White Horse Inn - Romans Revolution (4) - Self Help Salvation

Random notes from the White Horse Inn episode Self Help Salvation.

Self Help Salvation

• “Fire and Brimstone” sermons have been replaced with self-improvement sermons. The message is friendlier, but the same.
• The natural religion of America is Pelagianism. We are self-sufficient; all we need is a little help.
• Bonhoeffer: America is Protestantism without the Reformation.
• American Protestantism is Roman Catholicism without the robes and incense.
• Like RC, Evangelicals have their own sacraments that are “man-to-God.”
• Many modern sermons aren’t any different from secular motivational speakers.
  There’s really good advice in them, but there is no Jesus.
• It’s better to have the truth of scripture than what is taught in church today:
  What is taught: We just need to love God and each other with all our hearts and strength.
  What is not taught: We can’t do it.
  What is not taught: Because of Jesus, our failure won’t send us to hell. (This is what makes the gospel “good news.”)

Common Evangelical Beliefs

• Regeneration comes after faith.
• God is love, so there is no wrath to worry about. All we really have to do is wake up to the fact that we are loved by God.
• 66% of Evangelicals believe “God helps those who help themselves” is in the Bible.
• Personal activation of the Holy Spirit (through decisions for Christ and personal prayers) are the Evangelical sacraments (sources of grace), replacing the Roman Catholic belief that grace comes through the church.
• Evangelicals misunderstand how the Covenant of Works work:
  They believe that God wants, not perfect obedience, but our best effort. (Or at least the intention of our heart.)
• Sin isn’t my problem, stress is. Jesus becomes my battery for energizing me in stressful situations.
  In the Bible, the only time we see stress is when Jesus caused it.
• Protestant fundamentalism: The Bible’s authority is based on Law, not on the fact that it points to Christ.
• Not the gospel: “God loves you anyway.”
  Gospel: “God loves you in Christ.”
• “I sin every day, but I am no longer a poor miserable sinner.”
• Pragmatism rules: “Whatever works for you.”
• Pragmatism rules: Larger congregations = greater truth.

Update: RC Sproul has an essay entitled “The Pelagian Captivity of the Church” that can be read on the Modern Reformation web site, or downloaded as a PDF from Monergism’s web site.