Bad Advertisement?

News & Reviews:
  • World News
  • Movie Reviews
  • Book Search

    Are you a Christian?




    • The Emergent Church,
    Feminism, Gay Marriage
    & Other Topics

    ARTICLE INDEX     



    In these articles, my desire is to reveal what God teaches within scripture on various topics. Regarding the "isms", such as liberalism, conservativism, etc, we find a philosophy, which may or may not be good in influence and design. For instance, liberalism within the church tends to promote gay marriage, accept feminism, preach the social gospel and the declarification of Christian doctrine (Emergent Church & Relativism). I believe the exact opposite: I am against gay marriage, I hate feminism, I preach the "real" gospel and want scripture truly clarified to get rid of the "isms". So, these all listed above tend to represent liberalism, yet this does not negate error found on the conservative side as well.

    1. The Social Gospel - Is an attempt to replace preaching of the true gospel with good works and feel good programs. Often forsaking true gospel preaching and instead promoting social programs to help people physically, financially, etc.. There is nothing wrong with social programs or helping people. The problem is when you forsake true gospel preaching to only promote such social programs. Often, the logic behind this social gospel mindset is that the real gospel is not relevant as God will save "everyone", which is obviously incorrect.

    2. The Emergent Church - The newest of church movements, which is just a repackaging of the liberal church of the 80's and 90's. About the only difference between the Emergent Church and the Liberal Church is they claim to be focusing on my generation (30's age group) and that my generation somehow needs a couch, a laptop and a latte. Frankly, I goto church to learn about God, not to sit on a couch. I use computers ALL the time, I have plenty of couch space at my house. I don't need any at church. I don't need you to coddle me and make me "feel good". I am not interested in my selfish desires being fulfilled. You can not save people with silly things like this.. The Emergent Church is interested in declarifying scriptures and making their viewpoint an enigma.. Its God loves you and lets leave it at that. When asked, do they believe in the final judgement, they will dodge the question. However, if you study the doctrine of the Emergent Church, what you discover is that they do not believe there is a final judgement, because God will save everyone (according to them). Further, they espouse that only an evil God would sentence someone to Hell. So, they do not believe you are required to have saving faith in Christ. Another tenant of their doctrine is that there is no final judgement. With such viewpoints, it means they do not honor God's holiness and are not believing in the God of the Bible. See these passages: 1 John 4:1-4 , Titus 1:9 , 2 Corinthians 11:4 , 1 Timothy 1:3 , Matthew 24:38 , 2 Timothy 4:3 , 2 Timothy 3:1-9

    3. Feminism - This one has crept into both liberal and conservative churches. Frankly, I can't recall the last preacher who discussed the "wives submit to your husbands" scripture without dancing around the topic to avoid offending any women. Even today, I am listening to, I believe it was, Chuck Swindoll. He had no problem saying women are to be submissive to their husbands, however, even he was dancing around the topic lightly. He said, he took a vacation after preaching that sermon, so he could avoid any flack from the women in the congregation. FIRST, why is it he assumes women will automatically have a problem with what he preached on? If they are women of God, and they have a problem with scripture, they have some serious spiritual issues. A commandment is a commandment. If you do not like God's commandments, you have a problem with God, not the preacher's opinion. On the topic of men loving their wives as Christ loved the church and also being head. It is simple. You follow the commandments. Love your wife, as Christ loved the church. Obviously, those who do not love Jesus, he does not save. So, the church is committed to Christ. So, the wife is to be committed to her husband.. And the man, is to love her as Christ loves his church. Further, Christ made man the head.. For the man, if you can not be the head, you are just ignoring scripture, which means you are violating a commandment. For the women, if you are a woman who likes to have control, you need to make sure your husband agrees with your direction and decisions.. Meaning, if you are so in control of your household and so in control of your life, then you should have no problem submitting to your husband as the "final" answer to running things in the household. If you do have a problem, as a wife, submitting to your husband and can not allow your husband to be the "final say", then you are "unruly" as the scripture states and that means you are rebelling against God's order.. And if your husband has no balls, he needs to grow some, because he is suppose to have the final word and say.. And if you can not submit to your husband, how is it you think you can submit to God? Isn't that a good question? If you can not follow a simple commandment, to submit to your husband, perhaps it shows your spiritual condition. That you do not submit to God either. And men, if you can not grow enough balls to have final word on important issues, perhaps, you should start wearing a dress? Are you going to put your wife above God's Word? If you are not trying to control anything in your house, you are telling God, he is wrong, which is sin and you are no better than an unruly wife.. It is selfish for you not to do what is necessary. Gee, I think I just angered probably about 80% of the church, because I can not recall the last preacher, radio show, etc that was Christian who actually had the guts to say what I said above, without worrying about offending.. Frankly, I don't care if I offend you. Maybe it will help you to realize the truth, seeing no one else has the balls to say it.

    4. Gay Marriage - As I have discussed in many articles, the gay marriage and sex is sinful. However, this does not mean men can not love men or vice versa. - Leviticus 18:22 , Romans 1 . A man can not marry another man or have sex with another man. However, there maybe are examples in the Old Testament and within church history of same-sex celibate agreements (close non-sexual friendship agreements, not the same as same-sex unions). Likewise, a woman marrying another woman is a sin as well. Why? Because they are rebelling against God's design, as discussed in Genesis and Romans. However, again, there is no prohibitation against a woman loving another woman or having a close relationship. God's design is for a man to marry a woman. Or for a man to marry multiple woman (secondary lifestyle, though some believe this was done away with in the New Testament). So polygamy and monogamy are the only two officially sanctioned marriage designs of God. However, many conservatives will disagree with half of what I have said so far. The conservatives would assume, polygamy is a sin, etc. Yet, I prove this viewpoint wrong in this article here and also this article. It is true, God's ideal according to Jesus is one man and one woman, as seen before the fall. After the fall, sin entered into the picture, and due to "hardness of hearts" God permitted such things as divorce in certain circumstances(uncleaness/fornication) and permitted polygamy in certain societies. So, yes, one man, one woman, no divorce was God's original design, but that was before the fall and before sin entered into the picture. Now, due to the fall, the ideal is not always acheivable, so God permitted certain types of divorce and polygamy. Because of the common logic of conservatives regarding marriage, they assume that a married man is a sinner if he thinks about sex in any way, other than with his wife. So, to conservatives, for anyone, especially a married man, to see an erotic image or even an erotic scene, he has sinned. The idea behind lesbianism being a sin is that it is rebelling against God's order. God's order is one man with one woman in marriage or one man with more than one woman (due to more women in the world than men and certain cultures make it difficult for women to live on their own means). So Ellen Degeneres marrying another woman or Lindsay Lohan marrying another woman is sin and rebelling against God's design and is sin. Now, when it comes to men, it DOES say, men can not have sex with men. Very directly, it says men can not have sex with men, so obviously, this is a sin. Why is woman lying with woman never mentioned? I believe it is because then polygamy could be condemned (more than one woman with one man). I discuss all of this in detail, citing scripture, here. God's ideal is for a man to be with one woman, yet that does not mean there are not other things which are permissible. So, neither the liberal or the conservative are correct. Yet the conservative viewpoint is much closer to the truth, and is definitely correct on the gay marriage topic.

    5. Relativism - Now, if there is any disease in the church, this would be it. Consider these two definitions of the term relativism and how it is alive in the church today:

      –noun Philosophy.
      any theory holding that criteria of judgment are relative, varying with individuals and their environments.
      - Dictionary.com Unabridged

      A theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them.
      - The American Heritage® Dictionary, 4th Ed.

      First, lets address the illusive logical contradiction of this philosophy. The philosophy claims there is no absolute truth, but rather, everyone has their own relative truth. Yet, for a person to say, "There is no absolute truth", you are declaring, "absolutely" that there is no "absolute truth". Which means, you are declaring that there is one absolute truth, namely, that there is no absolute truth. This violates the "Law of Non-Contradiction" of basic logic.

      Unfortunately, there are many Christians who espouse Relativism. I am shocked by responses of certain "Christian" people online, who abuse this scripture here, "Judge not, lest ye be judged" - Matthew 7:1-5. According to many Westernized Christians, you have no right to make a judgement on anything. Everyone is equal, every religion is equal, everyone has their own truth and that we should embrace everyone, as Jesus would embrace them. To hear this from people who purport to be Christian, drives me crazy. Take for example this link here. Just read the response that was voted "Best Answer" of all the answers given:

      QUESTION:
      Who's worse: Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses?

      ANSWER:
      Since you say you are a Christian, then you should appreciate this verse from the New Testament:
      "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls." (Romans 14:4, New International Version)
      Regardless of your biased opinion, the only opinion that really matters is that of our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
      Just thought you'd want to know. And thanks for the two points.
      Source(s): The HOLY Bible

      The problem with this "ANSWER" above is that Jesus did not "embrace" other people's theories, doctrines, ways of life, etc, nor did he believe that there was more than one truth. Jesus loved everyone, yet still judged people. For instance, here are just a few quotations from only one of the Gospels:

      "12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." - Matthew 12:36
      + Here we see that Jesus holds people accountable to their own words.

      "3:12 Whose fan [is] in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." - Matthew 3:12
      + On this verse, Jesus makes it clear, this judgement is no light judgement.

      "7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." - Matthew 7:22-23
      + It appears that even hypocritical and false religious teachers are judged. Even those who have performed miracles in his name.

      "10:14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 10:15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city." - Matthew 10:14-15
      + Looks like Jesus has no problem judging whole cities.

      "11:22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 11:24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." - Matthew 11:22-24
      + If you had to choose between being a Sodomite or a Sidonite, which would you choose? So, rejecting God is worse than abusing your neighbor.

      But what about all these Bible verses, where it shows that God is against "judging"? Well, lets look at a few.

      "Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. "
      + I think John Gill does a good job of explaining what Jesus said here: Gill's Commentary, John 8:15. The pharisees judge carnally, by appearance. Jesus says that he does not judge by outer appearance or by carnal thought.

      "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:"
      + Both Adam Clarke and John Gill do a good job of dispelling the idea that God the Father judges no one: Clarke's Commentary, John 5:22. What it is actually saying is that the Father does not judge, unless the Son is judging with him. If you look at the Greek, and directly translate it says: "For the Father neither judges no one unless/except that the Father gave judgement of everyone to the Son". I just went through every word and wrote it out. It says "except/unless" it goes through the Son. So, the Father judges, but it has to include the Son on everything.

      "if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."
      + One argument tries to use all three of these verses to say that 1. The Father does not judge. 2. Jesus does not judge. 3. We are to follow his example of not judging. However, as you can see, I have been pointing out all of the exegetical errors in this viewpoint. With this scripture here, we see that this argument forgets the fact that Jesus comes TWICE. His first time, he came to "save the world". And the second time around, he comes to "judge the world".

      So, does God want you to judge anything? Of course, as it says here, "7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." - John 7:24 This ties into what we read above.

      Jesus main problem is when people are:

      1. .. hypocritical in their judgements: "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" - Matthew 7:3
      2. .. judging by appearance: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." - John 7:24
      3. .. not careful or not avoiding certain types of judgement: "7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." - Matthew 7:1-2
      4. .. not judging false teaching: "Say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise you." - Titus 2:15
      5. .. not judging immoral acts: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." - Ephesians 5:11
      6. .. not examining/judging all things: "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." - 1 Corinthians 2:15-16



      God Rules.NET
      Search 30+ volumes of books at one time. Nave's Topical Bible Search Engine. Easton's Bible Dictionary Search Engine. Systematic Theology Search Engine.

      God Rules.NET