Religions and Biblical Distortions

Michael Gerson; “The Perils of Patronizing” Article in the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/01/AR2008050102901.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Many directions of commentary could be derived from this Washington Post article. I would like to address these three statements that were a part of that article:

“Christianity was the religion held by slave masters -- often distorted into an ideology of oppression.”

“The early church, in its wrenching decision to include gentiles as equals, explicitly rejected a community defined by ethnicity. No Christian theology that asserts "Jesus is not for all" can be biblical.”

First of all is that Christianity has indeed been distorted into many religions that appeal to hundreds of diverse groups. It is very difficult to find “THE faith” as described in the Bible here in this day and age that has not been distorted.

Second is the statement that says “No Christian theology that asserts ‘Jesus is not for all’ can be biblical.” This is a very true statement! One should keep in mind that it includes a great many of the protestant religions as they have embraced Calvinism. The preachers and theologians who follow John Calvin assert that only people specifically chosen by God can be saved. They tell us that Jesus did not die for Pharaoh, Saul or Judas and that salvation is only available to predestined, select individuals.

Third is the statement that “The early church, in its wrenching decision to include gentiles as equals, explicitly rejected a community defined by ethnicity.”

This is one of those religious distortions we were talking about. The early church has never accepted gentiles as equals. The only gentiles in the early Kingdom Church are those individuals who accepted Judaism, circumcision, baptism and Jewish law to become proselytes of the Jewish faith.

Gentiles were not “lifted up” to enjoy a favored status with the Jews. Quite the opposite is true. According to scripture, the Jews were stripped of their favored nation status and brought down to the level of the gentile “dogs” as “lo ammi” (not My people). Jews and gentiles both come to salvation by Christianity today; not by Judaism.

Reporters at the Washington Post are no closer to biblical truth than the preachers of the many distorted religions that loosely make up what is collectively known today as “Christianity.”

Johnny