Recently the Barna Research Group released a study on the religious practices of liberals and Christians.
According to the report:
“The research…discovered that liberals are more likely than conservatives to develop their own set of religious beliefs rather than adopt those proposed by a church or other entity. A greater percentage of liberals also indicated they are very open to accepting different moral views than those they presently possess.” [1]
Liberal “Christians” abhor “fundamentalist” Christianity so they cast it aside and adopt their own set of religious beliefs and values. Times have changed, after all, so they feel it’s incumbent upon them to bring Christianity out of the Dark Ages into our postmodern world. Christianity must shed its traditional, orthodox beliefs to blend in with the popular culture.
Their motto is, “If you destroy orthodoxy, they will come.”
Before I came to know Christ in a saving way I was a liberal “Christian.” (That was before the liberals coined the term “progressive Christian.”) As all liberals do, I molded Christianity into my worldview. Problem was I kept running into a road block—the Bible. I rarely read the Bible but when I did I’d invariably stumble on a passage that contradicted what, at the time, was “true for me.” I admit it troubled me but I chose to ignore what I’d read and remained steadfast in my mission to form Christianity into my way of thinking, come hell or high water.
As a radical feminist I was unapologetically pro-choice and loved to spout off about a woman’s right to “choose” to have an abortion. Then one day I got into a discussion with a Christian friend who supported the pro-life position. In our discussions I proudly parroted all the pro-abortion talking points. What did this Christian do? She calmly and lovingly shredded my dogmatic assertions with the “sword of the Spirit,” the Word of God! Although it was hard to argue with the clear teaching of Scripture I stubbornly persisted in my beliefs.
When I finally took my friend’s suggestion to read the passages that teach how human beings are formed I realized my feminist talking points were weak at best and surely didn’t hold water with God. Up until then I had the temerity to say things like, “I don’t agree with what the Church teaches on abortion.” What I was really saying was that I disagreed with our Creator!
The clear teaching of Scripture holds that human life begins at the moment of conception. More importantly, the Bible says God made humanity in His image. This should not be taken lightly.
Many who call themselves Christians do not hold to the authority of Scripture. Moreover, they do not understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These “Christians” live their lives devoid of God’s guidance and wisdom which we glean from His Word. My point is that most pro-aborts are unfamiliar with what God says about life. Hence, they make decisions based not on the Bible, but on feelings and emotions – and what’s politically correct!
In a recent sermon on the importance of the Bible, Pastor Stan Way made the following observation:
“The Word of God is living and active, it’s not lifeless on a page. God’s Word is profoundly different from any other voice we hear. His Word is a profound demonstration of power.”
Through God’s creative Word the universe emerged from nothing! Pastor Stan explained that everything is held together by the sustained thought of Jesus Christ. “If He turned away, everything would disappear.”
To put it another way, Christ is the sustainer of all things. He creates life and sustains life. As I said, the Bible teaches that human life begins when sperm and egg collide. The physical size of the new life is of little consequence. Clearly it is a miniscule human being! Modern science agrees. An unborn child is a person!
What should matter to those of us who were lucky enough to make it out of the womb is that a microscopic embryo is a viable human person. Even professional basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, a giant in stature, was once a microscopic embryo!
This indisputable fact has fallen on the deaf ears of hard core pro-aborts. (President Obama, are you listening?) Mere mortals who meddle with the preborn will pay a high price for their folly!
The unregenerate heart, says Pastor Way, “has no regard for God’s Word and is in rebellion against God’s Word and God’s promises.” The unregenerate heart cannot know God. That’s because human beings are born with a sin nature that alienates us from God. Sinful creatures are unable to attain God’s righteousness apart from regeneration. Regeneration occurs when a person is born again. In other words, when someone comes to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, he or she is newly regenerate. (Rom 5:8-10) The regenerate Christian is Spirit led and seeks to live a godly and holy life as outlined in the Bible.
Those who truly know God know His Son, Jesus Christ:
“He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 16:15-17).
Peter’s response to Jesus’ question could only have come from a regenerate heart.
Returning to my pro-life friend, she was the first Christian who challenged me to seek the truth, not in feminist propaganda, but in the Bible. She had my back against the wall, so to speak, and she knew it. As a professing Christian I had to make a “choice” between my firmly held feminist views or the clear teaching of Scripture. My faith was being tested. To put it another way, God gave me a gentle head-slap! No, really. It was like He was saying, “If you want to know the truth, listen to my voice!” (God speaks to us in the Holy Scriptures.)
After I did some scientific research on when human life begins, some serious soul searching, Bible study, plus a good deal of prayer, I chose God. From reading the Bible I came to believe:
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).
“Truth is not relative,” says Mike Ratliff in his article, Can You Handle the Truth? “It is absolute. Of course, when I speak of truth this way I am referring to God’s truth, not man-made truth. What a wonderful thing it is that God gave His people His revealed truth in a form that the regenerate can read or hear and understand. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us in John 18:36-38 that the purpose of His incarnation was to bear witness to the truth and that everyone who is of the truth listens to His voice.”
When I learned the truth I had no choice but to abandon my pro-abortion position and adopt the biblical position on life.
“I will praise thee,” said the psalmist, “for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14).
Support for abortion is new in the Church, by the way. The early church fathers condemned abortion and infanticide. For example:
“The Didache, an early manual of Christian teaching speaks against abortion and infanticide. Justin Martyr in his First Apology condemns infanticide.” [2]
The issue of abortion is only one example of liberals being, as Barna reported, “more likely than conservatives to develop their own set of religious beliefs rather than adopt those proposed by a church or other entity.”
All I can say is “I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see!”
Sadly, many “Christians” don’t know what the scriptures teach on a number of topics because they haven’t taken time to study it. Yet they’re the first ones to voice their disagreement with any Bible teaching that doesn’t condone their lifestyle choices!
Then there are “Christians” who read the Bible but elect to outright reject that it is the Word of God and should be taken literally. When you insist that they give valid reasons why they don’t accept that Scripture is totally true and trustworthy, their arguments do not hold water. One excuse they give is that the Bible isn’t relevant in today’s world. Not relevant? How can this be when the Bible tells us who God is and what His desires and plans for humanity are?
Scripture is not only relevant for today, but forevermore!
Some of these scoffers are pseudo Christians. Unregenerate! Since they don’t believe all of Scripture is the inspired Word of God they pick and choose the things they want to believe and simply reject what doesn’t fit in with their postmodern worldview. When you reject the Bible’s authority it’s a whole lot easier to sin with impunity!
Let me offer an example of what I’m talking about. A few months ago a so-called Christian I know moved in with her boyfriend. How does she justify her blatant sin? She loves the guy and plans to marry him someday. Well let’s hope! What is stunning is that this professing Christian and her lover unashamedly show up for Sunday service together! Moreover, her new beau is not the first man she’s lived with. For over a year she lived with fiancé #1 until that relationship soured. Now she’s playing house with fiancé #2, once again putting the cart before the horse.
Even though this young woman says she’s a Bible believing Christian, she’s blatantly breaking God’s commands (and His heart) by living with a man who is not her husband.
She’s not alone. In our permissive society, where anything goes, a large number of professing Christians indulge in sexual immorality and pretend there’s nothing wrong with it!
But there is something wrong with it. The Bible says sex outside the bonds of marriage is sin.
These people ignore the fact that God hates sin! Moreover, the Almighty punishes sin.
The good news is that the Bible offers hope:
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
However,
“If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 John 1:8-10). Strong words from the Apostle John.
John was part of Christ’s inner circle. For 3 years he listened to Jesus’ teaching and absorbed every word He said. John wrote letters to the early Christians, who were struggling with sin, to remind them what Jesus taught on immorality and impurity. He also gave them pointers on how to live the victorious Christian life.
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:1-3).
John wrote to urge believers not to go back to their old ways. He so wanted them not to fall into apostasy. His letters are found in the New Testament. True Christians would do well to heed the Apostle’s words.
Copyright by Marsha West, 2009. All rights reserved.
Footnotes:
[1] Survey Shows How Liberals and Conservatives Differ on Matters of Faith – Barna Group Survey
http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/13-culture/258-survey-shows-how-liberals-and-conservatives-differ-on-matters-of-faith
[2] What Are We For? By Rev. Robert Lynn
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=11547&print=1
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