Mo & PoMo (Part 3)
June 28th, 2007
(By John MacArthur)
POST-MODERNISM AND THE CHURCH
The church today is filled with people who are advocating post-modern ideas. Some of them do it self-consciously and deliberately, but most do it unwittingly. (Having imbibed too much of the spirit of the age, they are simply regurgitating worldly opinion.) The evangelical movement as a whole, still recovering from its long battle with modernism, is not prepared for a new and different adversary. Many Christians have therefore not yet recognized the extreme danger posed by post-modernist thought.
Post-modernism’s influence has clearly infected the church already. Evangelicals are toning down their message so that the gospel’s stark truth-claims don’t sound so jarring to the post-modern ear. Many shy away from stating unequivocally that the Bible is true and all other religious systems and world-views are false. Some who call themselves Christians have gone even further, purposefully denying the exclusivity of Christ and openly questioning His claim that He is the only way to God.
The biblical message is clear. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The apostle Peter proclaimed to a hostile audience, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” The apostle John wrote, “He who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). Again and again, Scripture stresses that Jesus Christ is the only hope of salvation for the world. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Only Christ can atone for sin, and therefore only Christ can provide salvation. “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12).
Those truths are antithetical to the central tenet of post-modernism. They make exclusive, universal truth-claims declaring Christ the only true way to heaven and all other belief-systems erroneous. That is what Scripture teaches. It is what the true church has proclaimed throughout her history. It is the message of Christianity. And it simply cannot be adjusted to accommodate post-modern sensitivities.
Instead, many Christians simply pass over the exclusive claims of Christ in embarrassed silence. Even worse, some in the church — including a few of evangelicalism’s best-known leaders — have begin to suggest that perhaps people can be saved apart from knowing Christ.
Christians cannot capitulate to post-modernism without sacrificing the very essence of our faith. The Bible’s claim that Christ is the only way of salvation is certainly out of harmony with the post-modern notion of “tolerance.” But it is, after all, just what the Bible plainly teaches. And the Bible — not post-modern opinion — is the supreme authority for the Christian. The Bible alone should determine what we believe and proclaim to the world. We cannot waver on this, no matter how much this post-modern world complains that our beliefs make us “intolerant.”
Thanks guys. I’m a Pastor just leaving the charismatic movement after 15 years, and I neeed all the help I can get!
It will take some extra courage to stand against the tide of this inclusive generation. We need good strong teachings like this.
Thanks.
God has only one way to forgive sin; His most Beloved Son’s death. And what a marvelous and gracious thing this is. Christ on the Cross said “It is Finished”, and He became the forgiveness of sin for all who believe.
Amen. The world, and tragically, so many in the church as well, rolls its eyes and mocks the way true Christians cling so tightly to the absolute claims of Christ. Our culture is so obsessed with faulty notions of “acceptance” and “tolerance”; absolutely terrified of being labeled as “intolerant”, and thus not accepted into the more “sophisticated” circles of “Christian” thought and philosophy.
But to put it simply (of course, very non-pomo), who are we to seek the acceptance of the world, when it did not even accept their Creator, the Savior for all who will believe, when He came into history as a Man to live among them? (John 1:10-13)
As Spurgeon said it so eloquently (and I can’t remember the exact devotion for the life of me right now, so please accept this humble paraphrase), “Who are we to seek a crown of glory [or acceptance, or approval, etc.], when our Savior bore a crown of thorns”?
I agree. Postmodernism possess a philosophy that directly attacks the truth- the Gospel. Thank you for robustly laying out the truth about postmodern thoughts within the church of Jesus Christ. Our primary concern should be for the church to remain pure from postmodern notions.
This might be pointing to the quote you have in mind, Kristine(don’t see the specific devotional date, though)? Awesome Mo and PoMo posts and Spurgeon quote.
http://witnessingencouragement.wordpress.com/2007/04/06/let-us-go-out-to-him/
Oh I’m so glad to discover this blog; I am looking forward to reading through it.I love this topic of being faithful to the true gospel in whatever “ism” we find ourselves living in the midst of. I have not studied postmodernism (and the emergent movement) in great depth, so when I come across it inside the visible church, it is still quite a shock. Let us stay faithful to Truth.
http://witnessingencouragement.wordpress.com/tag/discerning/
http://witnessingencouragement.wordpress.com/tag/false-teaching/
I must agree! 100%. Sometimes it is hard to find the truth not only in Churchs, but also in People’s lives. Christian people at that. I just read the back of the book, “ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL”. Where in the late 1800s,Charles Spurgeon warned that the Church was drifting away from the purity of the Gospel. Instead of boldly proclaiming the truths of scripture, Christians were candy-coating the Word, being careful not to offend anyone. As a result, Christianity’s influence in nineteenth-century England was severly weakened.
I agree with John it is time to sound an alarm and let people know, God is serious about HIS Righteousness !!!
Today is more weakened than ever,may God give us wisdom and knowledge on how and where to go with this.
I was saved in 1974 from drugs,bikergangs,fighting, and trying to comit suicide. On the fifth try God with His grace reached down and delivered me from sin.I think since 1974, it has gotten 100 times worse than back then, but it only shows the end times are here, lets win as many souls for the Lord as possible, and as soon as possible, Amen?
My heart cries out to the Lord for help to find just a few people who really care about winning souls for Christ and is willing to go out into the World and do so.
Thanks for the word here,and may God Bless you in all you do to the Glory of God the Father.
“My heart cries out to the Lord for help to find just a few people who really care about winning souls for Christ and is willing to go out into the World and do so.”
That’s a good heart’s cry. may the Lord grant you your request Pastor Ernie.
Have a wonderful weekend, and a blessed Lord’s Day.
Has anyone remarked that both MO & PO-MO are a form of HUMANISM. And the reason the modern Church has been so ready for humanism in its various manifestations is because of its loss of the Bible’s total rejection of human merit or capability, and thus the dire need of the activity of the Holy Ghost for anything redemptive and eternal to occur in a soul or collectively in a church.
Really Humanism is the basic religion of the non-Christian. He inists he is able to save himself, indeed if he needs saving at all.