The suspension of Duck Dynasty’s patriarch, Phil
Robertson, is another salvo against traditional America and Christian
orthodoxy. For decades, progressives
have bastardized our founding, the first amendment, laws and language as means
to secularize the country. Devout
Christians are to be shamed and shunned.
And if that doesn’t work, the progressives will co-opt the religion
itself.
There is a movement to redefine Christianity. Those who live questionable lifestyles want
nothing more than to be accepted by traditional America. They need to manufacture a doctrine that is
permissive and tolerant. And the best
way to accomplish this is by remaking Jesus Christ. Here is an excerpt from a report entitled: Redefining Christ and Christianity:
This questioning for the most radical
progressives has resulted in a complete re-orientation of the traditional
Christian discourse (Hall, 2011). The death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ as the Son of God for the salvation of mankind would be a key doctrine
to the vast majority of Christians. Yet progressive Christianity seeks to
rid itself of any kind of soteriology and the related concepts of the
Original Sin, guilt, judgement and inherent worthlessness of humans. They
see these ideas as extremely negative, destructive and oppressive in the
sense that they lead people to needlessly despise themselves sometimes
leading to self-flagellation; one leader even felt that the promotion of
such an ideology was the worst injustice committed by Christianity. Not content
with the rejection of Christian soteriology, progressive leaders also seek
to jettison traditional Christian eschatology; progressive leaders reject
the view of heaven and hell as existing separately from and beyond this
life. If they believe in such concepts it is in a very abstract way, more
as states of mind which can be achieved in this life by anybody (see
Sanguin, 2011; Plumer, 2011b; Lawton, 2011) so that ‘heaven’ can be found
in this world by a variety of methods (see the section below on progressive spirituality).
Progressive theology goes even further in its
rejection of orthodox Christian doctrine to the redefinition of both God
and Jesus. In the same way that they cease to view heaven and hell as
existing outside the universe, many progressives reject any theistic model
of God preferring to see him as part of the universe thereby allowing us
to touch the divine in this life. God is no longer the big man in the sky
who controls the world, makes demands of us and can be petitioned. Prayer
is now seen more as a therapeutic activity, a way finding the inner
strength to solve our problems for ourselves. That God is the universe or
the universe is part of God means that each of us is also in some small
way sacred or even divine; we are all sons (or daughters) of God, which
reinforces the emphasis on the inherent worth of human beings. The actual
word ‘God’ has become an issue for progressives because of its theistic
connotations and so there is no agreed label for this new concept which
may reflect a wider confusion over what ‘God’ actually is to post-theistic
Christians.
This movement is slowing making its way into
mainstream America. The militant LGBT
community is their foot soldiers. Political
correctness is their weapon of choice. And
Duck Dynasty is just one of many casualties.
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