Column: Where have all the Protestants gone? – Opinion – USATODAY.com.

A friend referred me to this articles about Mainline Protestants and social issues.  The gist of the article seems to be this,

But not so fast. Just look at what these mainline Protestants have championed: racial justice, equality for women, food stamps, rights for the disabled, reproductive choice and so forth. American law and society have embraced nearly every one of their issues down the line. We have largely become the inclusive, pluralistic society that these more liberal Protestant Christians envisioned.

I don’t know where to begin.  So, let’s begin at the beginning.

It’s true that mainline denominations championed these issues.  Yet, weren’t some of them also championed by non-mainline, protestant denominations?  Racial Justice wasn’t/isn’t just a mainline thing.  Dr. King was a Baptist, after all–hardly a ‘mainline’ denomination.

As for other, more divisive issues (such as reproductive choice), another question needs to be asked.  Where do these different groups get their conclusions?  How can one Christian say Jesus would support abortion while another says He wouldn’t?  Clearly one person must be right and one person must be wrong.

This is why questioning assumptions is so important.  Take this quote,

This willingness to reject the authority of biblical passages condemning homosexuality — as Protestant churches did with similar passages on slavery and the role of women — will appeal to a younger generation who see gay marriage as a non-issue and accept their gay and lesbian classmates for who they are — not what some Christians want them to be.

(emphasis mine)

Here is the assumption the author holds:  Scripture only has the authority we give it.  So, where we believe it is authoritative, we listen to it.  Where we think it is not, we reject it.  Thus, what once was considered wicked and sinful is now accepted. This relativism isn’t unique to mainline churches.  It runs throughout our culture.  We are no longer comfortable with the concepts of sin or evil.  The easiest way to alleviate our discomfort is to reject any absolutes.  Thereby we gain the wiggle room to live however we see fit, and never feel the need to call anyone to repent.

Other protestants take the opposite view.  Scripture is authoritative and to be listened to.  So we don’t change convictions easily, nor based upon the prevailing wind of the current culture.  We stand fast for what Scripture teaches, only altering those views when it becomes clear we’ve misunderstood the text–not when the text becomes unpopular.

If you accept the author’s assumption about Scripture, then it’s great that denominations are changing their teaching to match the popular thinking.  If you accept the authority of Scripture, you’re left with a sad feeling, wondering why man always thinks he knows better than God.

Another assumption this article reveals concerns how we interpret passages of Scripture.  This study is called Hermeneutics.  Whether we recognize it or not, we all subscribe to some kind of hermeneutic.  The author makes his clear when he writes,

Remember Micah, the Old Testament prophet who foretold a time when nations would “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks”? That happens, says Micah, when each person shall sit under his own vine and fig tree. In other words, there can be no lasting peace until each person has the opportunity to partake in the world’s prosperity.

This is called eisegesis, or reading into the text.  It’s taking my ideas and finding them in the text.  On the other hand we have exegesis.  Exegesis is the study of the text to understand the message of the text.

I think this kind of social justice would take Micah by surprise.  This reference is to Micah 4.  The passage doesn’t say lasting peace cannot come until everyone partakes in world prosperity.  Instead, it describes the time of peace as a time when people will each have their own fig, etc.  The cause of this time, however, is found in Micah 4:1, 2:

It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the LORD

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and it shall be lifted up above the hills;

and peoples shall flow to it,

2 and many nations shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,*

and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

In other words, peace and prosperity arrive together on the wings of God’s Law.  When the nations flow to Zion, for the purpose of learning and following God’s Law, then peace and prosperity will follow.  Clearly the prosperity doesn’t give rise to the peace.

Let this be a lesson to us:  always beware of assumptions.  We all have them, and they impact our opinions.  Being aware of them is a step toward understanding God’s Word and a step away from rewriting it to fit our assumptions.