"This is the 21st century. We now live in an age of pluralism,
diversity and tolerance." And the Christian who advocates the
Biblical position on premarital sex, marriage structure, homosexuality,
or religion, for example, is typically viewed as narrow-minded or
bigoted.
What I find most disconcerting is the mood of impatience with
doctrinal questions. Many Christians seem uncertain about their
own beliefs. They may not understand clearly what is an orthodox
theology and what it is not. And this lack of understanding does
not even seem to them very important. Others avoid doctrinal questions
out of fear of creating unnecessary controversy and becoming an
obstacle to the mission work of the church.
Controversy
Although controversy is deemed distasteful, and more so religious
controversy, controversy is inescapable out of concern for Biblical
truth. The question about doctrinal faithfulness automatically leads
to the question of apostasy and heresy. Who likes controversy? I
don't. I'd rather write about missions at home and abroad or the glorious
hope of the Gospel in a dangerous world than confronting a variety
of non-Christian worldviews, and the defense of an orthodox theology
against its detractors.
To shrink from controversy may be a characteristic of our ecumenical
age, but no one can claim that controversy is a stranger to the
Gospel. Jesus Christ and His apostles contended for what they believed
to be the truth. Jesus Himself was a controversialist. He fought
for minds and hearts. Dr. John Stott, who has written in the defense
of the faith, comments, "It is not conducive to the health
of the Church to sweep our differences under the carpet or to pretend
that all is sweetness and light when it is not."
Why is there such a reluctance to discuss heresy? Our Western
culture, which is neither Christian nor religiously neutral, has
become pagan. Instead of opposing this culture, many Christians
have compromised the claims of the Gospel. They have even unwittingly
bought into the spirit of our times.
Postmodernism
Our pagan-postmodern culture exalts individuals and their viewpoints.
Many regard truth as a personal preference. They believe different
views and opinions should have equal weight. They say, "Your
truth is your truth and my truth is my truth." They are quite
ready to tolerate religion, but only if all religion is strictly
relegated to the private or communal spheres. They are highly selective
consumers of religion. They pick and choose beliefs, practices,
programs, and professional services from an increasingly diversified
religious smorgasbord. Numerous churches are "big enough"
to include a wide range of services, programs and theological orientation.
Decreasing importance is placed on creeds and confessions. One major
religious group's truth claim seems to be as acceptable and accurate
as another's. Only the claims of cults and sects are regarded as
suspect.
One may offer a host of different opinions about doctrines as
long as he doesn't step on the toes of other individuals and groups.
A denomination or local church or individual Christian can offer
ideas, as long as they refrain from asserting that they have the
truth. Our culture permits Jesus to be one way to God, but it gasps
at any suggestion that He is the only way. In mainline denominations
theology is for most a secondary issue. What annoys mainliners is
"unenlightened" piety and strict adherence to "simplistic
views of faith and morals." In the name of tolerance they are
intolerant of a theology based on revealed truth. Objective truth
is disappearing over the horizon. All viewpoints are considered
equally valid and all pursuits equally noble.
Relativism
Such diverse choice has been legitimized by the widespread of
relativism. It asserts that viewpoints reflect the social and intellectual
settings from which people come. In the last half of the 20th century,
the idea that truth is relative has come to be widely accepted.
Our world is one where relativism reigns. Philosophy professor Allen
Bloom writes in The Closing of the American Mind that almost every
student entering a university believes that truth is relative and
that openness is therefore a moral virtue. He comments that today,
"The true believer is the real danger. The study of history
and culture teaches that all the world was mad in the past; men
always thought they were right, and that led to wars, persecutions,
slavery, xenophobia, racism, and chauvinism. The point is not to
correct the mistakes and really be right, rather it is not to think
you are right at all."
But relativism undermines society and church. It has slain moral
consensus, leaving us without authoritative and moral guidelines.
Its implicit message is that, in matters of lifestyle and beliefs
and attitudes, no views are better or worse than others. "Everything's
relative." But relativists can never be consistent. They believe
in things they profess not to believe. A radical relativist may
say there is no absolute truth but travels calmly at 30,000 feet
on a plane whose safe flight depends on the unchangeable truths
of aerodynamics and structural mechanics.
Not all religions are the same. Christians are tolerated provided
they do not talk about the Gospel as universally valid truth. Such
talk is viewed as disrespectful, intolerant and fundamentally untenable.
For example, Walter Brueggemann, an author and theologian based
in Atlanta, believes that sending Christian missionaries to Iraq
smacks of Western imperialism. "I think it is exactly the wrong
time and the wrong place," he told the Baptist Press News.
"I don't care what they say, what they're after is to impose
their faith on that culture. In the best of times, that's insensitive,
and in the worst of times it's just absurd." Nowadays, the
ecumenical movement appears to have transformed missions into an
"interfaith dialogue."
All major religions are treated as equals. Some theologians talk
about the "insights" of Islam and Hinduism and Confucianism.
The present world situation, they say, is not the time to be dividing
on these differences of belief in the pursuit of peace and justice
for all mankind. Furthermore, other theologians think that Christians
must become open to learning from people of other religions instead
of trying to convert them.
Consequently, instead of Jesus Christ as the only way to the
Father (John 14: 6), He is one of the many ways. But this unorthodox
position has its roots in the controversies of the early church.
Its advocates are following in the steps of famous "earlier"
heretics. "Interfaith dialogue cannot lead to agreement in
a single faith. That is not the objective." says G.R. Evans
in her book A Brief History of Heresy. "Yet it can encourage
Christians engaged in it into a form of Arianism as they try to
accept that perhaps Christ is not the only Messiah, the sole Savior
of humankind."
Not all religions can be equally true. For example, Islam dictates
terms upon which men and women are to live out their existence;
it speaks to its followers of exclusive demands and religious observances
of daily life. The faith claims and practices of Hinduism, Satanism,
Islam and Christianity are in direct conflict with one another.
Modern Theology
In many respects we seem to have become numb to the threat heresy
poses for the church. Today almost anything seems acceptable. The
twentieth century saw fundamental challenges from academic theologians,
which continue into the twenty-first. Mid-twentieth-century "Process"
theology explored the idea that God is not the changeless being
of the early Christian world but a dynamic force, Himself subject
to change. Other theologians have interpreted the death of Christ
as a message to the world that God Himself is vulnerable. Others
still have spoken of the "death of God" and the "post-Christian
world."
One may hear openly the notion that the doctrine of the Trinity
is unscriptural and breaches the unity of God. Liberation theologians,
influenced by Marxist ideology, tried to bring about in society
a "real-life" and "this-worldly" version of
the Biblical promise of freedom and salvation. Celebrated theologians
and New Testament scholars commonly profess beliefs that once provoked
not only silencing of dissent but execution of dissenters.
Truth Matters
