The Emergent Church Abomination

The Emergent Church doctrine is a damnable heresy that tears at the heart of Orthodox, Biblical Christianity.  This modern revival of on old Albert Schweitzer argument may be well intended but it is totally misguided.  The claim of the Emergent Church people is that it indeed took the work of Christ on the cross to provide salvation for men but that salvation provided by Christ can become efficacious for people in darkened lands who have never heard of Jesus.  The argument is that a loving God would never send someone to hell for not believing in a Christ of which the have never heard.

The problems presented by this spiritual anomaly are too involved to go into here.  Suffice it to say that Jesus denied the validity of this doctrine.  "I am the door," He said.  "No man comes to the Father but by me.  He who tries to enter in any other way is a thief and a robber."  In the Temple shortly after Pentecost St. Peter said "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."  On the hills outside of Jerusalem shortly before His Ascension Jesus instructed His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.  There would have been no reason for him to tell them that if it was not necessary for men to hear the Gospel in order to be saved.

A fundamental error is committed by those who have gotten sucked in to the Emergent Church doctrine.  They have confused justice with mercy.  God will condemn men and send them to hell because they are sinners against His law and justice demands it.  Salvation by grace through faith is not justice, it is mercy.  No man is entitled to mercy.  God extends mercy because He is a merciful God and because He so loved the world that He sent His Son to make mercy and grace available.  It is the mission of the church to tell people about that mercy and grace so that they can be saved.  If they do not hear the message of mercy and accept it they will be faced with the justice of God in the day of judgment.  No sinner can survive God's justice.

The Emerging Church doctrine is a classic example of the No-Absolute, Situation-Ethics, Age of Reason theology of Neo-evangelicalism.  So far from providing people with salvation who have never heard of Jesus Christ it will assure that men will not hear about Jesus Christ because we do not think we need to go and tell them, and they will wind up in hell because of it.

D. Earl Cripe, PhD