Sunday, October 3, 2010

Attack from Within

I visited an ELCA church today.  I wandered down the hall to the adult class and picked up a copy of what they were teaching.  What they were teaching was not Christianity.  This would not bother me so much if it was not being taught under the banner of the truth of the Christian faith.  What they are teaching is the idea that each of us should make up our own spirituality, our own religion.

Here are a few quotes from the materials I picked up.  Remember, these materials are being used in a church that claims to be Christian and to be living under the authority of the Bible.
Traditional understandings of Christology, Atonement and Incarnation are all in flux.  In fact, many people find these concepts to be quite irrelevant to contemporary spirituality...

Everything we use to refer to God is simply a limited, human effort to explain the unexplainable...

The Bible offers a multitude of images and ideas about the Divine.  On their own, not one of them is right...
Christianity says we can know the truth about God by looking to the Word of God--incarnate in Jesus, preached in law and gospel, and written in the Bible.  The idea that we need to make up our own understanding of God is not Christian.  We seek truth, but we find it when we look to Jesus.  Christians do not trust in our own understanding.  Instead, we rely on the Word of God.

If some want to teach people make up their own truth, go ahead.  But don't lie and pretend to teach that under the banner of the Christian church.

www.equalsharing.com

4 comments:

  1. I don't know what makes me more sad: 1) the thought of all the people being led away from God by these teachings, or 2) the thought of being as far away from God as these leaders who think we can know so little about the One who loves us the most, and who has gone to such great lengths to be close to us.

    Matthew 7:22-23

    Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

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  2. Anonymous 4:22 p.m. - Please identify yourself. It's too hard to address serious questions when you choose to remain hidden. Use email or the telephone or propose a time and place for a personal face-to-face meeting if you prefer to not identify yourself here.

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  3. Anonymous 4:22 p.m. - I think the tone of conversations is more polite when people either meet personally to talk or are able to know who the other people are.

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  4. I am glad I finally left the ELCA for the LCMS. But somehow, none of the LCMS clergy I've met seemed very upset about it. Are they clueless?

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