'Saturday is now being offered by many denominational churches as optional with Sunday as a day of worship. The suggestion to offer a day different from Sunday has been presented in a number of national church seminars.' (Gospel Anchor. 5/93 p. 18)
'Thaine Ford, preacher for the First American Baptist Church, has pledged to have services over in 22 minutes after it starts.' (3/93 p. 19)
'The United Church of Christ now endorses euthanasia..the Church affirmed the "rights of dying persons and their families to make their own decisions..decisions regarding euthanasia AND SUICIDE"' (9/91 p. 19)
'The Disciples of Christ elected Richard Hamm to be their new president despite his "failure to accept passages of the Bible that call homosexuality an abomination"' (GOT., 9-2-93, p. 25) He said, "After working through my homophobia, Bible study and much prayer, I came to believe that homosexuality in and of itself should not be a bar to ordination." (GOT., 6-3-93, p. 24)
'The United Methodist Church approved overwhelmingly a new worship book that refers to God as 'both Mother and Father'. (GOT., 7-16-92, p. 24)
'St. Augustine's Anglican Church near Manchester, presented a
multimedia tribute to the former lead singer of the rock group
Queen. The show-entitled "The Gospel According to Queen",
featured giant images of Freddie Mercury projected onto the church's
roof. The Rev. in charge of the show said, "not that Mercury
was perfect: Freddie Mercury was prone to be a self-centered and
sinful man, but every single member of the Church of England is
exactly the same.' (GOT., 2-4-93, p. 26)
I. What is Pluralism?
'Pluralism, much like tolerance, is the belief that there should
be UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE OF ALL THOUGHTS, BELIEFS AND ACTIONS.
But even beyond the more passive idea of tolerance, pluralism
insists that there be an ACTIVE inclusion of the entire community,
NO MATTER how morally decadent or doctrinally skewed any given
part of it may be. Pluralism has its own spirit--the spirit of
gratuitous accommodation. That means going out of our way to please
people simply for the sake of pleasing them--regardless of any
moral or doctrinal implications. Once pluralism
becomes part of a church, decisions must of necessity be made
on a different basis (than 'thus saith the Lord'). The spirit
of accommodation asks, 'how can we please most of the people most
of the time." (The Cultural Church. F. LaGard Smith pp. 107-108)
II. Beware of False Spirituality:
On the surface such a theory is very attractive to people and it looks really 'spiritual'. 'Let's just accept everyone's opinion as equally valid', is a very appealing doctrine. Some churches call such a view, 'Potluck Theology'; bring any idea or opinion into our fellowship and we will accept it as being of equal value with all other ideas. Such a celebration of diversity looks really spiritual and loving on the surface, but is it? Paul warned Christians about teachings that 'had the appearance of wisdom', but were spiritually bankrupt. (Colossians 2:23). He also warned us concerning arguments that sound good on the surface, but are false to the core:
ROMANS 16:18 'AND BY THEIR SMOOTH AN FAIR SPEECH THEY BEGUILE
THE HEARTS OF THE INNOCENT' "Smooth"-'with their PLAUSIBLE
and pious talk' (Mof). Strong gives the same definition for the
word rendered 'smooth' here, i.e. plausible. Webster says that
the word plausible means, 'SEEMINGLY TRUE, SEEMINGLY HONEST, THAT
WHICH AT FIRST GLANCE SEEM TO BE TRUE, REASONABLE' (Webster p.
1091)
A. 'A broader perspective or a narrow mind?'
'Ironically, the greater the call for pluralism (accommodating diversity), the more we are urged to CONFORM. It reminds me of the way young people usually dress. They are so desperate to be nonconformists that they all end up wearing the same thing'. (The Cultural Church p. 109)
'Far from getting a broader picture, what happens all too often is that any passage which proves to be an embarrassment is simply ignored. The result is that the impact of Scripture is not broadened at all, but rather is shrunk to just the right size to fit whatever hidden agenda we might wish to maintain.' (p. 107)
In order to accommodate 'pluralism' many Scriptures must get the ax. In the end, how many Scriptures must be removed to accommodate all non-Christian religions, homosexuality, fornication, abortion rights, feminism, evolution, 'no absolute-truth-ism', 'you can't judge me-ism' and every other false view that people might hold?
B. 'Tolerance or intolerance?'
Pluralism claims to be tolerant of ALL VIEWS, but it clearly isn't. Pluralism does not tolerate the following views: Baptism is necessary for salvation (Mark 16:16); few will be saved (7:13-14); there is an eternal hell (25:46); homosexuality is a sin (1 Cor. 6:9); drunkenness is a sin (1 Cor. 6:10); the man is the head of the house (Eph. 5:23); Jesus is the only way to God (John 14:6); you can lose your salvation (Heb. 10:26ff), etc...all these views and many others will not be tolerated in churches that adopt the doctrine of pluralism. In fact, many would consider that you are in sin, or very close to it, if you hold to any of the above doctrines.
C. 'Pluralism Creates Prejudice and Hatred':
The 'tolerance' claimed by pluralism is quickly found wanting when I start preaching the above truths. If I preach the truth on homosexuality, all of sudden the "tolerance advocates of pluralism" will label me as a 'gay-bashing, homophobic, narrow-minded, backward, fundamentalist, right-wing bigot'. Does that sound like a compliment? (1 Peter 2:12)
In the First Century the city of Athens was one of the great college towns. On the surface many of the people in Athens seemed very open-minded (Acts 17:21). But, like many today, this apparent open-mindedness was really nothing more than the unwillingness to make a commitment to the truth. (Acts 17:32) In fact, these open-minded philosophers participated in some very unkind name calling (Acts 17:18 "babbler"-i.e. a plagiarist.)
D. 'Freedom and Rights are Lost not Gained'
Rather than promoting free thought, pluralism ends up pressuring everyone to believe the same falsehoods. Churches that buy into this false doctrine will start 'feeling the heat' to conform to the cultural standards of society. (Romans 12:2 'don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold' (Phillips Translation). Many mainline denominations are under great pressure at the present time to change their positions on abortion, homosexuality, the role of men and women, and many other issues. FREEDOM TO BELIEVE THE TRUTH IS LOST IN PLURALISM. Consider for a moment what happened among God's people of the past. The Northern Kingdom of Israel embraced and tolerated all kinds of religious diversity. (2 Kings 17:16) In such a "tolerant" climate was the TRUTH TOLERATED? No! (2 Kings 19:10) REMEMBER THIS: WHEN EVIL IS TOLERATED, TRUTH LOSES ITS RIGHTS! During the First Century Paul was continually fighting false teachers who were trying to ENSLAVE Christians to human traditions and opinions. (Galatians 5:1; 2:4-5)
Consider the fact that those pressuring churches to conform to the view of the world are UNWILLING TO GIVE ANY GROUND. The Pro-Choice movement won't even compromise and allow parents to be informed about an abortion that their minor daughter might be planning. They won't even compromise when it comes to keeping abortions from being funded by tax dollars, when it is clear that many private citizens do not favor abortion.
E. 'It is seeking to please men and not God'
When people are more concerned about how society is viewing their religious group than how God views them, they have ceased to be servants of Christ. (Galatians 1:10) Pluralism is so concerned about not offending anyone (i.e. of political and social importance), that it has completely forgotten that God might be offended! God's blessing rests upon those that can accept everything that Jesus taught, without being turned off. (Luke 7:23 'blessed is he..who finds NOTHING THAT REPELS HIM IN ME' (Gspd)
F. 'Pluralism is being ashamed of the Gospel'
How do we react when people ask us pointed questions which we know will receive an answer from Scripture than may be hard to accept? Do we become sheepish? Do we start apologizing? Are we ashamed and embarrassed? Read carefully-MARK 8:38.
G. 'Pluralism produces moral blindness'
'There is a sense in which we can already observe pluralism in process, and even how it leads to the shrinking of Scripture. Take the matter of divorce, for example. The more members of a congregation who have been divorced (whether for "scriptural reasons" or not) the less likely we are to hear sermons condemning unscriptural divorce. To the contrary, typically, we will start hearing more sermons on "Growing Through Divorce", or "Healing the Hurt". Jesus' hard teaching about divorce will be conveniently sidestepped as too offensive, at worst, and too insensitive, at the least. With that simple act of gratuitous accommodation in the pursuit of well-meaning pluralism, the Bible will have been curtly reduced by one third of a chapter. And so on it shrinks--chapter by chapter, sin by culturally-accepted sin, until none of us have to squirm anymore.' (The Cultural Church p. 108)
H. 'In the end: No different than the World'
Jesus and His disciples plainly taught that Christians will live and behave in a manner distinct from society at large. (Matthew 5:16; Philippians 2:16; 1 Peter 2:9; Ephesians 4:17 '..that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk..')
If Christians can engage in fornication, practice homosexual acts, smoke, drink, watch, read and listen to immoral entertainment. If they don't have to attend services or be a member of any particular congregation. If they don't have to be involved in the church or support its work. If they no longer have to accept what the Bible says, or believe something 'just because it's found in the Bible'. THEN PLEASE TELL ME, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CHRISTIAN AND A PERSON OF THE WORLD??? HOW IS CHRISTIAN LIVING ANY DIFFERENT FROM NON-CHRISTIAN LIVING? Paul plainly stated that if you are still living like the culture around you (Eph. 4:17-19), then you haven't learned Christ (4:20).
Mark Dunagan/11-21-93/Sunday p.m.
Beaverton Church of Christ-644-9017