For years conservative church leaders have warned against doctrinal decline. But what happens when it’s not just our doctrines that change but the very conditions of our unbelief that shift with time?
That’s the concern discussed in this video, where theologian Michael Horton observes how doctrines such as sin, redemption, atonement, grace, heaven, and even Christ have been redefined in therapeutic terms. Salvation is seen as recovery. And God doesn’t seem concerned with the problems he used to solve when today we’re only searching for personal peace and happiness.
Horton discusses this change with Tim Keller, author of Center Church, and missiologist Alan Hirsch. Keller describes in particular how the open-and-affirming movement claims not to threaten the gospel but actually redefines the Christian narrative according to expressive individualism. Identity in this misunderstood gospel is found through self-affirmation and self-assertion, not self-denial. But according to the biblical gospel, we lose ourselves in order to find ourselves in serving God and others.
For more, pick up Keller’s book Shaped by the Gospel (Zondervan, 2016), featuring contributions from Horton and Dane Ortlund.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.But the Gospels are historically reliable. And the evidence for this is vast.
To learn about the evidence for the historical reliability of the four Gospels, click below to access a FREE eBook of Can We Trust the Gospels? written by New Testament scholar Peter J. Williams.
