Atheism and the Emergent Church

Do you believe in God? Do your friends? Maybe you have noticed a change. Whereas belief in God in the United States has hovered around 95% for decades, it has now diminished to 81%, according to a June 17 Gallup poll. You might think, “Well, that’s still high,” which it is, but faith has decreased from 87% to 81% in just five years! As one might expect, younger people rank the highest in unbelief. The following breakdown was made available by Jeffrey M. Jones, a Gallup Senior Editor since 2000:

The groups with the largest declines are also groups that are currently least likely to believe in God, including liberals (62%), young adults (68%) and Democrats (72%). Belief in God is highest among political conservatives (94%) and Republicans (92%), reflecting that religiosity is a major determinant of political divisions in the U.S.

Atheism is on the rise worldwide. According to a chart from 2020, those claiming to be Christian include 31.1% of human beings on the planet. In second place is Islam with 24.9%. Hinduism would be in 3rd place with 15.2%, but they have been supplanted by “unaffiliated” (which consists mostly of atheists) at 15.6%. Buddhism comes in at 6.6% and all other religions comprise 6.4%, which leave .2% of folks who may not know what they are.

Responses

In an effort to be “relevant,” churches are popping up everywhere that are disassociated with old familiar names. Here in Orlando, in addition to traditional denominations, one can also find:

The Elevation Church
The Discovery Church
The Summit Church
Celebration Church
New Beginnings Church
CrossPointe Church
Direction Church
Mary Queen of the Universe
Action Church

New Groups are forming every day. Guess how many of these “churches” can be found in the New Testament? All of these have exciting and appealing names, however. (No one has started up the Slumbering Church or The Almost Dead Church.) None of them are even called The Entertainment Church, although that would be accurate in many instances. Most all of these groups, in their photos of themselves, have a band on stage performing. The amount of bands used in the first century was zero. Paul never used musicians to attract people; it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save people (1 Cor. 1:21).

The Emergent Church

During the same times that atheism has been on the rise, so has (what is termed by many as) the Emergent Church. According to Wikipedia, “Emerging churches are fluid, hard to define, and varied; they contrast themselves with what has gone before in referring to the latter as the ‘inherited church.’” Proponents of this movement are Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and others.

They are likely to have “a greater emphasis on feeling than on doctrine,” according to Denny Petrillo in his chapter on this subject for the 2010 Bear Valley lectureship book, If the Foundations Are Destroyed, What Shall The Righteous Do? (186). This is not entirely new. Many substitute a salvation “experience” for what the Bible says. People have been taught, “Pray, and God will give you a sign,” or “Pray and you will feel tingly all over.” Some have said they knew they had the Holy Spirit because they had a warm glow that spread throughout their bodies.

The only problem with these practices is that they do not come from the Scriptures. Does anyone remember Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost that, in order to be saved, they should pray until they felt really good? Saul of Tarsus had been praying for three days. When Ananias came to him, he did not say, “Pray just a little bit longer; you will surely be given a sign.” The former persecutor of the church might have responded by saying, “I already had a sign; I saw the resurrected Christ.” Ananias told him to rise and be baptized in order to wash away his sins.

When people are taught to seek a subjective experience, they will probably have one, but it is generated by their own minds—not the gospel. Not only does the Bible not teach for people to seek an alleged “salvation experience,” it teaches against it. Jeremiah spoke to the people of his day, pointing out a contrast: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord” (Jer. 17: 5). Should a person trust in men or in God and His Word? Many today trust what some man says as evidence that they are saved.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord (v. 7). “But how can I deny my own heart?” someone might respond. Note what else Jeremiah says in this text: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (v. 9). The gospel we choose to believe cannot come from man; it cannot be based on our feelings or experience—but rather the Word of God. Solomon put it this way:

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered. (Pr. 28:26).

Departure from the New Testament Pattern

A second general characteristic of the Emergent Church is that “there will be great variations from the New Testament pattern” (186). Among some of the changes cited are instruments of music as part of the worship, female preachers, Thursday night communion, incense, prayer beads, and other unauthorized practices. Apparently, the Emergent Church leaders have never heard of Nadab and Abihu being killed by the Lord for changing the pattern from what Moses had given by using strange (unauthorized) fire (Lev. 10:1-2). Have they forgotten what Jesus said about God seeking true worshipers—those who worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24)? The Emergent Church is a kind of postmodern institution that does not believe in truth.

Still another characteristic of this diverse group is that they would like “to unite men of all faiths,” which could only be achieved by casting aside or rendering irrelevant Biblical doctrine (Acts 2:42). They also would like to draw in all the world religions—or at least make all of them equal. This can never happen. Jesus taught: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Christianity is both exclusive and inclusive: It excludes all other religions; not one of them is valid. It is inclusive, however, in that all are invited to come to Jesus for salvation on His terms.

Criticisms of Traditional Christianity

Not only do the Emergent Church leaders criticize historic Christianity; they do so militantly (186). They take issue with our “claims” of truth, such as Jesus building only one church. First of all, this is not “our” claim. It is Jesus’ claim that He only built one; did the Lord not say that “on this rock I will build My church…” (Matt. 16:18)? He would build it; therefore, it is His. He did not say He would build several churches. Where does the New Testament teach that He established more than one? The church is still singular in Acts 20:28 when Luke records that He purchased it with His own blood. The Elevation and Celebration churches have no authentication. These are the works of men—not God. The Emergent Church is not actually criticizing us; they are taking issue with the Scriptures themselves.

Claims of following the truth and abiding by the Scriptures are thought to be intolerant. However, we do not claim anything that the Bible does not teach. “There is one body” (Eph. 4:4). That body is the church (Eph. 1:22-23; Eph. 5:23). Did we make up that teaching, or did Paul write it? We are not intolerant when we follow what the Bible teaches. Yet we are warned that “such intolerance will lead to isolation that will become extinction” (186). Did Noah feel isolated? Did he feel nearly extinct? Maybe, but he was happy to be in the ark rather than outside of it when the rain came. We will rejoice to be in the church rather than out of it when Jesus returns in flaming fire.

What is the alternative to believing what God said? Should we ignore what Peter preached on Pentecost about repentance and baptism because some think that approach is too exclusive and tends to isolate us? Perhaps we should not repeat what the inspired apostle taught? How would that benefit us? Shall we tell people to go by their feelings, also? Shall we go even further and allow people to call sprinkling baptism—even though affusion is not what the word means? How often and to what extent should we compromise?

This is not an issue of isolation and extinction; it is one of ignoring what the Bible teaches. We do not need to apologize for teaching the truth and calling people to salvation as the Bible explains it. Doctrine (especially concerning salvation) is important. If Timothy did not take heed to what he taught others, they would be lost—and so would he (1 Tim. 4:16)!

Jeremiah found that no one was willing to listen to the messages he brought from God. He was ignored sometimes and persecuted and abused at other times. He was isolated and nearly extinct. He found himself lowered into mire. Should he have hollered, “Let me out, and I’ll start preaching a message of tolerance instead of captivity”? Is this not the main flaw in the Emergent Church? They want a message that is inclusive—never mind if it is not what the Bible actually teaches. Truth must be subservient to popularity. Thus, the Emergent Church will have as members people who believe almost anything—and do not care what anyone else believes.

Hell

In the past few decades, there has been an increased rejection of the place of torment called hell. The leaders of the Emergent Church criticize the concept of hell’s existence and the idea that quite a few people will go there. If we do not teach eternal suffering, shall we just go ahead and call Jesus a liar? He is the one who warned about it and taught that the majority of people will go there (Matt. 7:13-14). “But that makes people feel uncomfortable.” Really? Isn’t that the idea? The response ought to be, “I should change my life and live so as to please God.” Unfortunately, many are concluding, “Since hell makes me uncomfortable, we should change the doctrine.” Yes. We can just pretend that hell does not exist. “But what will you do in the end?” (Jer. 5:31).

Ultimately, doing away with hell does away with salvation. “What? But Jesus saved me from my sins.” It is true that He died for our sins, but why did He do so? “He was paying the price that we owed.” Yes—so that we would not be sent to hell. If there is no hell, then from what do we need to be saved? Do we want to claim that Jesus suffered tremendously on the cross to save us from somewhere that does not exist? The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is made superfluous, as is the entire Bible since the event is prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New. The Emergent Church makes the Bible irrelevant.