by Greg Tidwell

"You're making a mountain out of a molehill," my more progressive friends would say. They assured me a decade ago that no one among churches of Christ intended to use instrumental music as worship. Over the ensuing years, however, these same friends have begun using instrumental music in their worship services.

"No one among churches of Christ doubts inerrancy," my more progressive friends assured me. "Certainly," they scoffed, "anyone denying inerrancy would leave the church." These same friends now publicly deny the total accuracy of the text of Scripture.

My more progressive friends have likewise shifted their position concerning the role of women in the church and the fixed plan of God's way of salvation. Everything seems to be in play, and nothing seems certain.

A Slippery Slope

Continually, on every issue imaginable, the progressive element in the church has shifted further to the left. Dialogue with proponents of the Community Church approach has become like playing football against a team that has the luxury of moving the goalpost any distance they choose.

Their guiding principle is not fixed and objective, but fluid and subjective. The overriding issue is not "what is right," but rather "who is right." My more progressive friends, as a matter of policy, are unwilling to drive a stake in the ground and set boundaries on any point of doctrine.

They now deny the reality of eternal punishment in hell, the essential nature of baptism for salvation, and the need for biblical authority to structure the work and worship of the church. Like watching the bar in a limbo contest, I keep asking, "how low can you go?"

The Full Assurance of Faith

I fear there is nothing to hold the Community Church Movement back from embracing every vile error imaginable. Apostasy is cumulative by nature, a duplicitous downward spiral. As the apostle Paul warned Timothy, "…evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13, ESV).

Consider the Disciples of Christ and the Episcopal Church. A generation ago, no one would have imagined either group embracing homosexual activism. However, the same disregard for Scripture that opened the door to the ordination of women has paved the way for practicing homosexuals to fill the pulpits of these apostate denominations.

I actually feel sorry for my more progressive friends. In compromising with the unbelieving world, they are abandoning the eternal assurance of the gospel. In denying the truths they find unpleasant or inconvenient, they are losing the framework that upholds all truth. In the end, having compromised everything, they will find themselves left with nothing.