don't stop believing

Yesterday I placed an order for Mike Wittmer's Don't Stop Believing. Per Wittmer, his book will deal with some of today's "hotly contested issues".

• Is it possible to know anything?
• Does the kingdom of God include non-Christians?
• Is hell for real and forever?
• Must you believe something to be saved?
• Can you belong before you believe?
• Is the cross divine child abuse?
• Which is worse: homosexuals or the bigots who persecute them?

I'm anxious to read his thoughts. There was time when these would have been considered no-brainers but today's spin-doctors have so distorted truth that many are deceived or at least feel guilty for thinking contrary to the current weltgeist. If his recent blog post is any indicator of what is to come, this should be a good read since he appears capable of addressing these topics head-on, a tact many today run from.

One example is Wittmer dealing with Doug Pagitt's faulty thinking that total depravity equates to "people suck" and therefore this could not possibly be truth. Wittmer rightly states:

People are created in the image of God, and so they have enormous value and, through common grace, the ability to do good to others. But people are also born rebels. We may often be good to each other, but none of us is good toward God. Adam and Eve bit the fruit in a futile bid to be like God, and their children have not stopped chasing the dream.

Our sin is why we need saving. From this follows the church’s traditional views on evangelism, hell, other religions, homosexuality, the substitutionary atonement, and the need to believe some basic facts about sin and Jesus in order to be saved.

Many of the current controversies can be traced back to the doctrine of original sin. Once this traditional domino falls, the others will quickly follow. And make no mistake, it is being pushed.