Every so often, people come to the Bible Brain Facebook page, interact with a few posts, then suddenly decide it's not for them. The reason? "I thought this was a progressive page. I now see it's not."
Now, I have no idea why this is. I've never expressed a "progressive" view on this ministry, and haven't really held a "progressive" view since long before I started out on Path Treader Ministries, so why anyone would think my ministry is "progressive", I'll never know. Nevertheless, I now make this as clear as I possibly can: This is a Christian ministry, and since the Christian faith is not a "progressive" faith, as long as it is within my power, I will ensure this will never be a progressive ministry.
But the progressives who come here would claim otherwise. With a name like "Bible Brain", this ministry is, of course, Christian, and so if you're going to recoil in shock when it turns out it's not a progressive ministry, you obviously believe Christianity and progressiveness go hand in hand, or at least that they're compatible ideologies. But the word of God tells us otherwise.
No matter how progressive you are, if you're going to claim to be a Christian, you ought to acknowledge that God is more authoritative than you. Otherwise, realistically, you shouldn't be claiming to be a Christian, because in reality, you aren't following Jesus, you're following you, and hoping you can make Jesus follow you, too. Indeed, it would seem this is the whole reason progressives claim the Christian faith at all. No one's going to follow some no name off the street, but many people know and love Jesus. So, if you can convince them Jesus is a progressive, they will become progressives.
But who, other than of course the Holy Spirit, would know Jesus better than his own brother? As it happens, we have the written word of two of Jesus' brothers, Jude and James, inspired by the Lord Himself (2 Timothy 3:16-17). In direct obedience to, and guidance by, the Holy Spirit, Jude told Christians to "...contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all". (Jude 1:3). This, he wrote before the close of the first century. What that means is that Christianity, i.e. the religion of the God who does not change (Malachi 3:6), nor does He change His mind (Numbers 23:19) has finished its progression. Therefore, to "progress" in any direction is actually to depart from the Christian faith.
But progressives would disagree. God did change His mind, didn't He? Reading the Bible, it's clear that the religion we now follow is very different from the religion delivered by Moses. We can eat pork and shellfish, the Jews couldn't. We can wear mixed fabrics, the Jews couldn't. We don't sacrifice animals, the Jews did. Isn't that a clear example of God changing His mind?
First, pay very close attention to this argument. Notice, progressives trot out the same cliches, knowing single Bible verses by heart, but very little else. They all know about the pork and shellfish, but can't often name other unclean animals, much less the reasons for their uncleanness. This clearly shows they did not learn these things by studying the Bible itself. Rather, they have gathered around teachers who are able to tell them what they want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3-4). That's why they can't name more than a few scattered laws, much less explain the context behind them.
But more importantly, studying Scripture reveals that this is a clear example of God sticking to His guns, rather than changing His mind to suit cultural sensibilities. See, even in the Old Testament, we see that God always had a "new covenant" in mind, even with the old covenant in full force. In Jeremiah, for example, He foretells of a new covenant, which Paul recalls later on, saying that the coming of the new means the old is about to disappear. This same Paul tells us that the Law was our teacher until Christ came, and now that He has come, we are no longer under that teacher (Galatians 3:23-25). The goal was always salvation by faith in Christ. The old covenant was simply a step in the plan.
To give an analogy, let's suppose you wanted to be a vet. You go to college, work to get the grade you need, and finally, you are a qualified vet. You are no longer beholden to your teachers. No more class at a specific time, no more deadlines for given projects, no more compliance with any peculiar rules, like dress codes, your college might have demanded. Does that mean you changed your mind? No. Your goal was to become a vet, you became a vet. That simply required you to temporarily come under the authority of a particular set of tutors, who would always, at some later point, have lost their authority over you. In the same way, God never changed His mind. The law was simply a step in His plan, and having fulfilled its purpose, it ceased.
Progressives, however, would have to contend that God has a completely different goal in mind. Problem number one is that this is never made clear in Scripture. In the Old Testament, we see Jesus' death and resurrection foretold and foreshadowed in a number of ways. Prophecy, typology, even Christophanies, all point to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Yet, no progressive beliefs can be found in the Old or New Testament. It does not seem like God ever planned for Christianity to become a progressive faith.
Problem number two is no one knows what, exactly, this mythical goal is. What are progressives making progress towards? "Progress" for sake of progress is no progress at all. You're just wondering around aimlessly. And again, wondering away from God.
Perhaps the greatest irony is that "progressives" would like to "progress" away from fixed realities. Progressivism may well be mainly about morality, turning sin into something to be celebrated, but to do this, they must first deny history. Things once known to be historical fact, for no good reason, are suddenly transformed into allegory. The written word means nothing. Eyewitness testimony means nothing. The world jumped from being 6,000 years old to 4.5 billion, simply because the atheists started insisting this is so. So, clearly, God was just condescending to a bunch of dumb dumb cave people who wouldn't have understood the complexities of... the hundreds of old earth worldviews they bravely rebuked, citing the word of God as their justification.
It boggles my mind. It is clear, beyond all reason, that God is not a progressive. His views on origins? Clear. Evolution is a lie, God created the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, in 6 days, roughly 6,000 years ago. Sexual morality? Clear. The marriage bed is pure and undefiled, but God will judge fornicators, and homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Abortion? Clear. No murderer has eternal life residing in him. And yes, there are only two genders; God created man male and female in the beginning, and both of these work together, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. And no, we don't get to pick our own.
Progressive Christianity, therefore, is an oxymoron. This ministry is, and will remain as long as I have administrative powers on it, a Christian ministry. Therefore, by definition, it can never be progressive. The two worldviews simply cannot coexist. One is submission
to a loving God, obeying Him, and relying on His grace to forgive our failure to do so. The other is rebellion against Him, despising the very idea that we would need forgiveness for every time we have tried to seize His throne for ourselves. Progressivism is an abomination, and will only progress to one place: The lake of fire, created for the devil and his angels. My God died in my place, that I may be spared such an unbearable fate, and I will never, by my own will, "progress" back to perdition. My advice? In like manner, progress back to God. Repent.