Calvin Synod Herald, 2002 (103. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)

2002-01-01 / 1-2. szám

6

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

THE NEW REFORMATION

(2 Timothy 4:1-7)

At Duke University, the Dean of Chapel is a Methodist clergyman by the name of William Willimon. I recall some years back that Dr. Willimon wrote and article for the Christian Century entitled “My Dog the Methodist.” And, the thesis of his article was that in order to grow the Methodist Church, they were going to have to start baptizing dogs.

Dr. Willimon stated that he was prepared to offer his own canine as a fitting candidate for baptism. He had already examined the animal and determined that he had shown no interest whatsoever in biblical studies - therefore, he would make a perfect Methodist!

Since that article was published in the Christian Century, two Methodist Bishops had canceled their subscriptions, one of which has not spoken to him since.

Today, I think that a similar case can be made for many of our so-called mainline Protestant denominations, including the United Church of Christ. Today we face a situation in which we see our membership numbers declining, and our cultural influence fading into the abyss of irrelevance. As a denomination, we have become a “toothless tiger” of sorts - we can growl and make a lot of noise, but our impact upon culture has been wakened by the steady exodus from our aging ranks. I hope that we don’t resort to baptizing dogs, as Dr. Willimon suggested rather tongue-in-cheek, but I do hope that we wake up to this fact before it is too late.

Why is that? What has caused us to step out onto the slippery slope of ecclesiastical demise?

I think that a clue to that can be found in many areas of our denomination, from the topics of discussion by many of our committees and “task forces”, to the halls of our theological seminaries, to the parish centers of our local churches. Conspicuous by its very absence is a sound understanding of basic Christian theology.

The Apostle Paul was absolutely right when he wrote in his letter to Timothy:

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (Verses 3 and 4).

These words of the Apostle Paul are painfully prophetic for the 21st century church in America. We are now in that age when people do not “put up with sound doctrine” but rather, they prefer to “gather around themselves a great number of teachers who will tell them what they want to hear.”

Sin in no longer defined as rebellion against God, but is defined as having low self-esteem, or simply making a “mistake”, or as having an “illness.” The resurrection is no longer defined as Christ’s bodily rising from the dead, but is now propagated as a set of teachings of Jesus living on past his death. Jesus Himself is no longer regarded as the sinless incarnation of the eternal God, but as one of many “enlightened” religious teachers on the same level as Buddha and

Mohammed. And salvation is seen as an experience that will be universal because God would never presume to judge anyone, regardless of their faith.

These are some of the ideals that are now being taught in many of our mainline seminaries - thankfully not the one that Edit and I went to - but they are being taught in many others, nonetheless.

What is happening to mainline Protestantism in America should greatly concern all of us. For right before our eyes is taking place the greatest erosion of biblical Christianity in recent history, and what is even more alarming is that it is taking place within the church itself.

Just this spring, we were attending a meeting of the Northwest Ohio Association of the United Church of Christ. We were in a conversation with one of our clergy colleagues and the topic of the conversation got around to the epistles that make up most of our New Testament. We were talking about the Apostle Paul and what Paul had to say about the exclusivity of the gospel. To which our colleague replied, “Oh, who cares what Paul said! I don’t believe much of anything written by the Apostle Paul!” These are the words of a called and ordained “Pastor and Teacher” of the United Church of Christ. And, he is by no means atypical. There are many in his company who share similar sentiments - that of a faith which has been whittled away to a mere nuance of Christianity.

There is a terrible irony to the words of Paul in this letter to Timothy. That day is now here - the day when men do not “put up with sound doctrine.”

The invasion of liberal theology has put a lot of spiritual poison into the church. But then again, so has the invasion of extreme, right-wing fundamentalism. There are two kinds of fundamentalists who are harming the church today - those on the left and those on the right. Both are angry and radical, but neither is truly biblical. Both are driven by ideology, rather than theology.

Today, I would like to caution us about both. To reject the extremes; to reject ideological agendas on either end of the spectrum - and to embrace the true Christianity handed down to us by the apostles. Today, I call on everyone in the United Church of Christ to embrace a truly objective interpretation of Holy Scripture, and to remain anchored to the historic creeds and confessions of our church universal.

Here at Calvin, we have two identical Bible studies every Wednesday. Right now we are in a study of Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi. In our morning study group last week, one woman said: “This is great! I can’t remember the last time that I was in Philippians! If it weren’t for this, I don’t know how I would get into the Bible.”

She took the words right out of my mouth! That is exactly what we need - to get back to the Bible. To return to biblical Christianity, instead of all of these ideological issues that the church is bogged down in today.

The words of Paul given to Timothy are just as relevant for each one of us here today:

Verse 2: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction.”