For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
Was the Bible written for everyone to interpret it as he or she pleases? What about gay marriage and homosexuality? The prosperity gospel? What about the Holy Spirit… a person of the Trinity or some kind of powerful force? With extramarital and premarital sex so prevalent, how can any of those choices be a sin? Abortion, is it wrong, is it a sin? If these are personal choices, and hurt no one, what’s so wrong with any of them?
These are questions being asked by Christians today. These issues are infecting the faith, practice and doctrine of the Church to such an extent that they are in fact changing the landscape of the Church itself. What’s the answer to these generally accepted views held by many Christians?
Let’s start with the nature of God, and define who God really is. For many Christians and taught by several denominations, The Holy Spirit is a force, not a being. This is absolutely not Biblical but has been distorted in such subtle ways that many Christians are believing a falsehood. 56 percent of Americans said that the Holy Spirit is not a person but a force that goes around doing the things God commands it to do. More than a quarter (28 percent) described the Spirit as a divine being but not equal to God the Father and Jesus.
Half (51 percent) disagreed, standing by the orthodox position that the Holy Spirit is one of the three equal persons of God. He may come from the Father and the Son, but that does not make Him any less God. Barely half of so-called Christians have a right understanding of the Trinity… the Godhead.
Maybe that’s why Christians and Preachers alike are interpreting the Bible as each person or group chooses. A majority of American evangelicals (51 percent) believe the Bible was written for each person to interpret as he or she chooses. This nonsense does not fit with what the Bible actually teaches.
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work," (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If the Bible were written to be interpreted as each person wants, it could not teach, rebuke, correct, or train in righteousness.
Interestingly, while many Americans believed the Bible is meant to be interpreted personally, 64 percent said the accounts of Jesus' bodily resurrection are completely accurate. Only 23 percent disagreed. Not surprisingly, 98 percent of evangelicals agreed in the historicity of Jesus' resurrection, while even a majority of non-evangelical Americans (56 percent) also agreed.
Nevertheless, only 47 percent of Americans said the Bible is 100 percent accurate in all it teaches, while 43 percent disagreed. This might be due to the various scientific approaches to the creation account in Genesis chapter 1. 44 percent said the Bible contains helpful myths but isn't literally true.
How about views on extramarital sex… is it a sin or not? Only about half of Americans (49 percent) said that sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin, while 44 percent said it isn't a sin at all. Women (53 percent) are more likely than men (45 percent) to call extramarital sex sinful.
Jesus Himself explained that sex is reserved for marriage, and He even went so far as to say that lusting after someone is a form of fornication. Perhaps due to these clear doctrines, a full 91 percent of evangelicals agreed that sex outside of marriage is a sin, compared to only 40 percent of non-evangelicals. Still, it might be concerning that 9 percent did not believe so.
How about Abortion, is it a sin? 49 percent of Americans believe that abortion is a sin, and 40 percent say it is not. 87 percent of evangelicals agreed that abortion is a sin, while only 41 percent of non-evangelicals said so.
Abortion is less clear directly from the Bible, but the text describes fetuses in the womb as though they were human. Genesis 25:22 describes Jacob and Esau "struggling together" inside Rebekah's womb. Luke 1:44 describes John the Baptist inside his mother Elizabeth's womb leaping for joy when Jesus, who was inside Mary's womb at the time, was near. Exodus 21:22-25 is arguably the world's first fetal homicide law, and Psalm 139 describes God's personal knowledge of the author in his mother's womb.
Early Christians opposed the practice, which was in vogue across the Roman Empire, and most Christians today oppose it. Modern DNA science testifies that at conception, a new being is created with the entire genetic code of a human being. If a fetus is a human being, then the practice of abortion can be considered homicide, and the Ten Commandments clearly condemn intentional murder.
Gender identity is a contentious issue today and many believe it is a matter of personal choice. What is the view of American Christians? To start, 38 percent of Americans believe that gender identity is a matter of choice, while a majority 51 percent disagree.
Scripture does not speak specifically to the sense that a person was born in the wrong body (gender dysphoria), but it does emphasize two basic ideas on sexuality: humans were made male and female, and sexuality is a good gift of God. While people who struggle with gender dysphoria should be treated with love and respect, Christians cannot believe that their birth sex is a mistake.
The idea of original sin… that people are born into a fallen world with sinful desires, diseases, and other weaknesses, explains where gender dysphoria comes from, and the idea of God's ultimate redemption of humanity promises an answer that does not require "gender-affirming" surgery. Christians should sympathize with those struggling with dysphoria, and offer them the ultimate hope in Jesus Christ that motivates a saving faith.
Gay marriage, Homosexual behavior is no longer a sin. Is that what the Bible teaches? Conservative Christianity holds that homosexual practices are a sin, because sex is reserved for marriage between one man and one woman. Romans 1 makes clear that homosexual acts are sinful — a penalty for separation from God and a sin with its own consequences.
That emphatically does not mean that people with same-sex attraction cannot be saved or are more sinful than others. Christians all acknowledge their sinfulness and accept forgiveness only through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. No Christian should pretend to be "holier-than-thou," but no Christian can support homosexual behavior either. It is a hard thing for Christians with same-sex attraction to be abstinent, but they are held to the same standard as unmarried straight people.
The prosperity gospel. Its like the lottery in church! Many Christians believe that God will reward true faith with material blessings. However, the majority of believers across all denominations disagreed with this idea, of a "prosperity gospel.” Perhaps ironically, poorer Americans, those with low incomes, were more likely to agree with the prosperity gospel than wealthier Americans.
The prosperity gospel flies in the face of Christianity and the plain teachings of the Bible. While the New Testament promises heaven for those who believe in Jesus, it does not promise riches in this life. Rather, Paul, the author of most of the letters in the New Testament, himself faced extreme poverty, prison, and even death for the gospel he preached. The apostles all faced gruesome deaths, with the one exception being John.
This does not mean that every believer is called to give his or her life to preach the gospel, but it should emphatically disprove the message of preachers like Joel Osteen, who proclaim that faith can bring riches. Mostly he’s right… if you “give” to his church, then "he" will be richer than he already is.
What do you believe? What lies have you learned and adopted as things from the Bible that are clearly in stark opposition to the truths that God wants all of us to know and live by. Read your Bible. Ask questions and demand explanations for things you find that are inconsistent with the teachings of your church. Seek God and His Truths while there is still time. He is coming back… you believe that don’t you?
