctrine by the social effects they have on a certain segment of society, but on the moral effects they have on all of our lives.

I have an idea - why not judge the fruit by the Word?  We can allow the Word to govern our beliefs and not try to adjust the Word to conform to our experience.  And, it's the whole Word at play, not just the "red letters" that some have now used to attempt to make the teachings of Jesus something they are not.

The so-called Red Letter Christians were formed about 15 years ago by liberal theologians Tony Campolo and Jim Wallis, who leads the Sojourners organization; Wallis, in fact, has a new book called, Reclaiming Jesus.  Chelsen Vicari, writing at Juicy Ecumenism, says that:

Tony Campolo called his Red Letter Christian (RLC) movement “embryonic” and assessed, “we just can’t get this thing off the ground” during a gathering at Greenleaf Christian Church Disciples of Christ in Goldsboro, North Carolina on October 2, 2019.

Campolo decried the lack of funding that the movement has been receiving...and there's apparently a lack of something else. Vicari writes:

The former spiritual advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton then shared an anecdote about Jerry Falwell Sr., with whom he had a cordial relationship. The two would debate on the CNN political debate show Crossfire. According to Campolo, the late Falwell would easily defeat mainline Protestant pastors who argued from a philosophical perspective. Falwell, on the other hand, would simply quote Scripture.

“We don’t quote [Scripture] often enough,” Campolo continued. “We make all these philosophical arguments for justice. No book speaks to justice better than the Bible.”

She also stated: "What I heard in Goldsboro sounded very similar to so many of the liberal mainline Protestant events that I’ve attended over the past six years. A heavy concentration on identity politics and less focus on the Gospel’s call for salvation, repentance, and soul-winning."  So, it sounds like the "red letters" moniker is more about identity politics that Biblical truth.  Same for a movement embraced by some that seeks to exalt the teachings of Jesus while de-emphasizing the teachings of Paul.

The bottom line: you can try to re-package Christianity but you can't re-package or re-brand the Christ of Christianity.  It doesn't work.  Intersectionality, where people are separated by classes of victimization, doesn't work and brings division because it's not a Biblical concept.  Same with critical race theory.  Just this Sunday, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the pastor of a Southern Baptist church announced his intent for the church to leave the Southern Baptist Convention due to theological concerns.  Other denominations have been struggling with the infiltration of ideas that are contrary to Scripture - United Methodists next year are expected to complete a division into two or more different bodies due to a sharp disagreement over the LGBTQ issue.

We can also remember to stand for truth; there is not "your" truth or "my" truth - it's His truth.  We can have our own interpretations and applications of the Scriptures, but we have to make sure that we allow the Spirit to direct us in how we interact with the Word.  We start with truth, not with our own ideas and then making God's Word fit with those ideas.

All in all, we have to recognize the sufficiency of Scripture.  There are fundamentals of the faith to which we are called to adhere.  God's Word has not changed, and though ways of communicating it may be adapted to the times, it is vital that we hold fast to His Word and not attempt to live as though it is not enough for us.  He is enough, His Word is true, and He gives us direction for a fulfilling life.