Eternal Approach

“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son“. (I John 5:10)

What is “the record” that God gave of His Son?

It begins with the first words of the book of Genesis and continues until the last words of  the book of Revelation.

Removing the Foundations

There is a common tactic used by Evangelical leaders today to challenge long-held beliefs of the Christian faith.

And not simply to question things for the purpose of building up one’s faith. As in testing what we believe and why we believe it. Which is something that is vital for our growth.

No. This is about shaking and removing the foundation blocks.

For example, Andy Stanley has clearly stated that our faith is not to be based on the Bible. As in, “The Bible told me so.” Which he claims is wrong thinking.

And he even goes so far as to question the true necessity of the virgin birth of Christ, the literal accuracy of the Genesis time line, and many other things.

But we have discussed him before in earlier posts.

And he is not alone in his denial of major truths.

So, with such a growing number of well-known leaders skipping down this path of unbelief, and presuming to lead others along with them, an unspoken question is forming — begging for an answer.

“How far can a man go in rejecting the literal scriptures and still believe the gospel?”

A Direct  Challenge to the Faith

This challenge is being shoved right in our faces. And it’s being done as if it’s a good and normal thing.

We are challenged in the Christian media, by Christian universities and seminaries, by popular leaders, by supposedly Christian organizations, and even by our own pastors and leaders.

Everywhere the fashion of the day is to challenge doctrinal beliefs. So that leaders may trim down our faith into some bare-bones gospel.

So that this new gospel can be re-packaged to the masses in an inoffensive form. So that we can get as many “decisions for Jesus” as possible.

The Gospel and the Age of the Earth

In order to show how our faith is being challenged, Ken Ham, the director of Answers In Genesis Ministries, (see the link below) has presented interviews of well-known Christian leaders who have clearly accepted that the earth could be millions or billions of years old.

Which is a direct challenge to the clear timeline of creation as presented in Genesis.

The Age of the Earth and the Decline of the Church

Note that these interviews have not been cleverly edited from secondary sources. They are taken from the actual ministry websites of these leaders.

We are talking about individuals such as R.C. Sproul, John Piper, and Andy Stanley.

These are men who claim to believe and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tim Keller is another leader who has denied the literal creation account. He is a strong proponent of the BioLogos organization which teaches that science must be used to interpret the true meaning of scripture. Or, more specifically, that popular scientific consensus, must be used to interpret what the words of Genesis really mean.

If you listen to Tim Keller and others within the BioLogos organization, you will hear clever arguments proposing that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 were written in different styles. With Chapter 1 supposedly being symbolic while Chapter 2 is historical.

Which only creates more confusion and contradictions as Christians attempt to reconcile the demands of faith with the demands of philosophy and so-called science. Especially since Genesis was not written in a vacuum.

Genesis is explained and re-affirmed throughout the other books of the Bible. In fact, the literal, 7-day-creation timeline is established by no less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

This is called, “comparing scripture with scripture“, and taking “the whole counsel of God” into account in our interpretation. Which the men above seem to have forgotten or ignored in interpreting Genesis 1 and 2.

The Disconnect

This is a big problem.

For one thing, Tim Keller has achieved a great deal of respect within the Evangelical community. His books are often quoted in sermons by pastors and young leaders who love his writing and sermons on a variety of topics.

Yet there seems to be a disconnect on the part of our leaders when it comes to their continued promotion of men like Tim Keller, RC Sproul, John Piper, and Andy Stanley.

This disconnect is evidenced by the unwillingness of our leaders to warn people of the serious errors these men are promoting.

 A Conspiracy of Silence

It is as if there is a general agreement of silence among Evangelicals when it comes to doctrinal error. Which is a clear sign of a growing tolerance toward error.

And a pattern of only showing where teachers agree with each other while ignoring serious positions of unbelief.

One might expect a young student or a young believer to go off on a tangent in one area or another in biblical understanding. Because, there are many pitfalls that any of us could fall into — and we have — that are the result of bad thinking or a misunderstanding of scriptural truth.

But these men are not novices in the faith.

They understand the ramifications of their positions. They are very much aware of how much instability they have introduced into the gospel message by their wavering on the authority and accuracy of the words of Genesis.

So, the question is, “Why is this attack on the gospel allowed to go unchallenged by Evangelicalism as a whole?”

To Be Continued . . .