romanticizing Jesus

The Romanticizing Jesus movement is turning women into camp followers

Posted on August 16, 2022August 16, 2022 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

TEN YEARS ago I wrote this blog about the danger of the then-emerging ‘Romanticizing Jesus’ movement. The sly eroticism when describing the Majestic God of the Universe, Creator of worlds, Destroyer of Souls, Enemies Under His Footstool…THAT God. Yes, He is compassionate, nurturing, loving, but He is God and He is thrice holy. We should look upon Him with love and awe and reverence, but never in childish, Junior High, flower covered diary terms.

But Beth Moore did again, and again she sparked a controversy. Social media went ablaze, Christian news outlets reported on it, and the dial on blogs went spinning crazily. The reason there is always controversy around Moore is because she is living proof of one who preaches a different gospel that cases dissensions and controversies. Let’s take a look at 1 Timothy 6:3-5

If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a sick craving for controversial questions and disputes about words, from which come envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5and constant friction between people of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

What I wrote ten years ago has come to fruition and its fruit is bad. Of course, a good tree bears good fruit, while a bad tree bears bad fruit. There is no in between. We love Jesus, but we are not “in love” with Jesus. Here is that blog from 2012:

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discernment, Uncategorized

Elyse Fitzpatrick on Mary’s supposed romancing Jesus (Updated)

Posted on April 18, 2018November 23, 2020 by elizabethprata

Editor Note: It seems that the page in question from Mrs Fitzpatrick has disappeared. Below at the bottom, I posted a link to the cached version. I also posted screen shots of the essay.

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Jesus knew what she was doing and he welcomed it.

The above is from Elyse Fitzpatrick and I’ll get to the problem in her essay further down.

Elyse Fitzpatrick holds a certificate in biblical counseling from CCEF (San Diego) and an M.A. in Biblical Counseling from Trinity Theological Seminary. She has authored 23 books on daily living and the Christian life. She also has a website where she blogs and is a conference speaker.

Fitzpatrick wrote a blog essay the other week titled ~~Mary’s Wedding Vows~~ (page deleted, screenshots below) where a biblical scene of humbly offering an anointing to the Sovereign God preceding His death, is twisted to an impetuous moment of a love-struck girl hurling herself with abandon at her lover. In order to make the verses she quoted fit her unbiblical scene, Fitzpatrick had to twist the scripture. (2 Peter 3:16). It was a theological train wreck full of doctrinal error and crass sensuality.

Sadly, a few years ago Fitzpatrick became involved in the hypergrace movement. Her 2012 book Give Them Grace seemed to reveal more antinomian stances. She was spoken of negatively in this 2015 article at Grace to You and this one in 2015. Her theological trajectory has been noted and warned against.

The invasion of such sensual imagery by these influential writers is a sad event. One would hope and pray that Christian women would have more sense and more spiritual maturity and discernment than to chase after things that are not much different than Tantric Buddhism. Anything that connects the divine through the body should be a no-go zone. The faith comes by hearing, not by sensuous feeling. It is an intellectual faith that comes in through the mind. What we know is most important.

Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary explains the word know

Know, Knowledge
To know is not to be intellectually informed about some abstract principle, but to apprehend and experience reality. Knowledge is not the possession of information, but rather its exercise or actualization.

I sadly cannot recommend Elyse Fitzpatrick to you and must sadly issue a warning against using her materials. This is doubly sad because of her long experience with Biblical Counseling. But anyone who sees Jesus in such a light is seeing a Jesus that does not exist, except perhaps in her own mind.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:6).

Screen shots of Mrs Fitzpatrick’s essay in question

elyse final

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:eGgyqS6I6E4J:https://www.elysefitzpatrick.com/marys-wedding-vows/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

discernment, Uncategorized

The word eros is not in the Bible

Posted on November 27, 2016November 27, 2016 by elizabethprata

How are we women to love Jesus? What is the nature of our love to our Savior? Or even of His love to us corporately and individually? Are there different kinds of love?

There are different kinds of love. In English, we use the word love in many ways, but it’s still the word love. I love ice cream. I love a short commute. I love my sister. I love my husband. I love Jesus.

In the Greek however, the language of the New Testament, there are different words to express different kinds of love. There is agápe, éros, philía, and storgē.

Storge is used in the Greek to indicate a strong familial affection. I love my family, Also, I love my country. Storge is not in the Bible.

Philia was famously used by Peter in his response to Jesus when Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-16). Philia is a kind of strong brotherly affection. It’s where the word Philadelphia comes from. When Jesus asked Peter if Peter loved Jesus, using the word agape, Peter (ashamed) persistently used the word philia in reply.

Agape love is used in the Bible several times and it an important version of the word. Agape means love but when it’s used in the Bible it specifically means a love from God, defined by God. It is the very nature of God, “God is [agape] love”. (1 John 4:8). Agape is a sacrificial love. It’s the kind of love displayed by the Good Samaritan to the beaten and robbed man in the road. It’s the kind of love we’re called upon to love our enemies with, by the way. (Matthew 5:44). It’s God’s love, holy and good.

Eros is a sexual love, or at the very least, an intimate physical love. It’s a fleshly sensual love.

I’ve written about the romaticizing Jesus movement. This is a movement where a female “Bible teacher” teaches or sings or speaks about a Jesus where we have intimacy with Him. These women use language to indicate physical activity with Jesus is part of our normal relationship with Him. These women have taken the concept of love and twisted it. They have stretched the metaphorical biblical language in the Bible of Bride (church) and Groom (Jesus) into realms where the actual marital bedroom benefits with an actual husband on earth are also part of our heavenly relationship with Jesus.

Ladies, this should not be.

“While it is true that the Bible utilizes images of marriage to parallel Christ’s relationship to the church, two things must be taken into account. Firstly, Christ relates to the church as a collective unit. He is married to the community as a whole and not to billions of individuals who claim to serve him–he is not a polygamist. Secondly, the love Christ shares with his church is not defined by the Greek term “eros” from which the English word “erotic” is derived, but is expressed with the noun “agape” (pronounced ah-gah-pay) which denotes love demonstrated in deeds. Those who view themselves as children of God are not called to exercise eros but agape; they are not invited to brief episodes of self gratifying sexual intimacy but to a lifetime of social and spiritual interaction.” (Spectrum Magazine)

The word eros is the kind of love to Jesus and from Jesus these female teachers write about. I could post many examples from popular female “Bible teachers” who constantly express this kind of love in their lessons, or who describe their relationship with Jesus in this way, but I won’t. You know what I’m talking about.

The word eros is not in the Bible. Not once. This erotic kind of love between a woman and her husband is fine and biblical. It’s implied for example in Paul’s missive to husbands and wives in 1 Corinthians 7. Yet even when Paul alludes to marital bedroom activity however, he never uses the word eros.

So for a teacher to use the word eros between women and her Savior is not biblical at all.

Ladies, when you hear a Bible teacher saying we love Jesus like a boyfriend, we are being enfolded in His arms, and worse things relating to our body, you know this woman is not teaching rightly. She cannot be rightly dividing the word of truth when she discusses physical intimate love to & from the Savior because that kind of love is not in the Bible. So where would she be getting this aspect of love from? Her flesh. False teachers always appeal to the flesh.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. (2 Peter 2:1-2).

We see so often depicted in this lyric by Kelly Carpenter and many other woman teachers a Jesus depicted romantically, but it’s false.

You are my desire, no one else will do
‘Cause nothing else could take your place
To feel the warmth of your embrace
Kelly Carpenter – “Draw Me Close”

As a final thought, ladies, we can know Jesus through His word and learn of His many and infinite attributes through study of it. His character is endlessly fascinating, and it’s deeply satisfying to ponder His attributes. Why add an attribute to our relationship with Him that does not exist? We have enough in Him already. His grace alone is sufficient. He is wonderful and true and good. He is not our lover and He is not our boyfriend. He is not our cheerleader. He is the Ancient of Days, come to take His seat and make the earth His footstool! He is-

the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. (Revelation 1:5)
the first and the last, who died and came to life (Revelation 2:8)
the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. (Revelation 2:18).

The moment you hear or read of a singer or teacher speaking of Jesus is this eros way, now you know to avoid her immediately, and why. It’s simply not biblical.

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