I want to make a tough post. Some of you will not like it. If you chafe at the following words, then please pray, and “examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves. More about what that means and how to do it, here.
We are in post-modern times. That is “a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by a problem of objective truth … It involves the belief that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to change inherent to time and place.” If you have heard someone say “that may be true for you, but it isn’t true for me,” then you have the essence of post-modernism. The emergent church movement is a match made in hell with post-modernism in that suspicion of objective truth is central. Emergent Christians claim that biblical truth is impossible to achieve, know, understand or interpret. It is something that invites arrogance and intolerance is divisive, and prevents unity. The bible is old and ‘not relevant’, and is subject to be changed to conform with these times. All are buzz words stemming from the pit. Satan is the original perpetrator of “Hath God said?” when he asked Eve if not eating the fruit in the Garden was what He really meant.
As for unity: there is no such thing. Rather, there is unity. All false religions are united but Christians are not supposed to conform to the world. Jesus came to bring a sword and that sword divides. (Mt 10). It does not unite.
Now, to the meat of the post. I am increasingly impatient with the emergent church’s phrase “Let’s have a conversation with…” Muslims, Wiccans, Buddhists, Hindus. etc. They point to Paul’s appeal at Mars Hill, in Acts 17:22-33. They say that Paul went to Mars Hill and talked, conversed, shared, with the idolaters there. It was all so friendly and a tea party. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Paul went in and told them they were all wrong, and introduced them to Jesus.
Now, about a conversation. I am setting this next paragraph within the context of a witnessing, Christian conversation. Secular conversation is not the issue here. The definition of conversation is “oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or ideas”. The key part is exchange. It assumes that within the conversation, any Muslim, Wiccan, Hindu has an equal idea to share back. That the exchange will occur on an equal basis. It doesn’t.
I was tweeting another Christian the other day and he was so happy to share about his talk with a Muslim, saying to me, “Hey, “they believe in Jesus too!” I reminded him that their version of Jesus (Isa) was a non-Resurrected Jesus and that their religion was therefore false. He (a bit haughtily) said that Paul talked with the people on Mars Hill.
This is a terrible watering down of the Gospel. The Christian frog has been sitting in water that has warmed up by incremental degrees as satan is wont to do, and so many people are hardly aware of how close they are to boiling. You know, when water boils, it heats up until 212 degrees. But if it stays at 211 degrees, it will not boil. Christians who entertain Isa are at 211 degrees and they don’t even know it.
Let’s make a picture analogy. If you are of the ilk that wants to share, have a conversation, and accept what the other religions have to offer, then this is what you are doing.
You sit at a table across from a Wiccan, Buddhist, or Muslim. In front of you is a plate of gold. On top of this golden plate are crackers of such a pure white, they almost hurt your eyes to look at them. They gleam. When you pick one up and offer to to the person across from you with whom you are having this conversation, the cracker almost sings as an angelic choir.
Likewise, since conversing is sharing and exchanging, the Muslim picks up a cracker. It is moldy, so moldy it has green spots on it that have actually grown hairs. They have a plate too. It is made of compressed sewage and atop this plate is a big, steaming pile of warm turds. There are maggots crawling over it. They take a filthy, dirty encrusted knife, dig into the pile of poop, and spread it on the moldy cracker. They hand it to you. Hey, it’s an exchange. We are all at the same table, sharing, aren’t we?
I want to be clear. Our Wiccan and Buddhist and Muslim friends are our friends. Jesus died to save them and we love them as our neighbor. They are not the enemy. The lie they have swallowed is satan’s lie. He is the enemy.
A lot of Christians are eating the poop, believing that they are helping the cause of the Gospel by sharing in conversation at the same table. It isn’t. Jesus doesn’t need the plate of crap. What Christians need to do is share the Truth, the ONE truth, in love and humility but with certainty. Other religions and other people sharing their religions with us have nothing to share. There is Jesus, Who is the Truth, and there is every other religion, which is the lie. Period. I hope I’ve been clear.
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