9.21.24
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
There is a disturbing trend in the Church that is seen by many to be quite beautiful and very timely and yet is highly destructive. I am referring to the expansion of God’s compassion that is corrupting the character of God.
The God who won’t let gay people indulge their passions and love who they want is seen as a nasty little God. The God who disapproves of a boy chemically and surgically altering his body to become a girl (and vice-versa) is seen as a stingy God who is robbing people of their innate human dignity. The God who gives the gift of life and then expects that life to see the light of day is an intrusive Monster. The God who bars gay people and liars and adulterers and fornicators and unbelievers from entering into the bliss of eternal life in heaven is roundly rejected as a God no longer worthy of serious consideration, let alone worship. The ever-growing mantra is that everyone will eventually go to heaven (except maybe Hitler and your mother-in-law). Yes, our ever-expanding adjustment of God’s compassion comes at the cost of the ever-shrinking adjustment made to the holiness of God. Compassion requires no repentance whereas holiness requires repentance – which is an admission of wrongdoing.
With every adjustment made to God’s compassion, there is a corresponding adjustment that must be made to His holiness. What God once disapproved of and judged as sin is no longer disapproved of and judged. What once was heinous and odious to God is no longer so. What God once prohibited He now permits. As long as something is the true expression of the human soul, it will not ultimately offend the holiness of God. Of course, this redefinition of God’s compassion comes at the cost of God’s holiness.
We are told that this expansive Compassionate God is revealed on the pages of Scripture. And yet I read passages like the following –
And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:12-15
Yikes! But not to worry – the Compassionate God will rescue everyone from this horrible fate. Contemporary theology has deemed Revelation 20 to be just a sort of a mythical, metaphorical, maybe-so, non-literal kind of scenario. So don’t take it too seriously. Whew!
But here’s the thing, there is a God behind the Bible, but not beyond the Bible. This doesn’t mean that the Bible tells us everything there is to know about God. But it does mean that we can’t go beyond the Bible to get information about God. This is what most mystics do. Our knowledge of God is mediated to us by Jesus Christ, the Living Word and the Bible, the written Word. The Living Word will never contradict the written Word, but confirm it. Mystics bypass this mediated Word and allegedly tap into some kind of alternative source for the knowledge of God. It is interesting that most of the mystics of whatever religion (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.) conclude that there is some type of Universalism – everyone will eventually go to heaven. Mystics sacrifice the holiness of God for the compassion of God. Of course, they tell us they are extolling God’s eternal love, but again – at the cost of His holiness and at the cost of what has been revealed to us in the Scripture.
The Cultural War being waged today focuses on what people do with their bodies – sexually, regendering, aborting, stimulating, etc. But the Theological War being fought focuses on two aspects of the character of God – His compassion and His holiness. The Bible presents God’s compassion and His holiness in perfect balance. Let’s preserve this balance. If not, we do a disservice to those wanting and needing a clear word from God. Woe to us if we approve of what God disapproves.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
Revelation 22:18-19 “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophesy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”