Progressivism is Anti-Christ

Updated 11/23/2017*

The following is an incomplete list of the tenets of Progressivism and a Christian response to them. Progressivism is a religious faith that is in every case an explicit perversion and negation of Christianity. The beliefs of Progressivism are one hundred eighty degrees in opposition to Biblical truth.

The list below is far from comprehensive and not in a proper logical order and will be updated from time to time.

The format is to present the term which represents an aspect of Progressivism followed by a definition that attempts to go beyond the whitewashed dictionary offering. Finally, there is a brief response that should represent the scriptural reality.

What is lacking here is a detailed examination of how these Progressive articles of faith manifest themselves in the beliefs and behaviors of individual Christians and in the Church, in general. That will be the project of many future posts.

Secularism
The separation of political and public spheres from the religious or spiritual spheres. The relegation of all things spiritual to the personal/private spheres.

To this, the Christian should say, no, all things are sacred. All things are in subjection to The Lord Jesus. He has dominion over all individuals, nations, governments, and institutions. There is no thing that is outside of His reign.

Humanism
A philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the autonomy of man.

But, in reality, the revealed Word of God tells us that Man is the creation of God. We are wholly dependent upon Him and we are to be in submission to Him. His relationship to God is one of Worship. Incidentally, Libertarianism is also a humanist ideology.

Naturalism/Materialism
All phenomena are natural. Matter is all that exists. The supernatural or spiritual are excluded.

But, the truth is the opposite. The supernatural does exist. It doesn't exist in the sense that it "also" exists, alongside of the natural world, but it exists like the superset, of which the natural world is a mere subset. God is the one self-existent entity. All other things that exist have their being in Him and continue their existence at His whim. He is Supernatural and so is His creation.

Subjectivism

There is no external or objective truth.

Wrong again; God defines objective truth. He IS the way, the truth and the life.

Equalitarianism
The philosophy that asserts that equality reflects the natural state of humanity.

So far we have been sailing waters that are not particularly controversial, at least on the surface. Here, however, is one that is especially difficult for the post-modern mind, steeped in Progressivism, to see through. The Scriptural truth is that Equality does not exist. It doesn't exist in any meaningful sense outside the purely mathematical, one equals one. There is no physical equality among men. There is no intellectual equality. There is no moral or spiritual equality.

The gifts and blessings of God given to his people are diverse. Paul's elucidation of The Body of Christ is an example of this. God's creation of Male and Female and their different but complementary roles. The hierarchy of God, the head of Christ, and Christ the head of Man, and Man the head of Woman is another affront to the notion of equality. Another example, dispelling the objection that God certainly must love everyone equally, is God's assertion that "Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated."

It is important to note that some non-equality is qualitative (for example, the spiritual state of the believer over that of the unbeliever), some is merely quantitative (the taller man over the shorter), and some is structural (husband over wife).

A lot more needs to be said about this one.

Religious Pluralism
A diversity of religious belief systems can, and should, co-exist in society. Separation of the secular and the sacred promotes this possibility.

The first commandment repudiates this. A Christian society can no more tolerate the open practice of false religions than ancient Israel should have tolerated the worship of Baal or Molech. This is another one that is difficult for the post-modern Christian living in a post-Christian culture.

Globalism
The religion of The One. This is the belief that the social, political, cultural amalgamation of man under a single entity is a natural and desired outcome of Progress.

The above is nothing more than neo-Babelism. The Nations, as created by God after the incident at the tower of Babel were the intentional result of the confusion of the languages of man, brought about as a check on man's capacity for evil. This was done for our good and the existence of the Nations will persist and continue to accomplish God's intention. National and ethnic difference are God-ordained.

Multiculturalism
Promotion of multiple cultural traditions within a single geographic space. All cultures are qualitatively equal.

This one is highly related to Globalism. Cultures are not qualitatively equal. They are good to the extent that they glorify the one true God. God's division of the nations was to reduce evil. Mixing, to a significant degree, large populations of people of different national and ethnic groups, even within the Church, is a recipe for strife. Membership within the Church does not wipe away all of the earthly effects of the Fall.

Feminism
The promotion of sexual equalitarianism and female autonomy.

God has created male and female to be distinctly different from one another, to fulfill different roles in the family and in society, and to occupy different positions in God's authority structures. See Equalitarianism and Humanism, above.

Environmentalism
All species are inherently equal. Man is a destructive agent.

The Christian answer to this is that God has uniquely created Man in His image and mandated that Man exercise a righteous dominion over creation. There is no equality between Man and the other created kinds. Man's influence is to be a productive stewardship. (There is plenty of room to criticize specific activities of men that are contrary to this mandate.)

Public (Secular) Education
Free education that is religiously/morally neutral is basic right and imperative goal of a progressive society.

All education is inherently religious. We are to train and educate our children in accordance with Scripture to the glory of God, not yoking ourselves unequally with unbelieving teachers and systems.

Racism
The range of what qualifies has broadened to any of the following. The belief that some races, tribes, nations, or people-groups are inherently inferior or superior to others. The belief that there are real, observable, and measurable differences between one people-group and another. The belief that race (a genetically identifiable people-group) exists. The belief that someone from a non-white people-group might be wrong about something. The belief that someone from a white people-group might be right about something.

Those last two definitions might seem cynical, but it is increasingly the case that they are the reality.

The notion of race exists in the Bible. It speaks about the human race, or Man (Genesis 6:5-7). The people of Israel are a holy race (Ezra 9:2) while other people are referred to as a mongrel race (Zechariah 9:6). The Bible is replete with references of people, tribes, and nations existing even up to the end of the age (Revelation 7:9).

It was God Himself who created the diversity of nations at the tower of Babel. Much more should be said about this, but see Multiculturalism and Globalism, above. See also this about The Nations.

Thanks to Gary M for talking through much of this with me. I have used a framework of "isms" that he created which has helped me organize my thoughts.

...More to come...