Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

30 August, 2005   comments: (0) Today's Pragmatism   The Day Bible Study Went Away It's a sad fact of reality in many modern churches; bible study and doctrinal teaching are becoming things of the past. At the forefront of this movement, we find the familiar mega-church purveyors of the new formula for "church success". As an example, consider the subtle message behind these statements from the best seller, The Purpose Driven Life: "God won't ask you about your religious background or doctrinal views." (p.34) "The last thing many believers need today is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice." (p. 231) "Jesus said our love for each other-not our doctrinal beliefs-is our greatest witness to the world." (p. 124) I can remember the day when the Pastor of my old church, having jumped onboard this modern bandwagon, told us that we needed to move away from formal bible classes. In their place, we would be emphasizing small group discussions. We were told that people in this modern generation do not want to be addressed by an "authority figure". Our Sunday school classes began to disappear, in favor of small group oriented "electives" on Sunday evenings, in which everyone could express their opinions about God. Some of the leaders of our church were taking the 90 minute trip down the road to Bill Hybel's mega-church, to learn how we should be administering these small groups "the Willow Creek way". In time, most everyone who objected to this biblical de-emphasis, ended up leaving the church. I remember one occasion, when some of our senior citizens expressed some objection to our Purpose Driven small groups; the pastor responded by "inviting them" to attend church elsewhere. It was left ambiguous as to whether he meant they should leave the church permanently, or for just the duration of the "40 Days Of Purpose". (see the WVCY audio link below, for more extreme cases of individuals being forced out of their churches) When mature believers would leave our church, their place in the pew was quickly filled by new "seekers", and so there was the perception that the church was actually growing in size, even though many were leaving. But what happens to a church when those with years of bible knowledge leave, and are inevitably replaced by "unchurched Harry and Mary"? What results is a church that is dumbed-down, and with very few Bereans present, it becomes highly susceptible to error. Let's take a closer look at Rick Warren's statement: "The last thing many believers need today is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice". Bob DeWaay has this to say in response: "The Word of God changes us progressively. As we study we have our minds renewed and our faith strengthened. If we must put into practice what we learn before we study more we would never study the Bible again after reading this verse: "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). According to Warren's logic, if we know that verse, we know more than we are putting into practice and we should not go to another Bible study". "Later in his [Purpose Driven Life] book we learn why Warren warns against Bible study for those who are not perfect: he has an alternative! "I strongly urge you to gather a small group of friends and form a Purpose-Driven Life Reading Group to review these chapters on a weekly basis" (P. 307). We are to have a Warren study to replace the Bible study. The amazing thing is that thousands and thousands of groups around the world have taken Warren's advice and began studying his book, leaving their Bibles at home. Pastors are preaching from Warren's materials rather than God's Word. Warren also says, "After you have gone through this book together as a group, you might consider studying other purpose-driven life studies that are available for classes and groups" (P. 307). The message of the gospel has been replaced with the method of Rick Warren. The Bible has been supplanted by the wisdom of man". The author of the great hymn Amazing Grace, represents the "old truth" of times-past; John Newton has this to say about bible study: They who study the Scriptures, in a humble dependence upon divine teaching, are: convinced of their own weakness, taught to make a true estimate of everything around them gradually formed into a spirit of submission to the will of God discover the nature and duties of [important] situations and relations in life and the snares and temptations to which they are exposed. The word of God dwells richly in them, is a preservative from error, a light to their feet, and a spring of strength and consolation. By treasuring up the doctrines, precepts, promises, examples, and exhortations of Scripture, in their minds, and daily comparing themselves with the rule by which they walk, they grow into an habitual frame of spiritual wisdom, and acquire a gracious taste, which enables them to judge of right and wrong with a degree of readiness and certainty, as a musical ear judges of sounds. And they are seldom mistaken, because they are influenced by the love of Christ, which rules in their hearts, and a regard to the glory of God, which is the great object they have in view. WVCY has an archived radio program featuring testimonies of individuals who have been driven out of their churches, after resisting the kinds of changes mentioned in this article. You can listen to this RealAudio program, free of charge, at this link: http://vcyamerica.org/crosstalk/event_popup.cfm?programid=1020 Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.38   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism