Without Sola Scriptura Mainstream Evangelicalism Will Be Adrift On The Sea Of Relativity

Apprising Ministries has been documenting for some time now an influx into evangelicalism of Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism, which has roots in the spurious spirituality of the Counter Reformation of apostate Roman Catholicism. Pastor Bob DeWaay also noted the same thing while discussing the February 2008 edition of Christianity Astray Today in his scholarly piece Why Evangelicals Are Returning To Rome: The Abandonment Of Sola Scriptura As A Formal Principle .

DeWaay reminds us that CT “ran a cover story about evangelicals looking to the ancient Roman Catholic Church in order to find beliefs and practices.” Then he writes:

Chris Armstrong, the author of the article who promotes the trip back to the ancient church, claims that because the movement is led by such persons as “Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, and living and practicing monks and nuns,” that therefore, “they are receiving good guidance on this road from wise teachers.” This he claims shows that, “Christ is guiding the process.”

Apparently, contemporary evangelicals have forgotten that sola scriptura (scripture alone) was the formal principle of the Reformation. Teachings and practices that could not be justified from Scripture were rejected on that principle. To endorse a trip back to these practices of ancient Roman Catholicism is to reject the principle of sola scriptura being the normative authority for the beliefs and practices of the church. In this article I will explore how modern evangelicalism has compromised the principle of sola scriptura and thus paved smoothly the road back to Rome. (Online source)

He happens to be dead-on-target; and in addition, DeWaay does a great job in his exploration of this critical topic. As I was telling a friend just today perhaps the defining issue of our time is the fact that a large part of mainstream evangelicalism has indeed rejected Sola Scriptura. As a result the heart of evangelicalism is, right now, following the exact same progression as the long dead mainline denominations; a fatal progression, which Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989) warned about in his lecture circa 1985 The Cult of Liberal Theology.

Briefly, it goes roughly in this order: The rejection of Sola Scriptura opens up a pragmatism, which then leads to the ordination of women; contemplative spirituality, and in their case, the embrace of practicing homosexuals as Christians. As near as I can tell it’s only a matter of time until we’ll see all of this “soon” within the mainstream of the evangelical community. And yes, I’m quite aware of the charge in some circles that online discernment and apologetics ministries like this one are “negative”; but one wonders how, exactly, are we supposed to make this sound positive?

As a pastor-teacher, following my Biblical mandate of 2 Timothy 4:2, for four years now I’ve been doing my best to warn evangelical leaders concerning the Emerging Church, which begat the alleged “new reformation” [read: deformation] now being called Emergence Christianity. Last December in Emergence Christianity Soon To Put Forth A Gay Face AM told you about a conference called The Great Emergence with Phyllis Tickle, which took people through her book of the same name. Not surprisingly Tickle sees Brian McLaren akin to Martin Luther for this Emergence deformation. 

Jonathan Brink at Missio Dei, a website sympathetic to the Emergent Church rebellion against God’s Word, who was there also told us:

One of the things that caught my attention was Tickle’s comment that there are forty-four specific events that underline the move away from Sola Scriptura.  I would love to see what those 44 are but that would be like icing on the cake.  The final subject in the turn away will be how we address homosexuality in the church.  She reiterated that it’s not if Sola Scriptura ends but when…

The central point of Tickle’s book is, “Where is our authority?” And much of the underlining question for those in this conference is the step and subsequent journey out of traditional church expressions and into new ones. (Online source)

This is precisely why I have so often referred to this Emerging/Emergent/Emergence Christianity as a rebellion against Sola Scriptura and labeled it exactly what it is: A postmodern/postliberal cult inside the visible church with its own leaders rejecting questioning the heart of the Gospel itself. Sadly, because it has all but rejected Sola Scriptura, this Emergence rebellion against the Bible is now well entrenched within mainstream evangelicalism. In closing this piece out I’ll show you why this opens the door for practicing homosexuals, who will often refer to themselves as “Queer Christians.”

The Emergence Rebellion Against God’s Word Is Campaigning For GLBTQ “Christians” 

AM first brought Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer (GLBTQ) Activist Adele Sakler to your attention in Peter Rollins And Phyllis Tickle On The Emergence Of A Brand New Religion. We’ll talk more about Sakler next time, but within we showed you that in his post Announcing Queermergent over at his Beliefnet blog Emergent Church theologian Tony Jones wanted us to be aware of a brand new website by professing Christian and practicing homosexual:

Adele Sakler, whom I’ve known for a few years, has started yet another “hyphenated” group within the emergent network-of-networks. She’s calling it “Queermergent,” and, as you might guess, it’s focused on GLBTQ issues. (Online source)

You may also recall in the AM article It’s Time To Rethink The Issue Of Homosexuality we also showed you that Jones had just recently announced:

I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state. (Online source, bold theirs)

As I have said before, this is the very heart of the matter; and it’s also what I’m driving at in this article as well. From a video conversation, partially transcribed below, you’ll see that Tony Jones makes another very telling admission when he says:

And neither am I going to deny the fact that — (pause) Where I’ve come to on my opinion on this issue [unrepentant practicing homosexuals becoming Christians] is affected, not purely by the philosophical and theological arguments, but also by attending to the movements of my own spirit.

And trying to pay attention to how I think—and listening to—gay people, gay Christians talk about how their—they’ve—how they’ve lived their lives in such a way so that—in their estimation—they’re in accord with Biblical Christianity. And so giving—I wanna give the philosophical its due; but for me, I’m also going to-I have to attend to the existential, for me, because I know that’s been a part of what I’ve come to… (2:54-3:46)

What Jones says above, while well-meaning, is a flat repudiation of Sola Scriptura and illustrates perfectly why we will see the evangelical acceptance of unrepentant practicing homosexual “Christians.” The fact is, Tony Jones has just told you that after all the philosophical and theological arguments, when all is said and done, he has come to his conclusion that “that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church” by “the existential” i.e. his experience.

In other words, Jones has come to this position by how he personally feels after “attending to the movements of my own spirit.” However for the Christian, in any issue relating to faith and morals our existential, highly subjective opinions, and/or notoriously fickle feelings are absolutely irrelevant. The only real question that actually matters for those of us who truly are ambassadors for Jesus Christ is: What does the text of the Bible have to say about the issue at hand; in this case, the practice of homosexuality. For that is what the Creator God Himself has spoken.

And herein lies the bigger, issue within the issue, which God is laboring to bring out to His slumbering evangelical leaders. Protestant evangelicalism continues give its lip service to the Bible as being the final authority in matters of faith and morals i.e. Sola Scriptura. But when it really comes right down to it—in the end—a critical life issue such as homosexuality is now largely being decided by how one feels about it; rather than what the Lord has already, and quite clearly, told us — “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22, NASB).

See also:

APPRISING MINISTRIES: SHOCKING NEW EVIDENCE JESUS CONDEMNED THE PRACTICE OF HOMOSEXUALITY

EMERGENT CHURCH THEOLOGIAN TONY JONES AND HIS UNREPENTANT HOMOSEXUAL CHRISTIANS

BRIAN MCLAREN WITH GOOD NEWS CONCERNING “THE HOMOSEXUAL QUESTION”

EMERGENT CHURCH OPENLY ACCEPTS PRACTICING HOMOSEXUAL “CHRISTIANS”

WE FEEL HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A SIN

REJECTING SOLA SCRIPTURA OPENS THE DOOR FOR LESBIAN EPISCOPAL PRIESTS

“ABORTION IS A BLESSING”: US EPISCOPALIAN LESBIAN MINISTER APPOINTED TO HEAD PRESTIGIOUS SEMINARY