So many people these days have the idea that truth can be anything we want it to be that, when it comes to the church, many of these same individuals believe that the church can be anything they want it to be. Many of the fastest growing churches in the country are those that promise, with no apology at all, to be whatever their “congregation” desire them to be. For example entertaining them to the point of feeling good instead of Spirit filled.
The concept that we ought to follow the New Testament as God’s authority for what He wants the church to be has come to be old fashioned. It is often classified as the mentality of a by gone era when people were not spiritually enlightened as we are today. Even among those who in the past have pled for the New Testament Christianity, there are now many who question whether there is any first century pattern that we must go by today. Advocating a “new hermeneutic”, these re-interpreters of the Scriptures argue that the New Testament “truth” is a mostly subjective concept and that we are free to mold the church into whatever we think meets the needs of contemporary culture.
But if the Bible teaches anything it teaches that God’s authority must be taken seriously. It is highly presumptuous for those to think they can determine what pleases God by nothing but their own reason.