Progressive Christianity and the Self

(originally published 26DEC20)

If I were to identify one core feature of Progressive Christianity, it would be this: an excessive focus on the self. I do not mean this in the context of selfishness, but of authority and identity. Their approach to God, to religious truth, is primarily egocentric, rather than theocentric; they start from the self, rather than God.

An example of this is in their examination of God. Rather than pursuing God Himself, as God has revealed Himself, Progressive Christianity starts with their values, their beliefs, and then tries to explain God through that, rather than through God's revelation. In other words, they work their theology around their self, around their beliefs. The practical result is that they do not arrive at God but instead at an idea they have created that they stand-in for God. 

Put a little more formally: Progressive Christianity places their personal experience with what they believe to be God as of greater importance and truth than that which we do know came from God, which is Scripture. However sincere they may be about their experiences, they are nonetheless choosing to put private experiences as more important than the objective reality which is outside of their experience.*

Let us take a short aside before we continue with Progressive Christianity. 

A consequence of not being omniscient is that there is an unintentional disconnect between what we think, what we believe, and reality. That is to say, in our mind we hold some understanding of what is, but that is not the same thing as the real. To be truth-seekers, we need to change what we carry in our minds until it does mirror the real world; then, we will have real understanding.

I recently discussed the ontological argument with some friends; the argument is that God is the greatest being possible, actually existing is greater than not existing, and therefore God actually exists. I used this analogy: Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the world. While we can imagine faster men, none of them are real. To hold the title “fastest man in the world,” he must not only be thought of as the fastest man but actually has to run the race; he actually has to exist. Thus, the real is always better than the nonreal, precisely because the real is. 

God exists, and in my mind is an image of God. The image of God in my mind cannot save me. He cannot love me. He cannot bless me. Nor can he judge me. But the real God can do all of those things and more. If I seek to be true to myself, I must strive to be true to life, and, most importantly, to God. That means seeking to change my image of God to match the real God, rather than defining God according to my image.

Let us return to Progressive Christianity, working from that foundation.

I recently posed a question to a Progressive Christian in this way: if Jesus were to tell you that a given law in Scripture, which you disagree with, was actually true and right, how would you respond? His answer: he would ask Jesus why He contradicted Himself. 

Notice the unstated presumption there. Rather than conceding that God is God, that Jesus knows everything and made all the rules, his first response is to assume Christ has the error. His first response is to assume that his image of Jesus is right and that the real Jesus has a problem. Rather than asking Jesus to explain what he is missing, he believes Jesus is missing something.

Let’s consider two implications of this approach, contrasted by the implications of starting from God and working to self. To be clear, in this context, I am assuming that the Christian God is real, Jesus is that God, and Scripture reveals Jesus. For reading on those topics, please see the end of the article.*

Judgment. One of the more common themes uniting Progressive Christians is their judgment of evangelical Christians or Christians who take the Bible as it presents itself. The irony of this position is that they are judging Christians who are just as sincere as they are because they believe we aren’t to judge. But from where do they get the idea that we aren’t to judge? Starting from self, they work from the Golden Rule out: they don’t like to be judged, so they say we shouldn’t judge others. But what happens when they come to Matthew 18 or 1 Corinthians 5-6? What about Galatians 1? Revelation 2-3? They now have to explain why those passages don’t teach what they plainly teach, which is judgment. They also now have to justify their condemnation of biblical Christians. But, in not-having the Bible as their foundation, as their definition, they can only judge based on what they have created in their mind, which is nonexistent and impotent outside of their mind.

Let’s contrast that with a God-centric rather than egocentric approach. Jesus tells us to judge righteously in Matthew 7 and judge and even excommunicate the unrepentant Christian in Matthew 18. Paul tells us to judge other Christians in 1 Corinthians 5-6. Jesus spent much of His ministry judging the Pharisees. Paul spent much of his ministry judging the early churches. Using a God-centric approach allows biblical Christians to point to Scripture, thus pointing to Jesus and God, as their foundation and justification. That is a foundation outside of their mind. We know Usain Bolt is the fastest man because we have his running record; if any contender were to arise, we can test and challenge him against Usain’s record. We can imagine a different Jesus, but until that Jesus leaves the mind and enters reality, that Jesus cannot stand in challenge against the real Jesus, the one who lived, died, and rose again.

Love. Another recurring theme uniting Progressive Christians is that of love, that love is the overarching lens by which they know who Jesus is and what it looks like to follow Jesus. They commonly cite 1 John as their evidence for this, “God is love.” But what is their next step? Their next step is not to ask what love is or to ask what would be loving. Their next step is to take their definition of love, insert it into Scripture, and then interpret Scripture according to that definition. Through that lens, they then say anything that they don’t believe is loving must have been added into Scripture or must have been the opinions of men claiming to, but not actually, writing for God.

What happens if we start with God via Scripture? While Scripture is clear that God is love, Scripture is also clear that God is holy; John says that God is love once, but God Himself says that He is holy twice, and the angels make the thrice-holy proclamations. Scripture is clear that God is just. Scripture is clear that God is good and that we are not good. God presents Himself with a definition, a living example, of His love; this is a definition that does not match ours, that does not match our sensibilities, our desires. If we want to know God, we need to use His definition; to use our own definition is to make an impotent idol in our mind who can do nothing.

However well-intentioned Progressive Christians may be and often are, when one starts with the self, they usually arrive at the self. To distinguish truth from falsehood requires stepping out of our shoes, out of ourselves, and pursuing something outside of us. To be a Christian is to follow Christ; the very essence of this is not looking for what we want, but for what He wants; not looking for what we believe, but looking for what He teaches. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; let us not conflate our mental image of Him for Him.

For further reading, please consider the following:

Another Gospel, by Alisa Childers

Mama Bear Apologetics, by Hillary Ferrer

Keeping Your Kids on God's Side, by Natasha Crain

Talking with Your Kids about God, by Natasha Crain

Talking with Your Kids about Jesus, by Natasha Crain

Christian Beliefs, by Wayne Grudem

The Fallacy Detective, by Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn

Socratic Logic, by Peter Kreeft

*For more reading specifically on the authority of Scripture, please consider the following:

Can I Trust the Bible?, by R C Sproul

To Understand the Bible Look for Jesus, by Norman Geisler

From God to Us, by Norman Geisler

The Canon of Scripture, by F F Bruce