While reading Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen a thought crept into my head. Does the loss of biblical centricism in the church inevitably lead to loss of authority in the culture at large? Does the church play that big a role in the life of the world? My gut says "no". But God is bigger than that. And his plans come about in the manner of his choosing. So couldn't it follow that his church is the catalyst for the culture, instead of the other way around, where culture dictates what occurs inside the walls of the church? I know that some view the church's newfound "tolerance" for sins of every kind novel, a new surprise to those in the evangelical world. But Machen knew it well, and he wasn't surprised by it. Once you allow criticism to creep in eat away at God's authority like maggots to road kill you lose everything. And it inevitably leads here. To where we are. Right now.
I know that some may object to my employing what is known colloquially as the "slippery slope" argument, but I do not care. It's a valid argument. Once you invite doubt to set in about the inerrancy of Scripture you see no issue with women's ordination. Then you see no real need for a historical Adam. Once that's taken care of you really have no ground to stand on against homosexuality so they're now allowed full acceptance into membership and ordination. After that it makes perfect sense to simply throw out the bits of the Bible you still hold to be true altogether. Getting back to my point, how the church and culture relate to one another has been a topic of discussion since the first century. I'm not forming a thesis, merely asking a question. Have we in the church mixed up the formula? Have we inverted the figures? And can we flip them back, relate the culture to the church instead of the way it's been for the past two thousands years, before we lose authority altogether?
I really enjoyed your submission here. I think that your right if we continue down the path we have begun it will lead to no authority in the church the body of Christ will crumble. Our faith is based on authority, whether we like it or not. Christ speaks with eternal and holy authority, therefore we must listen to him, his word and the church. The only thing i would point out is, why is the slippery slop argument a good one, maybe another paragraph on that would be helpful, because if someone disagrees they can disregard the rest of the argument. Otherwise i think this is good.
ReplyDeleteIn this instance it is a good argument pragmatically. That is, it works, and fits all the criteria. As much as dissenters would likely hate to admit, once biblical authority is relinquished there is little to no need to hold some of the core doctrines of (certainly evangelical) Christianity. And just to be clear, most of the second paragraph was the explanation of the "slippery slope."
ReplyDelete