As we move through the history of the Christian Church, we now come to the present day. Fortunately, since all the controversies over the doctrines of the Church have been resolved over the preceding centuries, we no longer have any debates to consider. No, wait. . . there may be one or two debates still unresolved, just a few issues that are new to modern times that divide Christians today. In this, the last of my series about debates in the Church, I will present just a few current issues. Because any one of these could take entire books to discuss fully, they will just be summarized here.
- The Return of Christ. Beginning in the early 1800s, people began to try to calculate when Christ will return. Using biblical prophecies about Christ’s return, a popular preacher named William Miller predicted 1844 as the time of the return. There was widespread anticipation of that date, but when it came and went with no return, it was called the Great Disappointment. Some sects interpreted Miller’s theory in news ways, leading to groups like the Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Since that time there have been many date-setters, but none have been right (“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Matthew 24:36) The various views today agree on the biblical texts, but interpret them differently in the following ways:
- Pre-millennials: After a period of Great Tribulation, Christ will return in the future, then rule on earth a 1000 years. After 1000 years Satan will be released to deceive the nations, leading to a final battle before Christ wins and issues in the eternal reign.
- Post-millennials: The Gospel will spread, the Church will rule over the earth in peace for 1000 years, then when Christ returns, the Church will present the world to him as his kingdom.
- Amillennials: The 1000 years refer to the Church Age, when Christ rules over his people. Christ will return at any time to end history and rule eternally. This is the general Lutheran view.
- Preterists: Christ already returned in judgment in 70 AD, destroying Jerusalem (by way of the Romans) and ending Israel, which had rejected him. Jesus warned the Christians to flee when they saw the battle coming; they did, and survived the destruction. There may be a second coming when the unrealized prophecies will be fulfilled.
- Pre-tribulation: Christians will be raptured out of the world, followed by seven years of the Great Tribulation, then return with him to rule during the Millennium. During the Millennium, the Jews will accept Christ in mass. This is the popular view espoused by the Left Behind books and movies, but was only introduced in the 1830s through purported visions.
- Mid-tribulation: Christians will be raptured out of the world half-way during the Great Tribulation, sparing them from the worst of that period. Jews will convert, and Christians will return during the Millennium.
- Post-tribulation: Christians will go through the Great Tribulation, then be raptured to be with Christ to rule during the Millennium.
- Pan-millennials: A made-up term meaning, “I don’t care which view is right; it will all pan out in the end.” Trust God for his timing!
- Liberal vs Conservative. These terms refer to views of the Bible and doctrines, not to political terms (though in practice, there is much correspondence). Conservative theologians and pastors believe the Bible is God’s word, inspired, infallible and inerrant, and therefore the only rule for faith and life. Liberal pastors teach that the Bible records what people wrote about God, but must be interpreted by modern understanding and science to find what truth it may contain. Thus, for example, a conservative pastor teaches that God restricts sexuality between one man and one woman in marriage. A liberal will interpret that because God is love, he accepts all kinds of sexuality as long as people “love” each other. This debate has caused splits in every major denomination over “gay” marriage and ordination. To a liberal, truth is relative and may be found in all religions.
- Charismatic Gifts. The historical understanding of the spiritual gifts (charismata) is that the sign gifts (tongues, prophecy, and healing) ended with the death of the apostles and their immediate disciples in the first century. On the other hand, gifts like hospitality, love, and faith have always been active in Christians. This view is called cessationism. But a different view called continuationism became popular around 1900 with the start of Pentecostalism, which taught a second baptism of the Holy Spirit. In that second baptism, gifts such as tongues, prophecy, and healing miracles were said to be bestowed on all Christians; implied by this teaching was that the lack of speaking in tongues meant a person was not really saved. Since the early days of Pentecostalism, there have been several waves of charismatic revivals. Today we are in the “Third Wave” which teaches miraculous signs and wonders to reach unbelievers with powerful acts. Some in this group claim to be like the original apostles, speaking words of God with the same authority and power. Churches opposed to this, claim the power of God is in his Word, which the Holy Spirit uses to convict the heart without flashy signs and wonders. A middle view is that while the Spirit may endow a person with a supernatural gift, the Spirit gives as he wills, and no gift is required as a sign of salvation. (Hebrews 2:4 – “gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” and 1 Corinthians 12:11 – “All these [gifts] are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”)
- Egalitarian vs Complementarian. One controversy which has ties to the liberal/conservative dispute is the question of the roles of women in the church. While everyone agrees that men and women are both created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”), that Jesus died to save both, and both are called to minister in various ways, the disagreement is whether women are called to be pastors in the Church.
- Egalitarians point to Galatians 3:8 (“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”) and to the example of women in the Bible who had some leadership role (Deborah, Priscilla, and Anna). They want the Church to be in line with modern feminism.
- Complementarians teach that while both men and women have roles in the church, their natures and roles are complimentary, and not identical. Specifically, only men are allowed to be pastors. They point to Paul’s instructions in 1 Timothy 2:12- “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.” They also point to the instructions for elders and overseers as being male-specific (“Husband of one wife” -1 Timothy 3:2) and that the 12 Disciples were all men. They also point to once a church adopts women pastors, they soon will be open to gay ordination and marriage. The AALC holds to the complimentary view.*
- Creation vs. Evolution. For millennia, Jews and Christians accepted the first words of the Bible: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 and the chapters that followed). There were occasional skeptics, but the Church taught creation ex nihilo, that God created everything in six literal days out of nothing by the power of his word (Christ) and therefore all creation belonged to him and was sustained by his will. But beginning with the publishing of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859), the theory of evolution grew to dominate the scientific world and many churches as well. Churches’ “old time religion” was rocked to its core, because it was evident that a recent, six-day creation by God could not be reconciled with the theory of millions of years of evolution of man and the animals. As Christians wrestled with the contradictions, several ideas were adopted:
- Theistic evolution: God created everything, but did so using evolution over vast periods of times. (This was my view in junior high, when I “thought like a child” – 1 Corinthians 13:11).
- Day-age creationism: the days of Genesis 1 are not literal 24 hour days,
- Gap theory: there is a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, which gave the earth a long time to evolve before God intervened to create man. In Genesis 1:2 the earth was made chaotic (“without form and void”). From verse 3 everything was put in order. God chose one hominid to be given special intelligence and spirit.
- Apparent Age: God created everything with apparent age. If he intended for us to see the stars, for example, their light had to be created en route even if they were set at astronomically great distances.
- Scientific Creationism: Uses information collected by creation-believing scientists to disprove evolution and confirm the biblical account. Some are new-earth creationists (the earth is really only 10,000s of years old), while some are old-age creationists (accepting millions of years as per secular scientists). I believe the new age creationism is correct, having read much of their literature and data.**
- Finally, some churches accept the secular theories of evolution as being true, while saying “the Bible is not a scientific text” but just tells of man’s spiritual development by encounters with God. By this choice, these churches lift the current theories as the authority above the Bible; where a conflict exists, they choose evolution as the real answer.
There you have it! No more debates. Just one church, united in every way. (Not!) But Paul tells us what we have is “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,” (Ephesians 4:4-6). Therefore, let us proclaim the one true Gospel that saves us all – “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Let us have unity where possible, and charity where we disagree. But in all things, let Christ be proclaimed!
Now may the Lord bless you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.
Read: Your choice of passages listed above!
* The complementarian view is supported by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood at CBMW.org for more information.
**The scientific creationist position is presented by several organizations, including: The Institute for Creation Research which has an awesome museum in Dallas, TX (ICR.org); and Answers in Genesis, which as a museum and a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark in Kentucky (answersingenesis.org).