Progressive Christian, JOHN C HOLBERT: Biblical Texts Used to Attack LGBTQIA Methodist Christians do Not Say What These so-called Bible Believers Claim They Say

HNewsWire- First they asked you to think outside the box of Truth; now they’re asking you to stop speaking Truth altogether.  The Progressive wing of the Church has been able to grow and thrive, thanks in part to the re-surging Emergent movement that has long been taking the doctrines of Christianity apart.

JOHN C HOLBERT:The obvious reason for choosing this passage in the Lenten season is found at Gen.15:6. The NRSV translates as follows: “And he (Abram) believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” However, this translation has been made primarily under the influence of the Septuagint, that 4th- 3rd century BCE Greek translation of the Hebrew, necessitated by the Greek takeover of the known world by Alexander of Macedon. The LXX (Septuagint) name is based on the myth that 70 translators went into 70 different chambers and produced exactly the same translation. For those of us who have done any translation work, we know all too well that two translators, facing one another across a table, can hardly produce identical translations! Still, a translation of the LXX of Gen.15:6 reads: “And Abraham believed in God, and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness.” Both Paul (Rom.4:3 and Gal.3:6) and James (2:23) repeat this LXX rendering.

However, the Hebrew text is far more complex and quite difficult to translate. One reading might be: “And Abraham went on believing in YHWH, and he (who?) reckoned it (what?) to him (to whom?) righteousness.” (This is the reading of JJ Scullion in The Anchor Bible Dictionary). But the text could also be translated as follows: “Abraham went on believing in YHWH, and he (Abraham) reckoned it (YHWH’s promise of a son and descendants) to him (YHWH) as (no preposition occurs in the Hebrew) fidelity (or “dedication”).” That would mean that YHWH’s promise of many descendants for Abraham (Gen.12:1-3), in the face of the stark reality that Abraham attests to YHWH at Gen.15:3 that no heir is forthcoming, is still believed by Abraham, and further that YHWH has remained faithful to the divine promise. Of course, both Abraham and Sarah will later voice their doubts again concerning their ability to produce a son and heir (see their laughter at Gen.17:17 and 18:12). This alternate reading focuses as much on the faithfulness of YHWH as it does on the model faithfulness of Abraham.

Both Paul and James, because they are clearly reading the LXX of Gen.15:6, use the text as a powerful statement of the faith of Abraham as he attempts to continue belief in the God of promise despite God’s ongoing delay in the gift of the son to the aging couple. At the famous Romans 4:3, Paul employs the LXX translation to prove that Abraham’s faith, and not his labors, led to his justification by God. That is, faith alone is the road to justification, a momentous belief in the history of Christianity. Martin Luther based much of his break with the Roman church in the 16th century on this conviction that faith alone was needed to connect believers with God. However confused Luther may have been about his perceptions about the Roman church, namely that it was so starkly different than his theological ideas concerning faith, the Catholic-Protestant split found much of its force in this understanding of the Gen.15 passage.

HNewsWire-Here’s how Steve McSwain, contributor to the extreme leftist publication Huffington Post (a site from which I share frequently about the activities of the Christian Left), is trying to re-shape the Bride of Christ into the harlot of Babylon.  How influential is this guy? Steve is celebrated as the “Voice of the SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious),” as well as author, speaker, thought leader and spiritual teacher.  His latest article is getting thunderous applause. Gird your loins:

To the contrary, James found in the passage proof that faith without works is dead, as he so memorably put it. He states quite plainly at 2:24: “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” How startling it is to see two such diametrically opposing views rising from the same biblical passage. Indeed, it may have been James 2:23-24 that caused Luther to excoriate the letter of James as “an epistle of straw.” James was not included in the portions of scripture that Luther prized, and these disparate understandings of the LXX of Gen.15:6 explain why.

Just why have I spent so much time on the intricacies of Bible translation and interpretation when what you want is fuel for the sermon? I find this a parade example of why careful Bible study is so crucial for our preaching. If you are not a reader of Hebrew, you may now see clearly that Paul and James were also not readers of that ancient language but only appropriated its words through the vehicle of Greek, a language they did read. But because that is true, we can be reminded again of how dependent we are on those who are able to assess the original languages. In this case, that I hope I have helped you to understand at least a little, the various ways that the texts may be translated, read, and understood largely determine how serious believers have been and are lead to appropriate them during their individual journeys of faith.

This is one more instance of the conundrum that is our Bible. As I have often noted, the Bible is the most purchased and least read of any book in the history of literacy. It has enlivened and strengthened millions of believers, but at the same time has served as a weapon to dehumanize and attack millions more. Once again, at the most recent General Conference meeting of my denomination, the United Methodist Church, some employed the Bible as a club to batter untold numbers of faithful Christian believers. Employing the crudest forms of proof texting, tearing passages from their contexts, and universalizing ideas from an ancient culture, superimposing them onto a modern world that now knows far more than the older writers could ever have known about human sexuality, these delegates to the conference imposed their arcane and fundamentalist viewpoints on an entire denomination and thereby forever painted us all with the thick brush of bigotry and exclusion. This was a tragic and horrifying misuse of the sacred scripture by those purporting to be lovers and defenders of that same scripture but became in fact nothing less than abusers of their fellow Christians.

There have been any number of reputable and faithful scholars who can demonstrate that the biblical texts used to attack LGBTQIA Methodist Christians do not say what these so-called Bible believers claim they say. Why can we not admit that no one of us knows all we need to know carefully and judiciously to evaluate the Bible, but are always in need of those who have spent their lives reading and studying these ancient documents? Where is our humility in the face of such arrogance that leads some to parrot what they have heard from others with only a partial knowledge of the complex texts from the Bible, rather than turn and listen to those whose study has enriched the world of those who truly care for and revere the glorious Bible? Why do we continue to listen to such mountebanks who claim knowledge that is at best only partial and at worst only pernicious and self-serving? I have spent 50 years reading and studying the Bible, but I by no means have full access to its multiple riches. I need always to read my scholarly colleagues and thereby grow with the help of God in my understanding of the biblical text. I urge each of you to take with great seriousness the words of your own Bible teachers who I am sure urged you to be life-long students of the Bible as you then expound its wonders from your pulpits and classrooms. The author of Genesis, Paul, and James, along with Luther and his successors, would expect nothing less.Source

HNewsWire- As Christians, we must remember that we are facing a battle of life and death. You are either with God or you are not. Christians should not seek to conform with the radical ways of the world.Millions of people are being led astray, thinking that we can still live immoral lives and be saved under the grace of Christ. Folks want to hear an extreme hippie version of Christ who never spoke out against immorality. It is common among liberal/progressive Christians to defend their position with: “Christ stated to love one another”. Yet this popular argument is distorting what Christ meant about love.

Yes, Jesus did preach love and acceptance. But Jesus did not come to rationalize immorality and pat us on the back for sinning. He never once claimed that loving means : “Now go forth and do whatever you want and feel free to change scripture to adapt with the world’s ways”.
People who compromise the integrity of their faith in order to be politically correct and popular are not of God. Doing this just shows you seek favor among everything and everyone that is against God.

HNewsWire-Progressive Christianity is the growing movement to appease the world by watering down the Gospel of Jesus Christ to make it acceptable to unbelievers. From this has sprung everything from the tolerance movement to willingly accepting the elimination of all things relating to God or Jesus in society.

During World War II, the Prime Minister of England thought he could keep Germany from invading through the policy of appeasement. Of course history teaches that this policy did not work and in fact, if it would have persisted, Germany would have overrun all of the United Kingdom. Only through the stubborn resolve of Winston Churchill did the tide finally turn and what we know happened did indeed take place.

In the First Century church, there were numerous factions crying to appease the Jews and re-introduce legalism back into the Gospel. The whole circumcision debate revolved around this very issue. In places such as Galatia this dissolved the church into a divided mess, ripped of its ability to walk in the grace of God. Paul himself reproved these believers for being so quickly deceived.

Over the centuries, the Church has swung back and forth between being overbearing and lax concerning adherence to principle. Even today there are multitudes of conservative churches as well as multitudes of liberal churches. Generally speaking the conservative assemblies place heavy emphasis on the Bible while the liberal churches preach what has come to be known as the “social gospel”.

I am not going to pass judgment on either of these branches of Christianity for they both have many good points and many not so good points. Generally speaking, the more conservative churches must fight the tendency of being Pharisaical while the liberal churches must fight the tendency of being too progressive (tolerant).

If the church gets to the point it no longer takes a stand on anything Biblical, it has crossed the line into what is called Progressive Christianity. The problem with this is that it opens the door to relaxing the call to obedience to the commands of God and in turn softens sin to the point of it being tolerated, allowed and at times even promoted.

Interestingly, my background was with a ministry which was ultra-conservative when it came to studying and teaching the Bible, yet was torn apart by tolerance of all sorts of lifestyle issues which blatantly contradicted the written Word of God. This double standard of “do as I say and not as I do” ultimately ripped apart the ministry and brought about its downfall.

There are literally thousands of churches, ministries and groups which have this same problem today. They preach what appears to be an ultra-conservative gospel but time and time again the leaders of the group are discovered to be doing just the opposite. The horrible scandals which have surfaced within huge ministries and churches over the past 30 years only reinforce the hideous nature of hypocritical people who consider themselves immune from the consequences of sinful behavior.

Countless ministries have sprung up over the years which many times preach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and genuinely help people come to the Lord. Unfortunately many of these ministries fall by the wayside due to the subtle introduction of legalism, excess tolerance or hypocrisy among leaders. This is why this subject burns on my heart and why I am writing about it.

Somewhere in between the ironclad legalism of Pharisaical Christianity and the spineless “I am ok and you are ok” gospel of Progressive Christianity lies the truth. Unfortunately, those who desire absolutes will be bitterly disappointed to find out the truth is not etched in stone but rather tied to and upheld by the will of God for a person, place or movement.

I have been listening to a CD daily for the past few weeks that features a duet that includes a man who was at the top of the Contemporary Christian music charts many years ago but who committed adultery and was more or less cast to the wolves by Christians (who are very good at doing such things). This man, who I have always loved vocally, made a comeback a few years ago and is now finally able to once again bless Gods people.

The point is that in this situation, it did no good to basically excommunicate someone due to sin anymore than sanctioning the sin and saying it was fine due to the grace of God. The truth is found in the fine line between genuine repentance and just mouthing the words so as to regain ones previous position etc.

The Bible states that love covers a multitude of sins. The love of God defines tolerance. There is nothing wrong with manifesting a little more love and forgiveness and a little less judgmental intolerance. We all have our secrets that we deeply regret and any of us who have hung around this “God thing” for a lifetime know full well that it is only through the grace, mercy and love of God we are still here.

To say it is difficult to bridge the chasm between Pharisaical and Progressive Christianity would be the understatement of the year. But, it is indeed possible and in fact demanded by God Himself that it be done.

HNewsWire-People usually defend or ignore this issue with: “Well that is what they believe who are you to tell them what the truth is? Thou shall not judge. The truth to them is their truth as long as they believe it to be the truth” type of relativist approach. But God does not abide by the narcissistic demands of human beings. God is the same as before, today, and forever. The Church does not need to “adapt and change” in order to be more popular and true Christians are not sell-outs in this narcissistic world.

StevieRay Hansen
Editor,HNewsWire

John Wesley who said that what we tolerate in our generation, will be embraced by the next. Wesley is 100% correct! We are living in sick times.

“It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. Let me tell you something, friend, it is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth, than to be loved for telling a lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It’s better to stand alone with the truth, then to be wrong with a multitude. It is better to ultimately succeed with the truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. There is only one Gospel and Paul said, ‘If any man preaches any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

Justice is a word that stands alone, adding anything to it demeans it….

It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated.

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