“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
(John 3:19-21, NASB)

Sin Is Not Just A Sickness—It Is Unregenerate Human Nature Itself

Last year Dan Kimball, a leading spokesmen in the man-centered emerging church came out with a book called They Like Jesus But Not The Church (TLJ). However, a more realistic title would have been They Like The Jesus Of Their Choice But Not His Doctrine.

No big surprise, unbelievers hate the Light because it is as Christ Jesus—the Light—already told us above — men loved the darkness rather than the Light. The fact is, those who say they “believe” in God while in the darkness of their degenerate and sinful state simply imagine Him whatever they personally would like Him to be.

And before we were regenerated by God the Holy Spirit so did each one of us who are now Christians. It’s not mean to tell the Truth; and since but for the grace of God I’d still be hiding in the darkness (see—1 Corinthians 15:10), I have much compassion for those with whom I share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But the huge problem in the Body of Christ today is sincere men like Dan Kimball don’t understand that God’s Word teaches mankind is literally dead in their sin and apart from God regenerating them they have zero motivation or capacity to “make a decision for,” and/or “accept,” and/or “follow,” and/or “believe in,” the real Jesus Christ of the Bible.

Tell People The Truth From God’s Word

Now, in the chapter of TLJ called “The Church Is Homophobic” Emergent Church pastor Dan Kimball shares his empathy with people who are homosexual. Admirable; but first—perhaps to make them feel he is “on their side”—Kimball creates the homophobic strawman and then laments:

Quite honestly, and some people might get mad at me for saying this, I sometimes wish this weren’t a sin issue, because I have met gay people who are the most kind, loving, solid, and supportive people I have ever met. As I talk to them and hear their stories and get to know them, I come to understand that their sexual orientation isn’t something they can just turn off. Homosexual attraction is not something people simply choose to have, as is quite often erroneously taught from many pulpits. That’s what makes facing this issue all the harder. (138)

But to put this in proper perspective as it concerns the sinful nature of unregenerate mankind let’s quickly reform the above:

Quite honestly, and some people might get mad at me for saying this, I sometimes wish that the total depravity of man wasn’t the real sin issue, because I have met unbelievers who are the most kind, loving, solid, and supportive people I have ever met. Frankly, many adherents of the religion of Islam and those in non-Christian cults such as the Mormon Church or Jehovah’s Witnesses put many a genuine Christian to shame in their devotion.

But as I talk to them and hear their stories and get to know them, I come to understand that their sinful human nature isn’t something they can just turn off. The sinful human nature of man is not something people simply choose to have, nor is it merely a disease, or a lack of self-esteem, as is quite often erroneously taught from many pulpits. And that’s what makes facing this issue of the total depravity of man all the harder.

And so in love, I will now share with you the Good News from God’s Word:

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,…(1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)…“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

“Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
(Romans 3:10-18)

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)… But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)…[and] if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)…for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)

See also:

EMERGENT CHURCH: “DOES DAN KIMBALL PREACH A PERVERTED GOSPEL?”

WELL, THEY DON’T LIKE JESUS IN THE CHURCH EITHER…

EMERGENT CHURCH: A DISEASED TREE