A Year of Living Dangerously
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25 NIV
Blots out – I think I need to confess. I’ve been branded a heretic because of my views about the royal position of the woman (Guardian Angel) and my argument that Yeshua is the human Jewish Messiah (CrossWord Puzzles). I’m sure some feel theologically uncomfortable when I write about the political/social motivation of the early Church’s antisemitism. I know others are concerned that I’ve “lost the faith” when I question the doctrines of inspiration and inerrancy. So, I think it’s time to come out of the closet. The truth is: I am a heretic! At least from the perspective of orthodox, evangelical, conservative Christian theology. There, I’ve said it. Now we can put that debate to rest. If you read what I write and you follow along to some degree or another, then you’re moving in a direction away from traditional, orthodox Christianity, and that is bound to cause difficulties. In the past, it cost me my academic position. I sure that won’t be the end of this. It makes me think that this year, 2024, I need to be more direct about these changes. What have I got to lose? It’s time to really speak my mind. And if that causes a few more rifts, well then, so be it. Someone needs to say it, so it might as well be me.
Let’s start with a critique of one of my all-time most influential authors: Oswald Chambers. It could be argued that Oswald’s collection in My Utmost for His Highest is the second most-read Christian title. Heaven knows (literally) how many lives have been shaped by this man’s ruminations on spiritual themes. At one point it was my daily devotional reading. But now, as a heretic, I find a lot of paradigm thinking in his work—and his paradigm doesn’t square with the biblical text although it is certainly aligned with orthodox Christianity. It’s not pleasant to critique an author who has had powerful positive impact on me. But as my perception of Scripture has changed, so has my evaluation of past theological truths. I was particularly struck by his statements about forgiveness in the entries for November 19 and 20. He wrote:
The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the Divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. When we have been convicted of sin we will never say that again. The love of God means Calvary, and nothing less; the love of God is spelt on the Cross and nowhere else. . .
The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. . . The revelation of God is that He cannot forgive; it would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God by the Atonement, . .
The sentiment is noble, but the theology erases everything about God in the Tanakh. Jesus’ death on the cross cannot be the grounds for God’s forgiveness without obliterating the sacrificial system, Israel’s holy days, the Levitical priesthood, and Jesus’ own words about the nature of the Father. The role of the Cross as the absolute centerpiece of Christian theology is replacement theology. It ignores the Jewishness of the apostolic authors. Perhaps the development of the Christian faith made this inevitable, but that doesn’t make it biblical. If we decide to follow Christian orthodoxy, then Oswald’s words ring true, but if we take the whole Bible seriously, then we will have to admit that the death on the cross isn’t really about forgiveness. Forgiveness was already available through Jewish practice. Once we recognize this, then we will have to grapple with this critical event from a different point of view. And that means becoming a heretic—for good reasons.
Topical Index: forgiveness, Cross, blots out, Isaiah 43:25
The testimony of Scripture— that serves as witness to God’s faithfulness to his own nature as he himself actually is— demonstrates that God is temple of his own Spirit. That is to say, “God will be all in all,” when God, his people, his new creation, and his temple presence are coextensive. This is the work that God is working by his own almighty power as spirit among those who are chosen and called to be in a covenantal relationship as his people in whom he dwells.
This work constitutes God’s distinctive program of salvation, a context of covenant relationship between God and the person who desires and responds to God’s personal revelation (in any period of redemptive history and under any of the biblical divine-human covenants people may have been under at any time) such that a person’s salvation is coextensive with believing or having faith in “who God is” and “what he is doing”— as far as those things could be grasped— and bearing the fruit that shows the truth and substance and reality of that faith. All else are simply details— details expressing not less than important and notable distinctions— nevertheless, they are simply details.
This takes me back some 10/12 years ago to our cottage. Our next door neighbour Judy of a certain age told me she was working on an MA so she could do clinical counselling work. She had a draft theology paper that she let me read. When I told her what I thought she said that is heresy and I replied “YES! and I am proud of it.”
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Well Skip, this is putting it out there.
Heretic: “One who holds and persistently maintains an opinion or a doctrine at variance with the accepted standards of any school or party, and rejected or condemned by it; one who rejects a generally accepted belief.,”
This definition/opinion is used by those who can only believe there is one view of God and it is their view.
You are not a heretic of critical thinking and investigation.
Kathy and I have been having discussions about about our current views and how it makes it very difficult to relate to established groups. We have decided that the majority of theological views are like that of the three blind men and their description of an elephant. Neither of them had the full picture so could only believe/describe what they experienced.
Absolutely no one knows the full heart and mind of God. They only know what they have accepted as truth from others and their own experiences.
And that is ok as long as long as the basic tenants of the 10 instructions on morality and treatment of your fellow humans are practiced. The problem arises when one believes there is only one view and those who do not hold it must be converted or condemned. This is why we have had so much discord and many wars for centuries.
As long as your belief gives you comfort,allows you to sleep peacefully, makes you love your fellow humans as you love yourself makes a good start.
We will be judged, and we will be judged forgiven or not, on our actions not our beliefs.
The only caveat I would add to the above statement is the problem with the ability to love others is if you do not love yourself. But that can be a long psychological and theological discussion and I have been already very wordy.
Maybe some day we will find or create a group who can thrive in critical thinking not judgement.
In conclusion, we empathize and will be there to listen and try to understand.
One last thought. It is a tightrope to present critical thinking without destroying another view or creating trauma cognitive dissonance.
I’ve also been labeled a heretic so at least I’m in good company. If you’ve been holding back and not fully speaking your mind, I’m beyond excited to see what’s coming next. Keep it coming!
Same here!
When reading this it caused me to think back to a comment a friend at church made to me three or four years ago. He said “if you keep studying and continue on the path you are on you will not accept what our church teaches.”
In essence he was warning me about becoming what he thought was a heretic. Stumbling onto Todays Word several years ago caused a renewed journey to get closer to the Messiah and to dig deeper into the Word every day. If that is heresy so be it.
Years ago, the father-in-law (now deceased) asked if the congregation we attended was “full gospel”? I knew what he meant but replied: If you mean they teach fully from both covenants, then yes. It was huge deal when we stopped hosting xmas for that side of the family. Anyone who steps onto this path because of the longing in their heart for Truth is going to find it and more than a little resistance. It is a testimony to perseverance to stay the course with humility. It has long been my conviction that the “church” is haSatan’s greatest achievement. It replaced YHVH and Yeshua with a counterfeit god and Jesus. Paul warned us in 2 Cor 11.
A wise teacher once shared the original meaning of heresy – hairesis: a choice. “it is used to convey the idea of a freewill offering in the LXX; For centuries the Church has rejected real choice by calling it heresy.”
From: Rethinking Heresy By Skip Moen, Ph.D. September 21, 2008 😊
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