Unchanging/Unchangeable

JMJ. When I was a kid, we all played a game we called "telephone." I'm sure there are other names but most of us have played it at one time or another. It's a great object lesson in how things can go awry if you place humans in the equation. Basically it involves a bunch of people (the more the merrier) sitting in a circle. The first person tells a simple tale to the person next to him, he to the next, and so on around the circle. The lesson comes when one compares the last tale to the first.

Now I don't have much of a problem with how things get garbled accidentally. After all, that's part of being human. What annoys the daylights out of me is that folks change things around on purpose, usually to suit their own agendas. Especially in matters religious. Now, Jesus, being God, was not stupid. He knew what it meant to be fully human. That was why He had to leave us with an infallible arbitrator/teacher to rule in cases of misunderstandings, intentional or otherwise. He left us the Catholic Church.

The Orthodox churches were the first to turn away from the safety of the Church's infallibility by denying the primacy of the heirs of St. Peter for their own nationalistic reasons. Then came the Protestant churches five hundred years ago, all making up doctrines to suit their own interpretations of God's holy Word. Things have devolved so badly that each "Christian" now makes things up as he or she goes along.

This is evidenced most starkly in the words of the red and black banner that hangs from most UCC churches and says "God is Still Speaking." Yes, I agree that He speaks to us each and every day. The idea implicit in their thought, though, is that He's saying different things than He did originally. Just like humans, they say, God is evolving. Society has changed so artificial birth control must now be allowed. Society is more complex than it was so it's ok to have sex outside of marriage or with someone not one's own marriage partner. "I'm gay and I'm entitled to love, too." Or even (God help us) "This baby I'm pregnant with is hampering my life-style so it's ok to abort it!"

Of course there's a fly in the ointment of these cafeteria Christians (and even cafeteria Catholics.) That fly is Holy Scripture--the one source that all Protestants point to as their sole authority. Take a look at Hebrews 13:8,9. I'll even quote it. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings." And when you stop to think about it (which the nay-sayers never do), it could be no other way. God is perfect; how can He need to evolve? If you put your hand into a fire and burns yourself, how can it be otherwise if repeated? The fire (especially the eternal fire) never loses its heat. Do not be deceived, do not leave the sureness which Christ left you.