Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

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our first love -- Jesus Christ (Rev. 2:4-5). Those who have fallen into apathy about God
and His Word need to put Him back on the throne of their lives, to “seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Mat.
6:33). Only when our priorities are set in proper order, does life make any sense.
The present-day [postmodern] call for ‘tolerance’ and ‘political correctness’ is
pervasive. Any kind of absolute faith commitment or firm doctrinal conviction is
ridiculed. Those who embrace ‘totalizing concepts’ and metanarratives like the Bible are
criticized as relics of bygone days. While it is ‘OK’ to embrace personal beliefs, it is
quite another matter to proselytize. It is quite alright for the postmodern pluralist to
demean those who embrace traditional, conservative views, but to criticize them in return
is wholly unacceptable: a double standard to be sure.
Religious dogma is simply not welcome in today’s ultra modern cultural climate --
even in many churches, who have succumbed to the spirit of our age (cf., 2Co. 4:1f; Gal.
1:4; Eph. 6:12). Lesslie Newbigin suggests that part “of the reason for the rejection of
dogma is that it has for so long been entangled with coercion, with political power, and so
with the denial of freedom -- freedom of thought and of conscience” (Newbigin,
1989:10). Mindless obedience to church dogma is not healthy for the individual, or for
the church. Fideism in metaphysics means giving priority to faith over reason, but in
contemporary usage has come to mean an irrational belief in things supernatural. What
too often happens is that ‘faith’ becomes a rote human tradition that is blindly followed.
A true, vibrant faith is one that has been intellectually considered and wrestled with, and
then embraced. God has given us reasoning minds so that we can thoroughly consider the
intellectual dimensions of the faith, especially in contrast to other religions and
philosophical constructs.
Pluralists and postmodernists alike cannot endure the so-called intolerance of
conservative, orthodox Christianity that stands upon the ancient, apostolic teachings.
Such certainty and dogma are for them, unrealistic, unproven, and unworthy of
humanity’s advance beyond mankind’s mythical and superstitious past. They prefer
instead something far less certain. “Universalism is thus the raison d'etre for the
response of openness to religious diversity thought to be required by postmodern thinkers.
University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa