[font=Arial,Helvetica,Univers,Zurich BT,sans-serif][size=+1]How Did Mainline Churches Get This Way?[/size][/font]
By Rev. Mark H. Creech
August 25, 2003
(AgapePress) - Only weeks ago, the Episcopal Church USA voted to confirm an openly homosexual bishop to the shock of many within its own ranks. Not long afterward, the Evangelical Lutheran Church voted not to delay any further its decision on the ordination of sexually active homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex marriage.
Before these events, the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church passed a resolution affirming the ministry of liberal bishop Joe Sprague, who denies the bodily resurrection, virgin birth, and eternal deity of Christ. Another disturbing aspect of that Conference was the passing of a resolution that affirmed both homosexuality and bisexuality as "gifts of God" -- a notion that betrays the historic teachings of all Christian churches.
A recent poll of members of the Presbyterian Church USA found that only 43% of parishioners, 50% of elders, and 39% of clergy could agree that Jesus Christ was the only way of salvation.
Did you ever wonder how mainline denominations got so far from the truth? What was the beginning of their demise and descent into apostasy? I suggest it started when they departed from the doctrine of biblical infallibility.
The most conclusive claim for the inspiration of the Scriptures comes from the pen of the apostle Paul: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16,17). The Greek word for "inspired" is theophneustos, which literally means "God-breathed." It means that all Scripture, both Old and New Testaments are the product of God's creative breath. The apostle Peter validated this claim saying, "No prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." The writers of the Old Testament professed more than 2,000 times that the words they wrote were directly from God. The phrase "Thus saith the Lord" or one comparable to it appears again and again in the Scriptures. This does not mean that God simply dictated to these persons what to say, but that the writers produced a literary product, which while it was their own, was also fully the Word of God.
This doctrine concerning the nature of Holy Scripture was always the position of the early church. More than three decades ago, Dr. Harold Lindsell wrote in his classic book, The Battle for the Bible, "There are all kinds of material available to show that the church through the ages has held to an infallible Bible. This truth can be stated negatively as well. There is no evidence to show that errancy was ever a live option in the history of Christendom for 1,800 years in every branch of the Christian church that had not gone off into aberrations. It can also be said that what was true for 1,800 years is no longer true today. In the last two centuries, inerrancy has become a live issue and increasingly there has been a turning away from this belief until the point has been reached where it is safe to say that a great proportion of scholars and ministers in the Christian church in all of its branches no longer hold to biblical inerrancy."
Indeed, it's true. In fact, the presence and influence of those who believe the Bible is riddled with error has been so pervasive through the years, it's fair to allege that among denominations like Episcopal, United Methodists, Presbyterians (USA), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, there have been no theological seminaries that have stood for biblical inerrancy for quite some time.
Francis Schaeffer, one of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century once told conferees at L'Abri: "The generation of those who first give up biblical inerrancy may have a warm evangelical background and real personal relationships with Jesus Christ so that they can live theologically on the basis of their limited-inerrancy viewpoint [a position that says the Bible contains the Word of God, but not all of it is the Word of God -- author's note]. But what happens when the next generation tries to build on that foundation?"
Unfortunately, we are now seeing the answer to that question. Whenever the principle of inerrancy is lost, it opens a small hole in the theological dike, which if not closed, inevitably leads to being completely overrun by the floodwaters of unbelief.
Mike Yaconelli once wrote in the Wittenburg Door about his life in a small rural community where there were lots of cattle ranches, and once and a while a cow would wander off and get lost. He wrote, "Ask a rancher how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply, 'Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of green grass right next to the hole in the fence. It then sees another tuft of green grass on the other side of the fence, so it nibbles on that one and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know the cow has nibbled itself into being lost.'"
Many of our mainline churches have nibbled their way to lostness today. Through the decades they have slowly and incrementally moved from one tuft of disbelief to the next, never noticing how far from home they've managed to end up. And to think it all started with that one tuft of grass near the hole in the fence -- the day they left the boundaries of biblical infallibility for the so-called "greener pastures" of theological freedom.
August 25, 2003
(AgapePress) - Only weeks ago, the Episcopal Church USA voted to confirm an openly homosexual bishop to the shock of many within its own ranks. Not long afterward, the Evangelical Lutheran Church voted not to delay any further its decision on the ordination of sexually active homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex marriage.
Before these events, the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church passed a resolution affirming the ministry of liberal bishop Joe Sprague, who denies the bodily resurrection, virgin birth, and eternal deity of Christ. Another disturbing aspect of that Conference was the passing of a resolution that affirmed both homosexuality and bisexuality as "gifts of God" -- a notion that betrays the historic teachings of all Christian churches.
A recent poll of members of the Presbyterian Church USA found that only 43% of parishioners, 50% of elders, and 39% of clergy could agree that Jesus Christ was the only way of salvation.
Did you ever wonder how mainline denominations got so far from the truth? What was the beginning of their demise and descent into apostasy? I suggest it started when they departed from the doctrine of biblical infallibility.
The most conclusive claim for the inspiration of the Scriptures comes from the pen of the apostle Paul: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16,17). The Greek word for "inspired" is theophneustos, which literally means "God-breathed." It means that all Scripture, both Old and New Testaments are the product of God's creative breath. The apostle Peter validated this claim saying, "No prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." The writers of the Old Testament professed more than 2,000 times that the words they wrote were directly from God. The phrase "Thus saith the Lord" or one comparable to it appears again and again in the Scriptures. This does not mean that God simply dictated to these persons what to say, but that the writers produced a literary product, which while it was their own, was also fully the Word of God.
This doctrine concerning the nature of Holy Scripture was always the position of the early church. More than three decades ago, Dr. Harold Lindsell wrote in his classic book, The Battle for the Bible, "There are all kinds of material available to show that the church through the ages has held to an infallible Bible. This truth can be stated negatively as well. There is no evidence to show that errancy was ever a live option in the history of Christendom for 1,800 years in every branch of the Christian church that had not gone off into aberrations. It can also be said that what was true for 1,800 years is no longer true today. In the last two centuries, inerrancy has become a live issue and increasingly there has been a turning away from this belief until the point has been reached where it is safe to say that a great proportion of scholars and ministers in the Christian church in all of its branches no longer hold to biblical inerrancy."
Indeed, it's true. In fact, the presence and influence of those who believe the Bible is riddled with error has been so pervasive through the years, it's fair to allege that among denominations like Episcopal, United Methodists, Presbyterians (USA), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, there have been no theological seminaries that have stood for biblical inerrancy for quite some time.
Francis Schaeffer, one of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century once told conferees at L'Abri: "The generation of those who first give up biblical inerrancy may have a warm evangelical background and real personal relationships with Jesus Christ so that they can live theologically on the basis of their limited-inerrancy viewpoint [a position that says the Bible contains the Word of God, but not all of it is the Word of God -- author's note]. But what happens when the next generation tries to build on that foundation?"
Unfortunately, we are now seeing the answer to that question. Whenever the principle of inerrancy is lost, it opens a small hole in the theological dike, which if not closed, inevitably leads to being completely overrun by the floodwaters of unbelief.
Mike Yaconelli once wrote in the Wittenburg Door about his life in a small rural community where there were lots of cattle ranches, and once and a while a cow would wander off and get lost. He wrote, "Ask a rancher how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply, 'Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of green grass right next to the hole in the fence. It then sees another tuft of green grass on the other side of the fence, so it nibbles on that one and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know the cow has nibbled itself into being lost.'"
Many of our mainline churches have nibbled their way to lostness today. Through the decades they have slowly and incrementally moved from one tuft of disbelief to the next, never noticing how far from home they've managed to end up. And to think it all started with that one tuft of grass near the hole in the fence -- the day they left the boundaries of biblical infallibility for the so-called "greener pastures" of theological freedom.
Praise the 
L-rd!
