It is all but a given these days that so many churches have rejected biblical doctrine to accommodate sin and rebellion in its various forms. This is true as same sex marriage, abortion and other sins are justified by a so-called modern interpretation of scripture and what it means to be Christian.
Consider the Methodist Church, a female pastor serving her church in Edgerton, Kansas, announced to her congregation that she is a lesbian and had been engaged in a same sex relationship for the last four years.
You might expect that this local body of Christ would be shocked and upset by such a revelation but many of the more conservative members whom the pastor believed would be outraged were in fact supportive of her lifestyle choice.
Now I am not focused on the fact that the church has a female pastor in violation of scripture or that this pastor has chosen a same sex lifestyle in violation of scripture, those are issues that a bible centered Christian should identify as a problem without much help from me.
What should draw our attention is how a local church is drawn away from being a Christian church into something else entirely. The changes are small at first, over what seem to be unimportant issues such as the age of the earth or if Jonah was really swallowed by a whale.
The people fail to notice the slippery slope they are walking on as they allow subtle changes to this doctrine and claim that scripture is only allegorical. Before long the bible itself is no longer viewed as divinely inspired by God but rather the writings of so-called good men and before you know it, Jesus Himself is not really the Son of God but just a good teacher among many good teachers from whom we can learn.
Soon the slippery slope that so many have warned against becomes a full on water slide and not the good kind you look for on a hot summer day in New Mexico either, no, we are talking muddy sewer water dropping off into the Grand Canyon to your death.
What happened in that United Methodist Church in Kansas is the beginning of the end for the national United Methodist Church because it no longer clings to sound doctrine but has given in to itching ears that demand sin be regarded as righteousness.
It is just like the sin of the golden calf. Jesus gave us a way to live and it is found in the pages of scripture, all of the scripture. He stated plainly that if we love Him we would keep His commandments; we will obey His word, that’s what we agreed to when we became believers just as Israel did with God at Mt. Sinai.
Just like Israel, the understanding has been reached and the Lord goes away for awhile and we demand things be done our way instead of His way, saying we do not know what has happened to Him.
Soon, the Lord returns to find us being unfaithful to Him, we cry out Lord, Lord and He replies, “depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.” It is then that we realize that this water slide is not so entertaining after all.
