CHRIST-

CHRIST-DENIER SPEAKS AT SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH

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August 6, 1998 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - In February Jesus Seminar leader Marcus Borg spoke for three days at Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Myers Park is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Borg denies that Jesus Christ even claimed to be the Messiah. He denies that Jesus Christ was virgin born. He denies the bodily resurrection of Christ. He denies that Christ worked miracles. "We would say these are paranormal happenings, meaning things we don’t have an explanation for" (The Charlotte Observer, Monday, Feb. 16, 1998, p. 6C).

In 1992 Borg stated: "It is a distortion of Scripture to read [the Bible] as a book of the future. It has a profoundly disturbing effect, and leads to the image of God as judge and emphasizes us as getting ready for judgment. It takes us away from the world" (The Berean Call, Apr. 1992).

That same year Borg testified that He believes almost nothing in the Bible: "I would argue that the truth of Easter does not depend on whether there was an empty tomb, or whether anything happened to the body of Jesus. ... I do not see the Christian tradition as exclusively true, or the Bible as the unique and infallible revelation of God. ... It makes no historical sense to say, ‘Jesus was killed for the sins of the world.’ ... I am one of those Christians who does not believe in the virgin birth, nor in the star of Bethlehem, nor in the journeys of the wisemen, nor in the shepherds coming to the manger, as facts of history" (Bible Review, December 1992).

The misnamed Jesus Seminar, composed of some 75 "experts in religion and New Testament studies," began meeting in March 1985 (its organization was first announced in 1978) with the supposed object of discovering which words of the Gospels are authentic. After a passage was discussed by the participating "scholars," they used colored pegs to indicate the degree of authenticity they felt should be ascribed to it. Red means they believe it is definitely authentic; pink for maybe; gray for probably; black for absolutely not authentic. The colors indicate degrees of doubt in God’s Word. In 1993 the Jesus Seminar published The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. This included a new translation called "The Scholar's Translation." The color coding was incorporated into the text to describe the degree to which the various portions of the Gospels are considered authentic by the Jesus Seminar. Most of the passages are black!

The Seminar concluded that Christ spoke only 18 percent of the sayings attributed to Him in the Bible. According to the Jesus Seminar, Christ did not speak most of the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount; He did not say anything about turning the other cheek or giving to those who ask of you; He did not speak the parable of the sower, the parable of the ten virgins, the parable of the ten pieces of money, or the parable of the talents; He did not say "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"; He did not pray in the garden of Gethsemane; He did not say "Take eat, this is my body" and the other sayings associated with the Lord’s Supper; He did not say "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" or "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me" when He was on the cross.

The Jesus Seminar determined that Christ did not walk on the water; he did not feed the thousands with only a few loaves and fishes; Christ gave no prophecies of His death or resurrection or second coming; Christ did not conduct the Last Supper as it is recorded in Scripture; there was no Jewish trial of Christ; Christ did not appear before the high priest or before Pilate; the Jewish crowd did not participate in His condemnation; Christ did not rise again bodily on the third day and did not ascend to Heaven bodily.

According to the Jesus Seminar, "THE STORY OF THE HISTORICAL JESUS ENDED WITH HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS AND THE DECAY OF HIS BODY" (Religious News Service, March 6, 1995).

According to Jesus Seminar scholars, Jesus Christ was a mere man who was filled with delusions and was caught up in some sort of political intrigue. At the Redlands, California, meeting in 1986, Jesus Seminar scholar Ron Cameron stated: "THE DEATH OF JESUS WAS LIKE A CAR WRECK; IT'S AN ACCIDENT OF HISTORY. ... I'm not sure why the Romans killed Jesus, but the gospel stories are not historical in the modern sense of the word. I don't think Jesus had the notoriety that the gospels say he had. His sayings don't any where give evidence that he was trying to found a church or a reform movement" (Christian News, April 7, 1986).

Borg and his Jesus Seminar buddies are wrong. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who came from Heaven, was born of a Virgin, lived a sinless life and performed miracles to prove His divinity, then allowed the Jews and Romans to crucify Him so that He could pay the penalty for man's sin. He did indeed prophesy of his death and resurrection, as is recorded in the Scriptures. He did speak the words on the cross, such as "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" and "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This was prophesied in the Psalms long before the Lord Jesus Christ was born (Psalm 22), as was his place of birth (Micah 5:2), manner of birth (Isaiah 7:14), name (Isaiah 9:7), unjust trial (Isaiah 53), crucifixion (Psalm 22), burial (Isaiah 53), resurrection (Psalm 16:10), ascension back to Heaven (Psalm 110:1) and return to earth in power and glory (Psalm 110:2-7).

Jesus told the disciples that after He ascended back to Heaven He would send the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance the things He had taught them and would lead them into all truth (John 14:25-26; 16:13-14). This is how the Apostles could write perfect Scripture and remember every tiny detail and conversation and record it word for word in the Bible. They were controlled in their thinking by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, every part of the Bible, including the Gospels, are perfectly true. I believe every word of it, and I praise God for the simple child-like faith to do so!

The modern scholars of the day can label me ignorant or whatever they want. The Bible is the perfect, inspired Word of God, and every word, every jot and tittle is true, and with the Psalmist I can testify, "Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:128). I would much rather follow the Psalmist, and Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord's Apostles than some foolish scholars today who deny God's Word.

THE DENOMINATIONS ARE FILLED WITH MODERNISTS

Though the Jesus Seminar might seem very radical, it is important to remember that a large percentage of seminary professors in a great many denominations are of the same ilk. Our files contain thousands of pages of information which would document this claim. Jesus Seminar Fellow Marcus Borg testified, "The popular image of what Jesus was like continues to thrive in fundamentalist and much conservative preaching, BUT FOR THOSE OF US SCHOOLED IN MAINSTREAM SEMINARIES OR DIVINITY SCHOOLS, THAT IMAGE DIED AS PART OF OUR EDUCATIONAL PROCESS" (Borg, The Historical Jesus and Christian Preaching).

THE FUTURE OF THEOLOGICAL MODERNISM

What is going to happen to the Jesus Seminar scholars and all of their doubting friends throughout the world today who take away from and add to the Scriptures? We don't have to guess, because God tells us. "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18,19).

DO NOT BE FOUND IN FELLOWSHIP WITH SUCH WICKEDNESS

In the Old Testament days when Korah rebelled against God's prophet, Moses, God said that He was going to judge Korah and all of the men who had joined with him in the rebellion. The earth was going to open up and Korah and his fellow rebels would be swallowed alive into the pit. Then God, in His mercy, warned all of the congregation to move away from Korah and his crowd. "Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of their's, lest ye be consumed in all their sins" (Numbers 16:26).

The same warning sounds from heaven today. The New Testament says that if a Christian fellowships with false teachers, he becomes a partaker of the evil deeds of that false teacher: "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 John 10-11).

The prophecies of Christ and the writings of the Apostles warn of the coming of many, many false teachers. We are told these evil men will build a great false world religion, just as the Roman Catholic Church, the World Council of Churches and many evangelicals and charismatics are doing today. God warns, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4). Oh, that we will take God's warnings seriously and separate from false teachers and from the denominations and groups which shelter them!

Myers Park Baptist Church education minister Bill Doles, in introducing Borg in February, said that Myers Park is "open to new light." There is no new light apart from the Holy Scriptures. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20). God’s Word is plain that we are to separate from such people.

See "When Was the Southern Baptist Convention Delivered from Liberalism?" in the Southern Baptist section of the End Times Apostasy Database at the Way of Life Web site -- http://www.wayoflife.org