The New Political Correctness: Itching Ears

Josh November 26th, 2005

Political Correctness (PC). For most of us, she conjures up thoughts of politics, feminism, special rights, Gloria Allred, Liberalism, etc. We think of the Sexual Harassment policies in the workplace of today. The policy that endangers all and any of the male species, and in a few cases, females. But there’s a new kind of PC out. She’s crept into “the Church”. She’s quite subtle and ever so sneaky. She has captivated the simple-minded and the intellectually sharp all the same.

I’m not talking about the Mormon temple down the street, the Jehovah’s Witness church on the corner, or the local mosque. This is no rogue church (at least, not as we understand “rogue”ness) in which PC has made her home. No, sir. She’s nestled herself in the conservative evangelical churches all across our land. Having just enough ripped-from-context scriptures (not to mention some warm-fuzzies, as long as they’re not “too charismatic”), she creeps in almost silently welcomed as a new move and mode of “revival”.

Oh, we thought the conference last year would bring some change, but it died off. Then, we saw the masses “reached” by the performance in that drama, but they seemed to go elsewhere. Next, was the spiritual journey educating us on our reason for living, yet we’re still wandering around. Latest, there was a portrayal of what we’ve read so many times in our Bibles, but this dramatization really gave us a visual that we could grasp on to…something tangible, yet, we still live the same as before.

So PC’s found her way in many times, but this time we hope she’ll bring real renewal…PC, if not conquered, will be nothing more than Perpetual Corruption. The churches that have always prided themselves in having the pastors that “preach the Word like it is” are the very churches being eaten up by this new Political Correctness. You see, it’s no longer PC to hold someone, particularly a preacher, pastor or even a fellow “believer”, accountable by the standards in the context of God’s Word.

If they a) believe the Bible, b) know some Scripture, and c) are sincere in whatever their teaching or ministry is, then it doesn’t matter if their hermeneutic is in error. It doesn’t matter if the foundation of their belief is a Scripture taken sorely out of context. It doesn’t really even matter the pattern of their lifestyle. It’s “what’s in their heart ” that counts. Intention is substituted for action (While verses such as 1 John 3: 18-Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth-are patently ignored and avoided).

What I’ve noticed is that in these “conservative” Bible-believing churches, it seems each generation is a littler more ignorant of the doctrines found in Scripture than the previous generation. So when an individual reads the Scriptures, is enlightened by the Spirit on a subject that demolishes their previously held traditions, and casts such “traditions of men” aside, he is then chided by others. He is called: insensitive, cold, harsh, or whatever when, actually, all he really wants is TRUE revival in the church of God…not some passing vein of the wind.

Instead of depending on man-made attempts of a formulaic nature (i.e. 40 Days of Purpose, Heaven’s Gate-Hell’s Flames, The Passion, etc.), he wants to apply the principle of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) and see a true outpouring of the Spirit in revival. He’s then seen as”stuck-in-tradition” or “legalistic” when, in reality, it is the others who cannot seem to separate from their precious traditions.

So what is this new PC that’s found running rampant in our churches? I would define it as a pseudo love for the Bible that results in marring correct interpretation of Scripture. It is an act of unknowingly interpreting the Scriptures through the grid of one’s man-made traditions. Whatever is sifted by the lines of the grid is simply ignored or washed over. This, in turn, puts the PC believer on the defensive when anyone biblically questions the newest rage or even holds it up to the light of Scripture. PC is not necessarily the reason for the dumbing-down of the church, but it certainly is a pit from whence the dumbed-down believers can only escape through humility, confession and repentance of not testing everything with the Scriptures.

No, it is liberalism that has caused the dumbing-down of believers. It is the passivity of conservatives that has caused it. It is the lack of prayer from God’s people. It a culture of apathy parading behind the walls of the Church that feeds it. PC simply and encourages surface growth, and even this growth is very short-lived. A fast-holding to the principle of Sola Scriptura is the only hope for the Church. There’s nothing more frustrating, disheartening and even angering than hearing a self-proclaimed believer say something like, “Well, I just can’t read the Bible much. It’s so hard to understand.” Why do people say this? More specifically, why do professing Christians? Because neither the Church, nor the family has taught the Bible in it’s entirety.

The church has not taught hermeneutics, nor has it taught the importance and absolute necessary role of the Holy Spirit in illumining the Scriptures, etc. What has been taught is of such poor surface material that it is also shallow when applied to life. Now, don’t get me wrong, little Johnny’s been taught all the “relevant” Bible verses and that Jesus loves Him, but he’s now 25-30 yrs old and has never been taught the great truths of justification and sanctification. He’s never been educated on the golden chain of redemption so beautifully articulated in Romans 8. He knows quite a few verses divorced from their context to “help him out” during certain times.

OPC Pastor Bruce Buchanan has said this concerning this New Political Correctness:

We need to be BC–Biblically correct–even when it’s not popular. PC is just another way of adopting a false standard, i.e. social consensus, to determine present and future behavior, or to analyze past activity. PC is always changing–like fads. But its principle is as changeless as its contraries. And maybe it is the ultimate anti-biblical form precisely because we recognize the antithesis between God’s way and ALL the rest of the ways, whether or not they are as up-front “absolute” as our standard, or rather subtle like PC.

May the Church, especially in America, repent of her muddying of God’s standard. Embracing evil while calling it good. Cultivating mundanity and calling it “seeker-friendly”. Tolerating sin among the people of God in the Church, but using the “tares among the wheat” to justify the lack of discipline. God help us, every one.

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