This past week I heard another torturous talk from the venerable Bishop John Shelby Spong. This
talk was very much unpleasant, as he is an arrogant grumpy old man
full of vitriol for traditional Christian belief, who shores up his
views with outdated narrow scholarship combined with tabloid science.
And at the end of the talk he defiantly “claims the title” of
Christian. Typical of the venerable Bishop John Shelby Spong, you
say, so why be annoyed?
I thought most everyone was tired of hearing his routine. But then I realized his "gravitas" is giving some credibility to a view that is popular, as he was invited to speak at a recent “Progressive Christianity
Conference." His talk is titled “Why Atonement
Theology will Kill the Church.” It's not surprising that the
venerable Bishop John Shelby Spong denies Christianity the atonement
(on a quite spurious basis), but it is increasingly surprising to me that
there is no difference, in any substantive way, between many of the
venerable Bishop John Shelby Spong's views and the sentiments of say,
Reverend Brian McLaren, Reverend Rob Bell, or even, practically, Pastor Joel Osteen.
In other words, a more sugar-coated
delivery of the same ideas makes one popular. These are all crystal
clear examples of Christianity without Christ. Or, Christianity with
a Jesus more palatable to modern sensitivities and political
correctness. The venerable Bishop John Shelby Spong and his more
popular co-conspirators in the end want people to be free from the
idea that humanity has a sin problem that needs Saviour solution.
So what does the venerable Bishop John
Shelby Spong propose is the real problem? It is a doctrine of
“incompleteness” or “imperfection,” of “humanity in need
of its potential.” Sin is “not so,” but incompleteness is.
Nevermind the semantic games, this is no different than Emergent
leaders, no different than Osteen, or the Health & Wealth
peddlers. This tired old message is gaining new ground with
audiences who have no Biblical context, because it comes with a
built-in excuse for ignoring the Bible's basic overall message about
salvation through Christ. And yet, somehow, it still wants to be
Christian.
This is no different than the message
delivered to Eve, that she really needed to eat of the fruit of the
tree to be Godly; that God was, indeed, holding her back from her
full potential.
I think we all need to be very careful when we listen or read from many of today's popular and progressive teachers. There is a lot to say for being fresh and creative in applying the Bible to our everyday lives, but God may have a lot to say about being downright eager to re-write the clear overarching message of Scripture. It is apparent to me that many of these smart people don't want new applications of scripture, but they want different scriptures altogether!
The Bible says, “Test the spirits, to
see if they are from God.” Be sure you aren't one of those who will throw out both your common sense and the Bible. And always remember, we need to repent and believe the Gospel, because we must be born again.
