Gospel Prism

The LA Times has a very interesting Op-Ed piece entitled, “Liberal Christianity is paying for its sins.” Charlotte Adams writes:

It is not entirely coincidental that at about the same time that Episcopalians, at their general convention in Columbus, Ohio, were thumbing their noses at a directive from the worldwide Anglican Communion that they “repent” of confirming the openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire three years ago, the Presbyterian Church USA, at its general assembly in Birmingham, Ala., was turning itself into the laughingstock of the blogosphere by tacitly approving alternative designations for the supposedly sexist Christian Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Among the suggested names were “Mother, Child and Womb” and “Rock, Redeemer and Friend.” Moved by the spirit of the Presbyterian revisionists, Beliefnet blogger Rod Dreher held a “Name That Trinity” contest. Entries included “Rock, Scissors and Paper” and “Larry, Curly and Moe.”

and…

The Presbyterian Church USA is famous for its 1993 conference, cosponsored with the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and other mainline churches, in which participants “reimagined” God as “Our Maker Sophia” and held a feminist-inspired “milk and honey” ritual designed to replace traditional bread-and-wine Communion.

As if to one-up the Presbyterians in jettisoning age-old elements of Christian belief, the Episcopalians at Columbus overwhelmingly refused even to consider a resolution affirming that Jesus Christ is Lord. When a Christian church cannot bring itself to endorse a bedrock Christian theological statement repeatedly found in the New Testament, it is not a serious Christian church. It’s a Church of What’s Happening Now, conferring a feel-good imprimatur on whatever the liberal elements of secular society deem permissible or politically correct.

You want to have gay sex? Be a female bishop? Change God’s name to Sophia? Go ahead. The just-elected Episcopal presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, is a one-woman combination of all these things, having voted for Robinson, blessed same-sex couples in her Nevada diocese, prayed to a female Jesus at the Columbus convention and invited former Newark, N.J., bishop John Shelby Spong, famous for denying Christ’s divinity, to address her priests.

Wow, what a statement! The sad part of it is that it is too true. Al Mohler in his blog article, “God Talk Is Not a Game,” writes:

The essential question was posed by Reverend Jonathan Lovelady, who argued: “The question that cries to be answered is, ‘What does God want to be called?’”

That question is answered decisively in Scripture, where God does name Himself. The Christian faith is based exclusively in the understanding that God alone has the right to name Himself. Furthermore, Christianity is based in God’s revelation of Himself. Without God’s gracious self-revelation, we would know nothing about Him at all. The doctrine of the Trinity is itself a truth revealed by God about Himself as an act of His own self-giving grace and mercy to His human creatures. He does not invite His creatures to experiment in worship by naming Him according to their own desires.

In critiquing Mohler, the liberal periodical The Christian Century in their Op-Ed blasted Al with these words:

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, offered his opinion: “The Christian faith is based exclusively in the understanding that God alone has the right to name himself. . . . He does not invite his creatures to experiment in worship by naming him according to their own desires.” Mohler sounds more like a Muslim describing the revelation to Muhammad in the Qur’an than a Christian describing a doctrine that the church took several centuries to hammer out.

Huh? Well, I guess it makes sense to an orgnaization that believes God’s name is not defined by the BIble but by The Christian Century. Listen to this astounding and dumbfounding statement:

The PCUSA document insists that the language of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is “rooted in scripture and creed” and “remains an indispensable anchor for our efforts to speak faithfully of God.” The document continues, “With this anchor in place, however, we are liberated to interpret, amplify, and expand upon the naming of the triune God familiar to most church members.”

TRANSLATION: The Bible says that the current formulation of the Trinity is good. The PCUSA will use this formulation. But we will find something else to use anyway because it is not so good.

Talk about double-speak, this is a textbook example. This is why the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is vigorous in its opposition of gender-neutral tranlsations such as the TNIV and the NRSV. The slope is far too slippery and now mainline denominations that have supported these translations are saying since the Bible doesn’t actually use gender in describing God, we need not do so either. Listen again to The Christian Century:

The list of the “plenitude of images” for the Trinity comes with accompanying scripture citations. “The One From Whom, Through Whom and in Whom we offer praise” may not roll off the tongue, but it comes from Paul (Rom. 11:36).

Here is what Paul literally says from the Greek in Romans 11:36: “Because of Him (autou) and through Him (autou) and to him (autou) all things; to him (auto) the glory unto the ages. Even the RSV says, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.” I guess if you do not believe the Bible is God’s Word, reader response defines meaning and not what the Greek would actually say.

So what really is in a name anyway? I think after worship when I am giving the benediction, I’ll say, May you be blessed in the name of the Sam, the Shin, and the Sam Shin.” I think people will know I am talking about God. Well, at least I’ll know and that’s what is most important, that I am most important.