The liberal distortion of doctrine.
The liberal distortion of doctrine
In the last 100 years there has been an infection upon the church in which it is no longer good to simply deny or reject biblical doctrines but rather they want to ever so subtly chisel away and refine them to have a different meaning to what the historical evangelical doctrine that were and are precious to the Christian who has been convicted biblically on such issues. Now let us consider one of most central truths in scriptures; and that is the fact that we are all born sinners by nature and in deed. Another way to put this would be in this manner: we are born with an inward bent for being rebels against God; and we, therefore, are outwardly defiant towards God's law and become disobedient.
For a fair summary of what we are speaking of-- let us note these words from the B. C. F:
By God’s appointment, they were the root and the representatives of the whole human race. Because of this, the guilt of their sin was accounted, and their corrupt nature passed on, to all their offspring who descended from them by ordinary procreation. Their descendants are now conceived in sin and are by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, and partakers of death and all other miseries—spiritual, temporal, and eternal—unless the Lord Jesus sets them free.
It is important to understand that these are not merely the words of men; though man put it forth. No. in reality it is a statement which is drawn from the whole teaching of scriptures regarding man and his plight. In it we start with the sin of the first man which was nothing short of disobedience; and from then on each and every man, women and child who has ever existed he been judged in light of that first sin and their own subsequent sin due to be depraved in nature by sin. But what happens when man does not want to deal with the scriptural truth about this matter? How does he seek to prove that he is a much better position to the first man?
Tweaking the truth on Doctrine
One of the clearest examples of this assault on the faith comes from one who claims to be of the faith; but truthfully this can not be substantiated. And this happens to be Timothy Keller. He claims that the ways in which Christians in the past has presented the doctrine of man's sinfulness will not cut it today; therefore, we must adapt our formulas in order to win them or they would be forever lost. This is however a false move for any Christian to hold too. Let us notice how he has said it in his work "reasoning for God":
according to the Bible, the primary way to define sin is not just the doing of bad things, but the making of good things into ultimate things. It is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose and happiness than your relationship to God’
Is this statement even relatively accurate? No. Sin is never to reduced down one action. The scriptures tells that there is "a multitude of sins" which mankind commit daily and religiously. Sin, at its very basic understanding can be summarised by those to terms we saw in the intro: rebellion and disobedience. And, in fact, scripture used both terms in many places such as Romans 5 we see that it was the "disobedience of one man" that plunged all men into rank depravity. And then in Ephesians 2 all men in their natural state are called "sons of disobedience." But one statement that really puts this all together is this by Steven Lawson:
"Sin is the antithesis of God’s glory, a contradiction of His holy nature. It is all that falls short of God’s blameless character, amounting to nothing less than cosmic treason against the Creator."
With this all in mind, let us ask: why are so many so willing to abandon the faith and cling to this kind of revisionism? It seems, to me, the sole motive behind such an action is because many do not have the correct frame of thinking. They do not know the truth from a lie; and therefore, they are easily to manipulate and led into error. for example: someone once said something which sounded real plausible but was in fact unbiblical and unfounded on the strength of scripture; it turned out to be nothing more than a assertion. let us bare in mind these words from Paul: "For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting." (vs. 18) Because such a person has one goal in mind even if it not evident in his words or action to cause unnecessary division; but it is true none the less. Now for a clear summary statement on sin from scriptures:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth... For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Rom. 1:18-21)
That is what the bible teach on sin and there is much more.
Shifting the goal-post on Doctrine.
In recent times the church has come under attack from men who were once thought to be sound biblical teachers and faithful Christians; but by their actions, we may infer to some degree that they are apostates or least head to that pathway. What do I mean? well, there have been a number of Pastor who have no gripe about plagiarism; even to the point of lifting the very same work and claiming it for themselves. But something that has been stated in the process which is very troubling as it shows this liberal tendency is even at work in such men.
Let us take note of what I refer to in the following statement by J.D Grear:
"Homosexuality does not send you to hell. do you know how I know that? Because heterosexuality does not send you to heaven."
Now in a sense this statement may be right as far as the latter statement is concerned; however, we do need to note that, heterosexual marital relationship is what God consigned and intended for his creatures. And therefore, the first statement would make no sense in light of the biblical condemnation on sexual sin being something which one needs to be redeemed from in order for them to be accepted in God sight. An this statement is followed by the most egregious statement about "God whispering about sexual sin" while he "shouts about "social sin." And again, we cannot help but wonder about the impact such a statement as the above one will have on people who claim to be both "Christian" and homosexual particularly in his church. The one thing we do know is that it wont be good at all.
Still one can only point out certain scriptures which speak directly to this issue:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6)
Let us hold out the fact that we are talking about the "kingdom of God" which is another way to say Heaven. And in these words we have God given us the qualification for entering in. But if you want to know about here and now:
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5)
If you want to say that is just Paul. Then we must understand that Paul is not speaking of his own accord; but each thing is the direct word of Christ through him by means of the Spirit. Therefore, it must be taken seriously. He says that homosexuality is something that God condemns because it is wicked.
A post script on the Sinfulness of Sin.
Having dealt with some of the ways in which the doctrine of sin as been distorted by this liberal tendency; we now need to consider what it is in order that we may think aright on the subject. The scriptures are clear in what they teach sin is something which utterly destroys all men women and children alike; you can think of the great statement to this effect from our Lord Himself. He said: "And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him." (Mark 7:13-14) Do you see what He is saying? Can you begin to see the point? Sin is vastly different from what you and I think. He goes on to make this point. It is best understood in these words by JC Ryle
"The sinfulness of man does not begin from without, but from within. It is not the result of bad training in early years. It is not picked up from bad companions and bad examples, as some weak Christians are too fond of saying. No! it is a family disease, which we all inherit from our first parents, Adam and Eve, and with which we are born." (Holiness)
There was indeed a time when preachers actually preached what the text actually speaks on; there are some today. The scriptures are clear that sin is a very real and very dangerous thing much like a disease. Indeed JC Ryle says it goes much deeper: it is a family disease. It is hereditary. Take note of this statement: "one man.... the many" (Romans 5:17-19) Adam disobeyed; therefore, we all disobeyed. And as a result what we are told in other places of the universal scope of sin "all men are sinners" (Rm. 3:10-18; Ephesians 2: 1-3). And JC Ryle continues:
Created “in the image of God,” innocent and righteous at first, our parents fell from original righteousness and became sinful and corrupt. And from that day to this all men and women are born in the image of fallen Adam and Eve, and inherit a heart and nature inclined to evil. (Holiness)
The image of God a much overlooked truth in terms of it being preached. But notice what we are told of all mankind "are born in the image of fallen Adam and Eve, and inherit a heart and nature inclined to evil." One can think of the statement before and after the flood that man being evil continually (Gen. 6:5; 8:21). Or even the words of the Lord in John 8 which say he who sins is a slave of sin (vs. 34) One is not a slave because an act of sin he commits; but rather the act of sin is a direct consequence of the fact he is a slave by nature or disposition:
Sin, in short, is that vast moral disease which affects the whole human race, of every rank, and class, and name, and nation, and people, and tongue; a disease from which there never was but one born of woman that was free. Need I say that One was Christ Jesus the Lord? .... Sin is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that is naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusts always against the spirit; and, therefore, in every person born into the world, it deserves God’s wrath and damnation. (Holiness)
There is nothing worse than being misled into believing something that is in error regarding a cardinal doctrine. Thank God for sound and faithful teachers and preachers of the Word.
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin... Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Rom. 3: 9, 19-20)
There is the verdict: God defines what sin is; and he declare the truth about mankind being born sinners.
