[Part 1, of a 3-part series]
I recently read an article in which the author noted the growing number of teens and young adults who grew up in church, but who are now turning away from the Christian faith. Over the last few years, we’ve heard numerous reports of one-time Christian musicians and even some pastors who have either stepped away from the Evangelical church to embrace a more culturally acceptable theology or they’ve rejected faith in God outright. Apologetic ministries often speak about those who are deconstructing their faith, meaning they systematically dismantle the core doctrines of orthodox, historic Christianity. Popular author and podcaster Alisa Childers, along with Tim Barnett, recently released a book titled The Deconstruction of Christianity.
One of the main reasons people are deconstructing out of orthodoxy to a woke version of the Faith called “Progressive Christianity” – or even further into the outright unbelief of being an Exvangelical, is their discomfort with God’s wrath. They can’t reconcile the love of God manifest in the Person of Jesus with the wrath of God portrayed in the Old Testament and in the last book of the Bible, Revelation.
They like the message of love and acceptance they see in much of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But they don’t at all like the stories of the Flood, Sodom, and Gomorrah, and the commands God gave first to Joshua to wipe out the Canaanites and then later to King Saul to wipe out the Amalekites.
On its surface, it does seem a contradiction to say that God is love, yet He commands an entire people group to be wiped out.
As I listen to the arguments of those who have turned or are turning from the Faith because of this seeming disparity between the Old Testament God and the New Testament Jesus, I’m reminded of a similar challenge faced by the Early Church. It began with a guy named Marcion in the mid-2nd century.
Marcion disconnected Jesus from the Jewish God of the Old Testament. He said there could be no connection between the loving, merciful, and gracious God revealed by Jesus and the hateful, angry, violent God of the Jews. Marcion was so eager to split them that he came up with his own list of accepted Scripture. Of course, there were no Old Testament books. All Marcion’s Bible had was an edited version of Luke’s Gospel and an abbreviated set of Paul’s letters.
It didn’t take long for other church leaders to point out the numerous errors in Marcion’s program. While his followers kept the movement alive for a while after his death, it eventually faded away due to its many contradictions and inconsistencies.
So-called Progressive Christians have resurrected Marcionism. They resonate with Marcion’s distaste for the seemingly wrath-filled, bloodthirsty God of the Old Testament. They’ve edited historic, orthodox Christianity by cutting out anything that seems contrary to Jesus. Their great error is assuming THAT Jesus, THEIR Jesus – is the Jesus of the Bible. It’s not.
Their edited, redacted, and massaged beliefs are often cast under the rubric of – “Jesus is perfect theology.”
We could say, “Yes. Amen.” Jesus is the perfect expression of God. In John 14:9, Jesus said those who’ve seen Him have seen the Father. The letter to the Hebrews opens with the provocative words, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son …” Hebrews 1:1-2
Jesus is indeed perfect theology. But let’s make sure what we mean by “Jesus” is the historical Jesus of 1st century Galilee, the Jesus presented in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Jesus of the Apostles. The Jesus of the authors of Jude and Hebrews. The Jesus presented by the Book of Revelation.
Marcion knew his system did not square with The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John – so he left them out. He knew Peter’s letters, Hebrews, Jude, and Revelation pulled the rug out from under his entire system, so those books were discarded.
Take careful note of that — for it is the modus operandi of all those who deviate from historic Christianity. Instead of taking the Canon of Scripture as it has come to us, they insert themselves as the authority over which writings we are to heed. We can’t trust Scripture alone as the authority for Faith and Practice. No, we need these specially trained and enlightened guides to tell us – first, what books and chapters are inspired, and second, what it all means.
They may not wear special robes and clerical collars, but they set themselves up as a modern priesthood – inserting themselves between people and God. YOU can’t know what to REALLY think about God since it’s a deep subject. So, trust them to tell you what to believe. And it all goes down easier because their entire view of God has been run through the filter of modern culture. Why be a contrarian when you can morph The Gospel into little more than a spiritualized version of Rolling Stone Magazine and the findings of the latest polls on what people want?
The saying, “Jesus is Perfect Theology,” has become the catchphrase of Progressive Christianity. Which I’m reluctant to even attach the label “Christian” to. There’s nothing “Christian” in Progressive Christianity except that they claim to believe in Jesus. But their Jesus is not the Christ of Scripture nor of historic Christianity.
[End of Part 1 of a 3-part series]
Lance is the founding and lead pastor of Calvary Chapel Oxnard where he has served since 1982. Lance & David Guzik co-pastored the church for six years before David planted a church in a nearby community.
Lance & his wife Lynn were married in 1980 and have three adult children and five grandchildren. Lance loves teaching the Bible, History, and Leadership. He holds Masters-of-Arts in Biblical Studies and Ministry.
Lance serves as a chaplain for both the Oxnard and Port Hueneme Police Departments and enjoys backpacking, wood-working, working out, gardening, home improvement projects, reading, and graphic design.
The popular Communio Sanctorum: History of the Christian Church podcast can be found in both audio and video at the Into His Image website along with a growing inventory of Lances teaching.
