Are You on a Spiritual Journey?

Progressives love to portray the Christian religion (and all religion, for that matter) as fundamentally a matter of being on a spiritual “journey”. Religion is primarily about “exploring” for ourselves what we think about spiritual matters.

The problem is that hidden within this approach is an enormous (and unspoken) assumption, namely that God has not clearly revealed himself. Nor has he clearly revealed a message about salvation. Indeed, the assumption underlying this entire progressive narrative is that religion is about humans finding God, rather than about a God who has revealed himself to humans.

If someone thinks such a thing, you could see why he or she would be irritated with biblical Christianity. According to progressives, religion (by definition!) is always in flux. It’s a process of seeking God. How arrogant would it be to claim he’s been found. In contrast, biblical Christianity argues that God has clearly revealed a message of salvation in Christ Jesus, and that all people everywhere are called to believe in that good news.

Even more fundamentally, the progressive position misses the core Christian message. Christianity is not about mankind’s never-ending “journey” to God, but about God’s completed journey to us, to save us from our sins. As John reminds us, ” In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10).

Michael J. Kruger, The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity (Cruciform Press, 2010), pp. 30, 32-33.

Jesus: Moral Teacher or God?

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.” C.S. Lewis

Yes, everyone has to choose. Is Jesus God come in the flesh to earth or was He just a good, moral Jewish sage who taught His followers how to live in this world? Liberal or progressive Christianity says that Jesus is just a model for living more than an object for worship. In other words, Jesus was not divine.

Who do you say Jesus is? Moral teacher or God? If you do not know, I would suggest you read the New Testament and decide for yourself.

I believe you will see that Jesus’ moral teaching only works when we retain his identity as Lord. And if He is Lord, He is worthy of your worship.

Who do you say He is?

God bless – Carl

Source: Michael J. Kruger – The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity (Cruciform Press, 2019)