Intrusions Into Christian Faith: Challenges For Christian Theologians (1)
St. Augustine once said, “All truth is God’s truth.” That is the absolute truth! The principles that drive the internal combustion engine that causes the radio and television to function that brings into existence computers, International Networking, and cellular phones are not man’s inventions but are simply man’s discovery of already existing truths and scientific principles of God. But what happens when secular concepts and methods call into question or seek to redefine the truths revealed in Scripture? At this point, we must adjust Augustine’s dictum to state, “All error is the devil’s error.” And honestly, the devil is at work sending scripts into Christian doctrines and shaking the Christian faith’s foundation.
The Church of Jesus Christ presently finds itself battling with some intrusions into the Biblical doctrines and Christian Faith. Some theories and practices are being imported into Christianity that dangerously distorts critical biblical doctrines and potentially pervert the mission and ministry of the Church. It poses a significant challenge for Christian Theologians. The qualifying adjective ‘Christian’ is apt as we have atheists among Theologians, especially those who have allowed themselves to be influenced by modern Psychology. Many issues divide Christians today, but no issue is more inflammatory than the issue of the relationship between secular psychology and Christian theology. Some popular Christian teachers are willing to embrace the theories and practices of modem psychology and integrate them with Christian or biblical truths, crucifying Jesus Christ all over.
Examining the Theme:
There are lots of weird intrusions into the Christian faith that need the attention of Christian Theologians. Christine Doctrine is the stepping stone of our Faith. Without Christian Faith, there is no Church, meaning the Church is interwoven with the Christian Faith. Theologians not grounded in the doctrines of Christianity are just scholars reading only for head knowledge which is no knowledge. Actual knowledge emanates from God. Proper knowledge comes only through knowing God and having Faith in Him. Theologians are supposed to sow seeds of virtue and knowledge. Early Scientists were all Christians, and their discoveries were made from knowing God. Worldly knowledge has never solved any problem; instead, it creates more problems and leaves many unanswered questions.
Anyone who desires to lead a Church must have a vast knowledge of theology and Biblical Studies. The Church has Moral, Social, Economical, Political, and Spiritual Responsibilities to the people, but the Religious leaders have denigrated these responsibilities. Today’s Church is involved in excessive formalism and preoccupation with externals in much of official Christianity rather than stressing personal holiness rooted in scriptural-oriented public and private prayer. The moral world into which the Church was moving was one in which leaders often indulged in the most degenerate practices, and ordinary people were often more than eager to follow the leader. The Church and the society cannot be segregated; there are the same people in both so there is no distinction.
The differences among Christians grow out of alternative understandings of the Christian doctrines. These differences in broad theological perspectives shape the understanding of the evidence available from the early Church. The early Church faced a welter of internal uncertainties even more severe than religious opposition from Judaism and persecution from Rome. The Church’s involvement in non-essentials of Christendom has traveled the ways of many circumstances such as Christian engagement with Science, attitudes to alien ethnic groups, promotion of peace or war, contributions to different forms, economic organization, and discussion on what to eat or drink and strategies for organizing the work of God.
We must review the past to discriminate between matters essential to genuine Christianity and those of relative importance or not necessary from past generations. That is of crucial significance in the Church’s mission; we then have a chance in the present to order our emotions to only those aspects of the Christian faith that deserves commitment. The modern Church faced issues of preservation and advance. The Church is between how to keep the ancient Faith alive and how to spread the gospel despite obstacles. The European Christians, with their North American allies, succeeded better in this age at advancing the gospel in society and evangelism than they did intellectually. The Church was a dominant institution in the middle Ages, but the greediness of the clergy created problems that limited its dominance. The differences among Christians grow out of alternative understandings of the Christian faith. These differences in broad theological perspectives shape the understanding of the evidence available from the early Church. At mid-century came a sturdy array of careful Christian thinkers from youthful America who skillfully sifted European.
The Christian faith has existed since the time that Jesus Christ was on earth. Followers of Jesus have had different understandings about many things, but all true Christians agree that Jesus Christ is a revelation of God in the flesh. We all believe that God came to earth to bring us back into a relationship with Himself. The Christian faith is really about Faith in the resurrected Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth, who lived historically on the earth over 2000 years ago, impacted the people of Israel through His teaching and healing ministry. But it is His resurrection and continued intervention in the lives of His followers that has meant that today, He has hundreds of millions who believe in Him and trust Him. Today the Holy Spirit is working all over the earth to reveal Jesus to people in different ways, primarily through the Holy Scriptures as they are preached and read. A journey through Acts of Apostles will imprint the Faith of the Apostles on your mind. Without their organic Faith, there would have been no gospel, and the spread of the gospel witnessed today would have been impossible.
In ‘Faith,’ we have a God-installed need for a deep relationship and fellowship with God. A superficial relationship between God and humankind is an enemy of Faith. Faith is summarized in four short sentences:
- God said it
- It is settled
- I believe it
- I receive it.
Faith is what transforms Sovereignty from philosophy or theology into reality. Faith is that Character quality that allows us to trust God to do what He said He would do. The World is significantly challenged by the multitude and dimensional Political and Religious Confrontations and Interactions; that has led to many unsolved problems. Some of these problems are at the roots of conflicts, violence, and even war. In discussing the challenges of these weird intrusions to Christian Theologians, let us first analyze two critical Reformation perspectives: the doctrine of the two kingdoms and the centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Psychology and the Two Kingdoms:
From his perspective, Martin Luther’s two-kingdom theology was second only in importance to his discovery of the central doctrine of justification. Luther correctly taught that there is a kingdom of the left hand, ruled over by the Law, involving the interaction of natural man, and a kingdom of the right hand, which is the Church ruled over by the Gospel. He described these kingdoms as the kingdom of God’s power and the kingdom of God’s grace. Both Luther and Calvin recognized that within the kingdom of power, or the kingdom of the left-hand, natural, sinful man often exhibits virtuous qualities pleasing to God and will be rewarded in this life. Not every person born out of the root of Adam is a practicing scoundrel. But when it comes to the righteousness and eternal salvation offered in Christ Jesus, every person, despite virtuous qualities and a responsible lifestyle, is a miserable sinner, faces divine judgment, and needs the forgiveness of sins and perfect righteousness offered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
