Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Why Newer Isn’t Truer

Why Newer Isn’t Truer

Last updated on: May 29, 2019 at 5:56 pm by Keith Giles

Why Newer Isn’t Truer 2019-05-29T17:56:15+00:00 Keith Giles

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This article is in response to something published by Brett McCracken a few days ago on the Gospel Coalition website. His post, “Heresy Often Begins With Boredom“, had many good points that I agreed with, although I disagreed quite strongly with most of his conclusions.

In good faith, I responded to him directly on Twitter and pointed out a few of these issues, but he declined to respond to those comments. So, I wanted to publish my thoughts here and hopefully provide a counterpoint and a contrast to his observations. If nothing else, consider this “equal time.”

McCracken’s post is essentially a response to the book Bad Religion, by Ross Douthat which, he says, “makes the compelling case that heresies often begin with attempts to neatly resolve the inherent paradoxes of the Christian faith, opting for either/or where orthodoxy is able to hold the both/and in tension.”

He goes on to say:

“This is true of how many heresies begin. When there are knotty paradoxes that are hard to wrap one’s mind around (e.g., the full divinity and full humanity of Christ), we might be tempted to choose one or the other (e.g., Gnostics downplaying Christ’s humanity). We see this even with modern heresies. Those who can’t handle a God who is simultaneously loving and wrathful just dismiss one or the other.”

I’m tempted to respond to this last sentence especially since it assumes that God is both perfectly loving and full of wrath at the same time, even though Scripturally we are told that “God is love” [1 John 4:16] and never told that “God is wrath” or “God is vengeful”, etc.

In fact, what we’re told is that God’s love endures forever and God’s wrath [whatever that may be] lasts for a moment. [See Psalms 30; 107; 136; etc.]

However, this isn’t the portion of the article which most concerns me. It’s this part:

“But church tradition—orthodoxy and orthopraxy passed down from generation to generation—is a source of guidance and wisdom we should treasure.

“Sadly, many Christians today have bought into the chronological snobbery of our age, where “the newer is the truer” and the past is at best undervalued and at worst viewed with scorn. Many Christians are either ignorant of Christian history, bored by it, or both. They are not compelled by the idea of inheriting a Christianity that has more continuity than discontinuity with the faith of their great-grandparents. They are compelled by a “fresh,” “relevant” Christianity that dispenses with all the old, dusty things in favor of new, shiny things. But this anachronistic posture is dangerous and prone to all manner of theological confusion.”

Now, to be very honest, I agree 100% with his statement here. I really do. But, where we diverge is in how far back we go to determine what is “true” and how recently we determine what is “new.”

For example: The prevailing doctrine of the Christian church for the first 500 years of history was Universal Reconciliation. That’s “a source of guidance and wisdom we should treasure,” in my estimation.

I’ve written on this topic here and elsewhere on many occasions. But in a nutshell there have always been three views of the Afterlife held by Christians, historically:

“In the first five or six centuries of Christianity there were six known theological schools, of which four (Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea, and Edessa, or Nisibis) were Universalist; one (Ephesus) accepted conditional immortality; one (Carthage or Rome) taught endless punishment of the wicked.” (From the New Schaff-Herzog, page 96, paragraph 3)

“The earliest system of Universalistic theology was by Clement of Alexandria who was the head of the theological school in that city until 202 A.D. His successor in the school was the great Origen, the most distinguished advocate of this doctrine in all time.” (From the New Schaff-Herzog, page 96, paragraph 2)

Eternal Torment was a view that existed in the early Christian Church, but it was decidedly a minority view. This didn’t change until after the time of Augustine.

So, today this view [Eternal Torment] has become the dominant one in the Western Church, but it was not always the case. It’s a “Newer” view that many, including those who post at the Gospel Coalition, find “Truer” in spite of the great Christian Tradition to the contrary.

Another “Newer” view that many claim to be “Truer” is that Homosexuality is condemned by the New Testament. This is especially alarming since Jesus never said anything about this topic, and neither did the New Testament until 1946 when the English word “Homosexuality” was first added to the text.

Before that, no English Bibles included the word “Homosexual.”

This was a “Newer” view that has very rapidly become “Truer” the more often it is repeated by those who
are compelled by a “‘fresh,’ ‘relevant’ Christianity that dispenses with all the old, dusty things in favor of new, shiny things.”

this anachronistic posture is dangerous and prone to all manner of theological confusion.”

As long as we’re going to call out heretics for being enamored with “newer” doctrines, let’s also take time to acknowledge other recent additions to Christian Theology, like “Dispensationalism” which was invented by John Nelson Darby in 1830 [the same year Joseph Smith invented Mormonism], and today permeates most major Christian Seminaries and pulpits in the American Church; giving rise to all the Futurist “Left Behind” End Times hype which has plagued our nation ever since.

I’m a huge fan of going back to the Early Christian Church for inspiration and guidance, especially when it comes to Orthopraxy versus Orthodoxy. This is why I wholeheartedly embrace Non-Violence [because Jesus and the Early Church did], and caring for the poor [Ditto], and gathering in homes to share a meal with Christ [and only Christ] as our Head.

So, yes, please, let’s take a good, hard look at those Early Christians. Let’s see what they believed, and why. Let’s be brave enough to question whether our “Newer” theology is “Truer” or not.

If you want to believe in a God of wrath who burns His children forever, I suppose this is your right. And if you prefer to hold tightly to the idea that God hates gay people, even if the Scriptures don’t explicitly say so, this is also your prerogative.

But, let’s also not try to claim that those who believe differently than we do are enamored with some Theological “Flavor-of-the-Month” simply because it doesn’t square up with your views, [which, of course, are merely grounded in the unshakable bedrock of Orthodoxy]. You may find that your own views are “Newer” than you realize, and that what is “Truer” may be even older than you imagined.

Keith Giles was formerly a licensed and ordained minister who walked away from organized church 11 years ago, to start a home fellowship that gave away 100% of the offering to the poor in the community. Today, He and his wife live in Meridian, Idaho, awaiting their next adventure.

His new book “Jesus Unbound: Liberating the Word of God from the Bible”, is available now on Amazon and features a Foreword by author Brian Zahnd.

He is also the author of the Amazon best-seller, “Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb” with a Foreword by Greg Boyd.

Keith also co-hosts the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast on iTunes and Podbean. BONUS: Want to unlock exclusive content including blog articles, short stories, music, podcasts, videos and more? Visit my Patreon page.

Join me this summer at one of these upcoming events:

*Costa Mesa, CA – June 22 “United We Stand”

*Hot Springs, NC – July 11-14 “Wild Goose Festival”

Want Keith to come speak at your church or in your home town? Learn more HERE

Gospel of the Kingdom

Hell

Preemptive Love

Theology

Previous Post

May 27, 2019

Trump's Blood Moon Hoax Exposed

Next Post

May 31, 2019 Beware the Wrath of the Suckling Lamb

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Biblicism Christian Politics Cosmic Christ Deconstruction Discipleship Dispensationalism Divine Unity Ekklesia End Time Stuff Eschatology Evergreen Following Jesus Gender General Christian Topics Gnostics God's Love Gospel of Judas Gospel of Mary Gospel of Philip Gospel of the Kingdom Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Truth Hell Historical Jesus Inner Circle Investigative Reporting Islam LGBTQ Issues Marriage Mental/Emotional Health Mystery Non-Duality Philosophy Podcast Poetry Politics Poverty Preemptive Love Prophecy Psychology Quantum Theology Racism Reconstruction Satire Sex Technology Theology Uncategorized Universalism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the word Genesis mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

History Beginning Creation Law

Books by This Author Books by Keith Giles

See All Titles »