The Progressive Gospel Is Not Good News

"Christian" best-selling author Jen Hatmaker has voiced her support for Roe v. Wade after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion indicates that the landmark decision that legalized abortion appears set to be overturned.

The overturning of the 1973 Supreme Court judgment will cause “immediate, disproportionate harm,” and “not just emotional harm; physical and legal harm,” Hatmaker wrote on her blog.

Hatmaker, once a biblical evangelical, has now turned to so-called "progressive Christianity"---claiming to be "Christian" while denying the Truth of the Gospel.

Alisha Childers, also a well-known Christian author and singer, found her church drawing her away from the biblical Gospel toward progressivism. Her response was quite different from that of Hatmaker.

Be informed, not misled.

The "progressive" gospel is not "good news."

Jen Hatmaker, who has been making headlines in recent years for her spiritual move away from Scripture toward a "different," progressive gospel is making headlines again as she strikes back at the possibility of Roe v Wade being overturned.

The Christian Post said this yesterday:

“It simply makes them more dangerous,” she argued. “And dangerous for whom? 1-in-4 American women have had an abortion, so … dangerous for your daughters, your sisters, your best friends, your colleagues, your neighbors, your church friends, and of course those of you reading with your quiet, private personal history here, as it should be, yourself. It will be disproportionately dangerous for women of color and under-resourced women, as all social ills are.”

Hatmaker further argued that abortion is a choice women make for “endless personal reasons including the health of the mother, the health of the baby, rape, incest, viability, financial instability, a dangerous home environment, lack of help, and of course reasons that are theirs alone … as are their bodies.”

She added, “This is intensely personal and private, and women deserve agency and choice not only with their bodies but over the decision to parent for the rest of their lives. Anti-abortion advocates have every right to their convictions, but those convictions should only apply to their bodies, their families, and their futures.”

Jen Hatmaker is in the news because she has a great deal of influence, with upwards of 800K to a million followers on social media.

She also made headlines back in 2016 for affirming same-sex marriage.

Then there was this more recently:

Jen Hatmaker, the high-profile Christian author who made headlines a few years ago for embracing same-sex marriage, said she's received immensely positive feedback after last week's podcast where she publicly said she's "so glad" her daughter is lesbian.

Hatmaker’s daughter disclosed that she grappled with reconciling her sexuality and her spirituality for years. She said the “nail in the coffin” happened after she googled various theological perspectives on homosexuality and saw an article that referenced her mother’s comments about “loving” the LGBT community, but not “affirming” the lifestyle.

In the interview, Hatmaker said her “greatest regret” was speaking against homosexuality. 

“I wouldn’t change one ounce of who she is. Not a molecule. Not a moment. The only thing I would change in our story, is I wish I could go back and shake myself to life sooner — well, well, well, before,” Hatmaker said.

In yesterday's article, Hatmaker called the legislative opponents to Roe, "political theater."

Another Gospel?

Alisa Childers never thought she would question her Christian faith. She’d been raised in a Christian home where she had seen her mom and dad feed the hungry, clothe the homeless, and love the outcast. She had dedicated her own life to leading worship as part of the Christian band ZOEgirl. All that was deeply challenged when she met a progressive pastor who called himself a hopeful agnostic.

Her book, "Another Gospel?" describes the journey Alisa took over several years as she wrestled with questions that struck at the core of the Christian faith and found the truth.

Alisa’s story may be your own—or that of someone you love. 

If so, I strongly recommend you read her book.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, is simply this:

How did things begin? God created the earth and called it good.

How did things get broken? Sin.

How did things get fixed? Jesus Christ. God took on human flesh, lived a sinless life, died a horrific death on a cross, and was raised from the dead.

How do I get fixed? We must put our trust in Jesus Christ and believe He is who He said He was, confess our sins, ask for forgiveness and accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior. 

The gospel of the so-called "Christian" Left--Progressive Christianity.

What I summarized above as the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" is something progressive, "Christian" author and speaker Brian McLaren calls, "The six-line Greco Roman narrative."

McClaren, along with a long list of others, rejects this view of the gospel. He teaches that this narrative is nothing more than a copycat philosophy taken from Plato and Aristotle.

Aside from pointing out some vague similarities between the ideas of these philosophers and Christianity, McLaren never really defends his false gospel. He simply asserts it to be true.

He claims the true gospel can only be found by reading Jesus' story through a Jewish lens. By "Jewish lens" he means that Jesus' "gospel of the kingdom" is not about "who is in and who is out" or who goes to heaven or hell when they die. It's about confronting systems of oppression in the here and now and ushering in God's dream for creation."

He explains that Jesus didn't come to start a new religion. Instead this "liberator king" came to announce a new kingdom that is "much bigger than a new religion, and in fact, it has room for many religious traditions within it."

Takeaway

The progressive Christians deny the power of Christ's spilled blood for the atonement of our sins.

Charles Wesley wrote..."He breaks the pow'r of reigning sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean; His blood availed for me."

Michael Gungor, a leader in the progressive Christian movement, says: "That God needed to be appeased with blood is not beautiful. It's horrific."

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he explained that God was using him and others “to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere.” He went on to say that not everyone found that smell to be so sweet.

Some thought it smelled like a rotting corpse.

This is because the real gospel confronts our personal sin—the sin we cling to and inherently love. The sin that deserves death. Even if we work together to build a better society---we will still be rotten to the core without repentance and the transformation of the Holy Spirit. Only when we grasp how treacherous our sin is can we recognize how beautiful the gift of God’s grace is. This is why a bloodless gospel is not good news at all. 

Therein is the great divide in Christianity. What one believes about the blood of Jesus Christ is defining.

Paul said, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God unto salvation." 

He said, "I am not ashamed of it."

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Faithful. Be Prayerful.