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Modern folk—scholar, ruler, and commoner alike—who still profess to believe in God have nevertheless in many cases eschewed the fact that He created them. Contrariwise, denying God’s revelation of Himself, they have “made” Him in their image. As they have done with the Father, so they have done with His Son, Jesus, the Christ.
A.W. Tozer described this revisionist, feel-good, man-made “Jesus” in his book, The Dwelling Place of God:
It is a Jesus, gentle, dreamy, shy, sweet, almost effeminate and marvelously adaptable to whatever society He may find Himself in…. He is never acknowledged as Lord. These quasi Christians follow a quasi Christ. They want His help but not His interference. They will flatter Him but never obey Him.
The re-invented “Jesus” is so broadminded that he never said a word about homosexuality or usage of heroin or speed, we are told. Rather, the modern “Jesus” is a quixotic mystic who pioneered the I’m OK, You’re OK philosophy. His laid-back laxity accepts even the worst of sinners without judgment or rebuke.
In matters of religion, the new “Jesus” takes the big-tentapproach, ever smiling upon the plethora of contradictory doctrines and practices established by His purported followers. Such moderns either have not read or do not believe the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ brief life on earth. Their “Jesus” is a chimera who stands in stark contrast to the Jesus of Biblical fact:
- His “meek and lowly” heart (Mat. 11:29) did not preclude His making a whip and driving the thieves out of the temple grounds or being angry at His critics (John 2:15; Mark 3:5).
- He was not silent concerning homosexual behavior. He lived and died under God’s law through Moses, which He honored and obeyed without flaw, and which law labeled sexual perversions of homosexual and bestial unions as “abominations” (Lev. 18:22; 20:15:16). In principle, He addressed these sins in His denunciation of fornication (Mat. 19:9). Further, He unequivocally condemned such perversions through Paul’s inspired pen (Rom. 1:23–27; 1 Cor. 6:9–10; 1 Tim. 1:10).
- Just as He was not culturally driven on moral issues, neither was He on those of religion. He rebuked those who rejected His Father’s Law in favor of human traditions and doctrines and who built their own religious institutions (Mat. 15:6–9, 13).
- He demanded belief in Himself as the Son of God and Savior, repentance of sins, confession of faith in Him, immersion in water to be saved, and complete obedience (John 8:24; Mat. 10:32; Luke 13:3; Mark 16:15–16; Luke 6:46).
All professed believers must choose one “Jesus” or the other.
[Note: I wrote this article for and it appeared in the Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton, TX, July 13, 2012.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com, Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
