You've probably read/heard me rail against the "Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration" new gospel that has been floating around lately. Here's the latest salvo: http://www.jameschoung.net/big-story-training.pdf I'm sure Mr. Choung is a very nice guy. But what he teaches in the linked PDF is dangerously close to heretical teaching.
Please don't get taken in by this strange new formation of the Gospel. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He calls us to make disciples. He came to be a propitiating (wrath averting) sacrifice for us before God. He came to make peace between us and God. Not because we asked for it, but because of His mercy and kindness. It's all about God and not about the world.
Some positives about the pdf:
- "Would you like to hear the core message Jesus came to teach, or the basic message of the Bible?"
--- I agree that creation,fall, redemption,restoration is a pretty good summary of the Bible, it just isn't a very good summary of the gospel
- "If it’s new, it’s probably heretical."
--- Totally agree with that.
Some concerns about the pdf:
- "our universal ache for a better world means that such a world either once existed or will one day exist."
--- Seems kind of a jump of logic to me...
- "we damaged creation. We drain her for her oil, and fill the air with pollutants so we can have a comfortable lifestyle. And it fights back in hurricanes and tsunamis."
--- Huh? "her" that sounds a lot like 'mother earth' which is pagan as the day is long. He then shifts to 'it' but, the earth doesn't fight back because we take oil. It is subject to the fall of course, but it is not reacting to us. The earth has been suffering from the fall since long before we could harvest oil out of it....
- "God came to the planet as Jesus 2,000 years ago and started a new thing. He started a resistance movement against evil, though not with military revolt, or communal escapism. Instead, he taught us a better way to live, and wants to give us the power to overcome evil in us and around us. "
-- Wow it's getting worse. Jesus didn't just start a 'new thing'. He didn't come to teach us a 'better way to live'. He came to redeem us from the wrath of the Father! This actually makes Jesus out to be just like any other sage/teacher who teaches us a way to live. Yikes!!!
- "he restored creation so that all of it could be used in their good ways. All of the world’s systems " the environment, corporations, governments, schools, etc. " can now be used to usher in God’s values of love, peace and justice. Oppression & injustice can cease"
--- I never understand this point in the C,F,R,R 'gospel' I just don't see the scriptural basis for it at all. I don't see any of the disciples or apostles using the world's systems to fix things on earth. I do see them spending their lives and their treasures to bring people to faith though. The two verses included as references: Eph. 2:11-22 and Col. 1:15-20 are much better at presenting the gospel than this story/illustration thing. And they do nothing to support the point that the author is making.
- "Lastly, God restored our relationships with himself."
--- Really? Lastly God restores our relationship with Him? Isn't that the most important thing? Isn't He the one we've grossly offended? I would think we would all want Him to restore that relationship first!!
- "Jesus wants us to join this resistance movement against evil, to go out and heal the world. With these resources,Jesus is asking us to be sent together to heal the planet"
--- HUH?!?! what part of "Make disciples of all nations, teaching them everything I have taught you" is caught up in 'heal the planet'? All the verses he cites are all Old Testament verses about serving the poor and not being unjust. While of course those are things we should pursue, if he was going to argue that Jesus wanted this to be our focus after we were saved, then why didn't he pick any verses from the NT?
- "By trusting him, and giving him leadership over our lives, we can become the kind of good we want to see
around us."
--- But this isn't what really matters. People fat, dumb, and happy on earth is not the ultimate goal! Saving them from the tortures of hell for eternity is what really matters. At least the author does point out that we are to have a response to this message. Normally I don't see any response called for.
- "Would you like to let Jesus be the leader of your life and join his movement to heal the planet? Will you trust him with your life?"
--- Again, I'm pleased to see a call to response. But it's this strange mission to 'heal the planet' again. This is like a green movement with some Jesus sprinkled in.
- "Also, looking at Colossians 1:20, it’s clear that Jesus didn’t just come to save individuals, but “to reconcile to himself all things"
--- This is really pretty terrible eisegesis. Reading the passage in context you can see that Paul is making the point that Jesus is reconciling all people, who are elect, to God and making peace with the Lord of Judgement. It has nothing to do with systems of government or other things. Paul's not making that point at all. If he was he would have elaborated on it more. Instead Paul is making the point that Jesus is God and that He has saved us from the Father's wrath. What a glorious, merciful, mighty gift.
- "But all of this old truth is often locked behind the Bible’s many pages or in theological tomes, and so seems inaccessible to the normal Christian."
--- Huh? I'm a pretty normal Christian and the truth was revealed to me without someone having to dumb it down and warp it like this presentation does. The Bible really isn't that complicated. If this whole presentation had just exegeted Eph 1 or Col 1, it would have been easy to show to anyone what the Bible says.
- "The penal substitution theory we know arose in the 11th century by Anselm"
--- This is very dangerous. It slyly insinuates that Jesus's wrath averting sacrifice was something made up later in history. Instead it was written very clearly in Romans 3:23-26 mere decades after Jesus' death and resurrection.
- "What if someone just wants to jump to the fourth circle, and ignore the third? Why do we need Jesus to heal the planet? Ultimately, we need to become the kind of good that we want to see in the world."
---- What?!?! I'm not saying in the slightest that we should abandon the world once we're saved, we have to obey the great commission and make disciples. But this author instead says we have to make the world a better place, as if that is far more important. That mere social justice is the only purpose for Christians on the planet, and that one day the whole world will be restored through our efforts. That is complete hogwash. Revelations is pretty clear that the world will be reformed by God and not by us!
- Pointing readers to Dallas Willard and N.T. Wright
--- Yikes those are some very shady authors now-a-days. They both deny the necessity of penal substitution and justification by faith.
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