Relativism in the Church
Mar 9, 2017 16:57:37 GMT -6
Post by Todd on Mar 9, 2017 16:57:37 GMT -6
Many people have felt obligated to point out the ills of Cultural Relativism all the while retaining religious Relativism, theological Relativism, or Relativism in other areas. I do not want to sound like a broken record, but I cannot, in good conscience, let the issue drop. For Relativism is the spiritual disease of our time, the instrument of the Secular Humanists, Socialists, Liberals, Progressives, and in general, those who think that dissolving or ignoring the standards, or defining them away, will make for a better, freer society, church, or nation. Of course such Relativism is very selectively applied by those who spearheaded its use to the aims they espouse. None of them would even think of allowing Doctors who were Medical Relativists, to operate on them. Yet Relativism is expected to be the guiding principle in the Christian Church, the means of a synthesis of a plan for the future.
The shocking truth is that we need make no plans for the future, we need to revisit the past. The answer does not lie with the unintentional worldliness that of necessity is produced when we cozy up to the World, or try to use its fallen methodologies. The solution to this ought to be quite simple. But it is not.
We ought to be able to ask any pastor, Choir director, Sunday school teacher, missionary, of back pew Christian “By what Standard?” any time he makes a statement. If a preacher says “you should get saved,” or “drinking is the tool of the Devil,” we should ask “by what standard do you come to this opinion?” The answer ought to be “why, the Bible says so.!” But as a generation, as an era, as a nation in the last fifty years, we are too dumbed down for even this correct answer to mean much or be of much consolation. Beneath the answer, which is probably as sincere as it can be, lies an ignorance of the very Bible that is to provide the standard. Too often, the standard (in the older days) was not so much the Bible itself, but systematic Theology or church dogmatics. And when it was not Theology, it was tradition, Mennonite, Catholic, Methodist, or Baptist. Or, perhaps it was a creed or Catechism. There is nothing on Earth wrong with these things. But they neither are, can be, nor were intended by God to be "the standard."
In order to get rid of the relativism and syncretism destroying and poisoning the Church and robbing it of its separation and witness, every person needs to get used to asking, and answering the question “by what standard.” Then they need to go to the Bible and see if they really understand the standard. It is not enough to give the right answer, if the answer itself suffers from the same disease it is to reveal and cure. - Todd
The shocking truth is that we need make no plans for the future, we need to revisit the past. The answer does not lie with the unintentional worldliness that of necessity is produced when we cozy up to the World, or try to use its fallen methodologies. The solution to this ought to be quite simple. But it is not.
We ought to be able to ask any pastor, Choir director, Sunday school teacher, missionary, of back pew Christian “By what Standard?” any time he makes a statement. If a preacher says “you should get saved,” or “drinking is the tool of the Devil,” we should ask “by what standard do you come to this opinion?” The answer ought to be “why, the Bible says so.!” But as a generation, as an era, as a nation in the last fifty years, we are too dumbed down for even this correct answer to mean much or be of much consolation. Beneath the answer, which is probably as sincere as it can be, lies an ignorance of the very Bible that is to provide the standard. Too often, the standard (in the older days) was not so much the Bible itself, but systematic Theology or church dogmatics. And when it was not Theology, it was tradition, Mennonite, Catholic, Methodist, or Baptist. Or, perhaps it was a creed or Catechism. There is nothing on Earth wrong with these things. But they neither are, can be, nor were intended by God to be "the standard."
In order to get rid of the relativism and syncretism destroying and poisoning the Church and robbing it of its separation and witness, every person needs to get used to asking, and answering the question “by what standard.” Then they need to go to the Bible and see if they really understand the standard. It is not enough to give the right answer, if the answer itself suffers from the same disease it is to reveal and cure. - Todd