Pajama boy Christianity

I think another thing the controversy over Phil Robertson exposes is that there are at least two types of secularists - the bona fide secularists and the secularists in sheep's clothing.

In a strange way, I can respect secularists who say the Bible including its morals and ethics is outdated more than I can respect secularists who want to fuse together the Bible with their morals and ethics.

The former believe Christianity is a long bygone superstition best left for dead. That's one thing which we can address directly. A war of the worldviews.

However, the latter think we should accept the parts of Christianity we like and reject the parts we dislike. Update Christianity for the modern era. That's more insidious. It'd perhaps be a fifth column if it weren't so obvious. I think this is represented by some professing Christians who think it's all well and good for Robertson to be a Christian but he was grossly immoral to say what he said about homosexuality, even though Robertson was essentially paraphrasing what the Bible teaches.

The fact is these so-called "Christians" are the ones sitting in judgment over the Bible since they themselves are ultimately the ones who are the arbiters for what morals and ethics should or should not be part of Christianity. God's word is at best secondary to their own authority. And as best as I can tell what they decide to accept happens to reflect our secular morality and ethics.

Instead, they should either reject or submit to the whole counsel of God. Either bow their hearts and minds to God's word and become teachable like John Calvin who said "God, by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame," or throw off God entirely and like Dylan Thomas "Do not go gentle into that good night" but "Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

What they shouldn't do is pretend they can have it both ways. The result would be an effete Christianity, where the "icky" bits are tossed aside or glossed over while the "nice" bits are kept in - as they define "icky" and "nice." This might make for a good bedtime story for pajama boy, but it would scarcely suit the real world.