The Preacher's Pen

Preparing for this special issue I have read more about the Jesus Seminar, agnostics and biblical criticism than I ever wanted to know. In all of it I have kept wondering why these people are going to such great lengths to attack Jesus. If we want to believe in a divine Christ why do they care? The following nugget from a Newsweek cover story (April 8, 1996) sheds light on their real agenda: "Theirs is not disinterested historical investigation but scholarship with a frankly missionary purpose: by reconstructing the life of Jesus they hope to show that belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus is a burden to the Christian faith and deflects attention from his role as social reformer."

Isn't that insightful? These people have no hope for the afterlife, and no belief in the divine. Thus, all that is left is improving our existence on this planet. With such beliefs it makes sense that they would try to draw our attention away from a heaven they do not think exists and get us back to the business of making this world a better place. For them life is social reform, and so they try to recast even Jesus into their mold.

Certainly this is par for the Jesus Seminar and Company, but we would never expect such from brethren. However, think about the social gospel movement. For a long time we have been told that the church must involve itself in every kind of social and recreational program. Homeless shelters, soup kitchens, playgrounds, hospitals and every kind of social reform have been levered into many church's budgets. Why? Because Jesus helped people, we are told. But isn't "Jesus the helper" the same Christ the Jesus Seminar is trying to create? Isn't this a step toward a Jesus who ignores sin and wickedness in favor of social reform? How can anyone deny that, when churches feed and clothe the bodies of the lost but let their souls go hungry for the life giving Gospel?

Yes, individual Christians have social obligations (Gal. 6:10; Jas. 1:27) but the business of the church is to preach the Gospel. The social gospel (and every program that accompanies it) says that saving people from sin is not enough. No, life must be made better now and the church must help that cause. Friend, that is a step toward the Jesus Seminar and their version of Jesus. It is a step we dare not take. The Jesus Seminar shows us where that road inevitably leads.