Progressive Christianity. There are many who follow a very progressive view of Christianity and they see it as the truest expression of the teachings of Jesus, especially over and against those Bible bashing conservatives.

The question is why? Why is it more faithful to the “heart of the Gospel”, as Benjamin Cremer wrote in an article a friend of mine shared on Facebook, in a reference to the sermon written for Trump’s inauguration service, comparing it to the Charlie Kirk memorial service (read it here).   There is undeniably a strong emphasis on love, peace, tolerance and compassion. 

Cremer writes:

“At the presidential inaugural service, Bishop Mariann Budde preached the Gospel and prayed for mercy. She asked that the powerful would show compassion toward the most vulnerable, echoing the heart of the Gospel and the repeated cry of Scripture: that the “least among us” would be remembered, cared for, and treated with dignity through the decisions of the powerful.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it, compassion, remembering, caring for and treating with dignity the most vulnerable. That is great, and we should all do more of that. What could possibly be wrong with that? Well, nothing and everything. You should have a look and read “bishop” Marianne Budde’s sermon here.

There is a hint above: Cremer wrote, “Budde preached the Gospel and prayed for mercy.” If you read her sermon, there is actually no Gospel in it; there is a brief mention of forgiving others as god forgives us, but no mention of what we are forgiven of. But a majority of the sermon is about what we do to “show mercy”, there is no mention of any of God’s Law, and no mention of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross; there is a lot of vague references to Scripture and the teachings of Jesus. But there is nothing concrete, no direct contextual quotes from scripture. 

Here is the clincher and the primary problem with progressive Christianity: they have lost the Gospel, but how do you lose the Gospel? It’s a curious thing that a group that seems to emphasise grace and love could have lost the Gospel. But it’s in this emphasis of love and grace that they downplay God’s Law in order to not offend those whose consciences it pricks (that should be everyone):

“For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;  but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,  but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

1 Cor 1:22-25 NKJV. I don’t think this was done intentionally, though Satan always plays the long game. I think it was a slow fade; perhaps it even started with good, albeit misinformed, intentions. But it didn’t stop there. Once you start to downplay and even reject God’s word, usually with the question “Did God really say?” (Where have you heard that before?). The theological term used for this is Gospel Reductionism, everything in scripture is reduced to “the Gospel”, often times expressed as a rejection by saying “what does that have to do with the Gospel?” When talking about other doctrines of scripture. This is what my previous church, the Lutheran Church of Australia, has done and why many others have also left.

In the progressive reductionist view of Scripture, you lose the distinction between Law and Gospel; most Lutheran and Reformed churches emphasise a clear distinction between Law and Gospel. Very simply Gospel is what God has done for us, and the Law is what we do for both God and our Neighbour. In the Confessional Lutheran Churches, we teach three uses of God’s Law. 

1. The law as a Curb, this first use of the law applies to everyone both believers and non believers alike and is there for the good of society, to protect us and our neighbour from destroying ourselves by our sinful nature this use of the law is also enforced by the government as per Romans 13: For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.  For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. (Romans 13:3-4)
2. The Law as a Mirror, this second use of the Law, it holds the Ten Commandments up to your face and you look into them and what is reflected back at you is your utter inability to keep them and your prospects of eternal damnation, and if you still think you can self righteously keep them Jesus speaks from the mount and says: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’  But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hellfire.  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt 5:21-22, 27-28 NKJV). This is where we realise our need for the Gospel and our self-righteousness dies in repentance and Faith. Christ kept the law for us, was crucified and died in our place to pay for our Sins of Thought, word and deed.
3. The Law as a Guide for the Christian, this third use of the law is how we can best love our neighbour now that we have been saved by God’s Grace, it isn’t a means of salvation as if we have to keep working to be saved nor is it a maintenance of our salvation but it is the natural outgrowth of God’s grace working in us for the good of our neighbour.

When you start taking a reductionist view of Scripture, you lose this/these distinctions. And because God’s Word and Law is good and given to us for our good, and we were created to follow God’s Law, when you reduce the scriptures to the Gospel, you end up distorting the very Gospel into a Law. When you lose God’s Law, you will lose the gospel because you’re no longer a sinner who needs saving. This is because God’s law is a part of who God is; perfect righteousness and holiness to reject His law is to reject Him.

This is the evil of progressive Christianity, cloaked in grace and love but without ever actually defining what those terms mean. Read 1 Corinthians 13 to define Love. They’ll call you a legalist or a Pharisee if you believe God’s Law is good and is for all. It’s deceptive and smooth talk convinces the poorly catechised (taught) and biblically ill-informed believer of its goodness while it steals the Gospel from underneath them and leaves them without hope.

It tells them their sin is ok with God, it tells them they’re not at fault that God made them that way. It tells them they’re oppressed and that someone else is the bad guy, and gives them a Jesus who doesn’t want them to change. It tells us that love and tolerance of sin is the Gospel while we are drowning in guilt for breaking God’s Law, and yet it still withholds the diagnosis and the remedy.

If you dare point out sin or error, they’ll retort back, “Judge not lest ye be judged” It forces sinners who are truly oppressed by sin to embrace their true oppressor and point away at something or someone else and call them the oppressor and the reason for their inner turmoil. It’s a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Tim 3:5).

You see, God’s Law is good; read through the Psalms and you’ll see. Look at the damage sin does in our lives, the hurt and the pain it causes. Biblical, confessional Christianity diagnoses the disease with God’s Law and heals it with the Gospel. It gives you the real Jesus, the one who, rather than excuse your sin, pointed it out and took it upon Himself, carried it all the way to the cross and killed it there, then rose three days later to prove He alone had that power. True Christianity then shows us a better way to live according to God’s Law with the power of God’s Spirit working through His Word to create and sustain faith in him and strength to love and serve God and our Neighbour.

Progressive “Christianity” has a Jesus who can not save, much like the Mormon Jesus or the Jehovah’s Witness Jesus or Islam’s Jesus. 

The problem with Progressive “Christianity” is that it isn’t Christian.

Progressive Christianity isn’t.