Dr Paul Allen

English: Immanuel Kant Deutsch: Immanuel Kant (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Pluralism has found a home among the people of God. While pluralism—the acceptance of nonbiblical ideas and practices as compatible with biblical faith and life—is not a new phenomenon, its persistence in church history and the pervasiveness of its influence today is a matter of deep concern for believers. What differentiates old from new pluralisms is how pluralism was opposed in the Bible and early church but enthusiastically embraced by the church in recent eras. Evidences of pluralism appeared early in Israel ’s life. Idolatry existed alongside traditional worship in the temple in Jerusalem. Israelites worshiped the god Baal through grossly immoral acts and engaged in child sacrifice to the Ammonite god Molech while maintaining a semblance of traditional worship in yearly festivals and sacrifices in the temple (see Jer. 7:8–10). Prophets repeatedly castigated Israel for engaging in magical practices forbi...

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 1 John 1:1 –4 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes…and heard we proclaim also to you” (vv. 1–3). Biblical Christianity is not pure subjectivism . There is an objective content — Christ ’s life, death, and resurrection — that undergirds our faith. Without this content there is no way to know if we are depending upon the right God . Hegel , himself no friend of biblical Christianity, criticized Schleiermacher , saying that if the essence of religion was the feeling of absolute dependence, then the dog, being absolutely dependent upon people, is the most divine creature of all. Many people feel dependent on their spouses, their jobs, or the teaching of other religions, but this does not make them truly pious. Only those dependent upon the biblical Jesus , who is fully God and fully man, will ever find salvation ( John 14:6 ). Related articles Rush Limba...