A progressive church in Nashville, Tennessee has been largely criticized as of late after the church openly denied that the Bible is God’s Word in a recent social media post.
In a post on Facebook, GracePointe Church posted a recap of a message titled “The Bible | What Is Progressive Christianity?” from lead pastor Joshua Scott’s Feb. 7 sermon.
“As Progressive Christians, we’re open to the tensions and inconsistencies in the Bible”, the church wrote in the caption. “We know that it can’t live up to impossible, modern standards. We strive to more clearly articulate what Scripture is and isn’t,” the church noted before further expanding on what the church believes the Bible is and is not.
GracePointe Church added that the Bible “isn’t: the Word of God, self-interpreting, a science book, an answer/rule book, inerrant or infallible.” Instead, the church argued, the Bible is “a product of community, a library of texts, multi-vocal, a human response to God, living and dynamic.”
A picture accompanying the written post reiterates the church’s statement on what the Bible is and isn’t, in accordance with their progressive beliefs.
At the time of this writing, the Facebook post has received roughly 2,100 comments and over 1,400 emoji reactions. More than half of the emoji reactions on the post are angry faces. There are also over 300 laughing emoji reactions and more than 160 sad face emoji reactions.
A majority of comments criticized the church for their statement on the Bible, while few praised them for being outspoken.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Pastor Scott, who grew up Southern Baptist, addressed the reactions to his message, explaining that it should spark conversation among Christians.
“You know, my intent really was, this is a conversation that we’re having in our community,” he told the outlet. “So yeah, I do think it’s a good conversation and I think it’s a conversation that needs to happen within that sort of the broader Christian culture.”
Scott added that Christians have a tendency to “treat the Bible almost as an idol”.
“And in doing so, we fail, I think, to see the real call, which is never for us just to read something but always for us to read it, wrestle with it and then embody the rest of it the way we live our lives in the world,” he contended.
The progressive pastor told The Christian Post that conversations that are deemed “off limits” within traditional Christianity are probably deemed as such because “we’re afraid of them”.
Regarding his statement that the Bible can’t live to moral standards, Scott explained that the problem is ultimately “our fault” rather than the Word of God itself.
“That’s our fault. I’m not saying the Bible has some sort of flaw in it,” he said.
He contended that Christians place unrealistic expectations on the Bible “that it just isn’t intended to bear and can’t bear.”
“Because if we go to the Bible and we’re looking for really up to date information on how the cosmos works, we’re not going to find it because I don’t think the Bible is a book trying to tell how things change,” Scott claimed. “I think the Bible is trying to say to us why.”
He added, “The Bible isn’t necessarily the source of the how, the Bible is the source of why do we exist, why is there a world, what does it mean to be a human being in the world, how do we live our lives in the best way possible. I think those are more of the questions the Bible is trying to get at.”
While Scott believes that some parts of the Bible is God’s Word, such as the Lord speaking to Old Testament prophets, he argued that there are other things in it that “goes against the character of God.”
“There are genocides that have been divinely sanctioned in the Bible. People have used the text in the Bible, plain readings of the text at times to support white supremacy, to defend slavery, to defend segregation,” he explained. “Saying the Bible is inerrant and infallible, it absolves us of our responsibility to do what our ancestors did, which is to wrestle.”
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
2 Timothy 3 describes the “perilous times” that will come in the last days, detailing what the character of mankind will be like during that time. It is a scathing rebuke of our generation provided in Scripture, ending by stating, “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
In the remaining verses of the Chapter, the apostle Paul, in contrast, tells Christians to continue in the things which they “have learned and have been assured of,” which are the things they learned from studying the Word of God (The Bible).
Paul writes in verse 16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
From this chapter alone, we can see the claims this so-called “Pastor” made bitterly dismantled and rebuked.
We can learn from 2 Timothy 3 that, Biblical morality does not change with the times; people today are continually being deceived; the Bible is the Word of God and thus infallible, and it does contain answers/rules that Christians should live by.
The following chapter in 2 Timothy exhorts believers, in verses 2-4, to “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
Because of this, we should not be surprised to see such blasphemy come from some “churches.” These doctrines of demons mark our times:
1 Timothy 4:1-2 KJV – “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;”
Acts 17:11 urges Christians to test everything with the Scripture to see what is true and what is a lie.
When Satan told his original lie in the garden, his first step was to cause doubt surrounding God’s words: “Hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1)
