Posted on 12/13/2012 8:04:20 AM PST by Sheapdog
The Great Progressive Church By Robert A. Hall
Psychologists say that people need religion in one form or another, and will always invent a theology if they are not given one. I'm not the first to notice that the rise of thetic, unchurched, Godless Secular Humanists has resulted in liberals meeting this human need by converting Progressive Ideology into religious doctrine and admiration for Progressive leaders into unquestioning worship. Self-righteous calls for civility aside, this explains why they get so angry and vicious when you challenge any of their tenets. You are not disagreeing with them over policy. You are attacking the core of their religion, and their reaction is often the same as if you told a member of the Westboro Baptist Church that Jesus wasn't divine or a member of the Muslim Brotherhood that Mohammad was a fake. Blasphemy cannot be tolerated by fundamentalists of any stripe.
Of course, like all religions, the Progressive Church has degrees of belief, from the moderates, who are rather like Christmas and Easter Christians, to the Fundamentalist Progressives, who respond as you'd expect from a Salafist told that Allah wasn't really in favor of slaughtering Jews. (Why are you picking up that stone?)
To understand the Progressive Church, you must first understand that for them, intentions matter, not results for real people. If they can feel all warm and fuzzy
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
A good read. He nails it, pretty much.
Good article. The Progressive Church is a direct outgrowth of the Communist Church (the one with the relic of St. Lenin on Red Square).
Thanks for this.
He also predicted that the chief persecutor of that believing Church would be the mainline liberalized churches. These will be congregations and pastors with the same mindset as those who sided with Hitler and the Third Reich.
Christians who believe in the fundamentals of the faith, who place that faith solely in Christ and will not accept a corrupted, depraved worldview can take a lesson from the current Chinese underground church movement that has burgeoned regardless of Communist oppression.
The poor fools who hate God, His Christ and His eternal Word will suffer eternal damnation regardless of our momentary sufferings at their hands. They are to be pitied.
Very good. He also shows the bizarre self-contradictory principles upon which the Progressive Church is built.
The article references the Westboro Baptist Church. They are definitely not Christian and probably get support from far left foundations and groups and are used to give Christians a black eye and look ridiculous just like the left wants to believe.
The liberal churches have exchanged biblical truths for man made ideologies that run counter to biblical truths.
Quite bizarre - I attended a very conservative seminary and in attempting to be inclusive they undermine their own beliefs and foundations.
For example, by legitimizing black/ liberation theology and not calling it gross heresy/ heterodoxy they in fact prop it up and undercut orthodox theology. Too scared of political correctness.
Just because a group or view uses the same Christian terms doesn’t make them Christian. In liberation theology all the terms have expanded and different definitions that equate to a Marxist understanding that is completely alien to the original intent. Instead of condemning this distortion the goal seems to be to try to understand it and see one can be learned from it. Now its considered a legitimate theology along side orthodoxy because it isn’t harshly condemned. Wouldn’t want to alienate millions of minority people and all the different churches that interpret the Bible in a way that’s seemingly beneficial and profound to their experience.
A false gospel is better than no gospel.
I’m ranting.
I understand your rant. Too many people want a God they can use, are not willing to be used by God. It’s pretty clear what is sin and not sin, and what happens when you do sin. Wanting a God who serves your sinful nature is a high sin in and of itself.
Biggest rant I have is with homosexuality in the church. There isn’t any gray area for dispute here; practicing homosexuality is sin. Period. Yet too many churches are pretending that the Bible does not mean what it says. One local church, not sure if it was even associated with a major denomination, had an advertising slogan “Would Jesus discriminate?” They were openly promoting homosexuality (I called it the fag church). My answer is, yes, He would discriminate against homosexuals as He would adulterers, murderers, thieves, prostitutes, tax collectors and sinful hypocritical Christians. Each and every one of them He would not condemn them, but in no uncertain terms tell them to leave their lives of sin, as He did in John 8.
He never told the sinful woman it’s OK to go commit more adultery. The gay churches don’t get that, as they want a God they can use.
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