Our Life and Times : Biblical Reasoning for a Modern Age

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Norman Harold Patterson Jr.

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The Death of the United Methodist Church: Part 2 - Quadrilateral Confusion

While the United Methodist Church claims Scripture is “primary,” practically speaking, the Bible takes a back seat to Tradition, Reason, and Experience. Find out why the Weslayen Quadrilateral has opened to door to Theological Pluralism and its decline.

Introduction

One of the core methodological tenants of United Methodism is what is called the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. To outsiders, "quadrilateral" is a geometric term describing an object with four equal sides. In essence, this definition helps us understand the Wesleyan Quadrilateral.

If I had a nickel for every time someone mentioned the Quadrilateral throughout my seminary and pastoral days in the UMC, I would be a wealthy man. The Quadrilateral is at the heart of United Methodism understanding and interpretation. It's how Methodists "do" theology.

I don't know if it is accurate to say that the Quadrilateral is a UMC doctrine. As I mentioned earlier, it is more a method of “doing” theology. And, as the name of the denomination suggests, Methodists love methodology.

What is the Quadrilateral?

United Methodist Church's (UMC) Book of Discipline 2016 edition states on page 103,

Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.

The official website of the UMC states:

The phrase which has relatively recently come into use to describe the principal factors that John Wesley believed illuminate the core of the Christian faith for the believer. Wesley did not formulate the succinct statement now commonly referred to as the Wesley Quadrilateral. Building on the Anglican theological tradition, Wesley added a fourth emphasis, experience. The resulting four components or "sides" of the Quadrilateral are (1) Scripture, (2) tradition, (3) reason, and (4) experience. For United Methodists, Scripture is considered the primary source and standard for Christian doctrine. Tradition is experience and the witness of development and growth of the faith through the past centuries and in many nations and cultures. Experience is the individual's understanding and appropriating of the faith in the light of his or her own life. Through reason the individual Christian brings to bear on the Christian faith discerning and cogent thought. These four elements taken together bring the individual Christian to a mature and fulfilling understanding of the Christian faith and the required response of worship and service.

While UMC.org clearly states, "For United Methodists, Scripture is considered the primary source and standard for Christian doctrine," the reality is that practically speaking, the Scripture ends up taking a back seat to tradition, reason, and experience. If you don't believe me, read what the Book of Discipline states on page 102 and 103 of the 2016 edition:

But, even as they (United Methodists) were fully committed to the principles of religious tolerance and theological diversity, they were equally confident that there is a "marrow" of Christian truth that can be identified and that must be conserved. This living core, as they believed, stands revealed in Scripture, illuminated by tradition, vivified in personal and corporate experience, and confirmed by reason. They were very much aware, of course, that God's eternal Word never has been, nor can be, exhaustively expressed in any single forms of words." (emphasis mine)

In my article on United Methodist Corporate Pluralism, I showed how Theological Pluralism is nothing more than pagan relativism. While allowing for "religious tolerance and theological diversity" sounds innocent enough, this has lead to the decline of the UMC and the inevitable church split where "traditionalists" are politely but forcefully being kick out of the denomination. The truth is, Theological Pluralism is the most intolerant form of "theology" there is.

What is Scripture?

It is the self-revelation of the one and only self-existing Triune God who has revealed Himself as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The self-authenticating Bible claims countless times to be the very words of the Christian God. It reveals God's plan of salvation through the Second Person of the Trinity, the God/Man Jesus Christ, who is the only mediator between God and man. The Bible is infallible and inerrant in the original autograph. The Holy Spirit has preserved the integrity of any copies so that any discrepancies are insignificant, easily detectable, and do not change what God intends to communicate to us.

Contrary to what the United Methodist Book of Discipline says, God’s Word does give an exhaustive revelation of everything we need for correct faith and practice. There is nothing more that God intended to communicate to us this side of eternity. Of course, no mere words can exhaustively convey the majesty and immensity of God, but even in heaven, God will not contradict what He has communicated in the Bible.

Why do I take so much time to outline the doctrine of Scripture? It is because, practically speaking, United Methodism slays the Bible on the altar of tradition, reason, and experience. I have seen this repeatedly in my time as a member and pastor in the United Methodist Church.

Tradition

Tradition must be subject to Scripture. Jesus Christ was adamant that tradition was a dangerous method to use when understanding the word of God. In Matthew 15:1-20, Jesus condemned tradition. Tradition has no place or authority in Biblical Christianity. Why, because eventually, tradition will take the place of Scripture.

Reason

Reason must be subject to Scripture. I could write volumes on this. People think that faith and reason are mutually exclusive. Many Christians believe that faith takes over where reason leaves off. They believe faith and reason, while friendly towards one another, live in different spheres. As such, reason often trumps Scripture.

The truth is that reason is not possible apart from the revelation of the Truinue Christian God as revealed in the Bible. Take away the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and you cannot prove anything. Logic, reason, and science is not possible apart from the Trinity. Without the God of the Bible, there is no way to account for the immaterial laws of logic, the consistency of rationalism, and the cause and effect necessary to do science. All are founded upon none other than the self-existing Trinitarian God.

We know who God is, how He holds the universe together, and His holy character because of His self-revelation in the Bible. As the Bible says, "In Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28). It also claims that all things happen "according to the counsel of His goodwill." (Ephesians 1:11) These two verses alone account for logic, reason, and science, but there are many more besides these.

Experience

Finally, I consider experience to be the worst member of the Quadrilateral. It is interesting that John Wesley added this to the Anglican Church’s “trilateral.” Human beings have all kinds of bizarre experiences. I've heard people testify to astral projection, encounters with aliens, and visitations of angels, even visitation to heaven. People experience sexual desire for anything under the sun. However, for the very reason experience is so strong, human beings will try to explain or justify it to the best of their ability. Paul drove this point home in Galatians 1:8, for example, even if you experience an angel from heaven preaching another gospel, let that messenger be accursed.

Conclusion

We have many traditions that are contrary to Scripture. Atheistic reasoning often presents itself as contrary to Scripture rather than seeing Scripture as necessary for reason. Experience is so powerful that people seek explanations outside of Scripture or contrary to Scripture.

The United Methodist Church is splitting and dying because it has compromised the authority of Scripture. While it claims Scripture is "primary," practically speaking, everything but Scripture has ultimate authority in the UMC.

As I was finishing my Masters in Divinity at Asbury Theological Seminary, I was going through the process of ordination in the New York Annual Conference. I remember one of the questions in my examination asking what I thought about the Quadrilateral. Even back in 1987, I said that I do not hold to it. I told them that according to the Bible, there is no other standard by which we determine or understand truth. Tradition, reason, and experience must be absolutely subject to the Bible. Needless to say, they denied my ordination. It doesn't take a lot of thought to know why.

We find the Dominion Mandate for Bible-believing Christians in Genesis 1:26-28:

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

For Christians, this means that God has given us the responsibility to take dominion over the entire world. We have God's approval and authority to "fill the earth and subdue it." Add to this Christ's call in Matthew 28:19+20 to:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

And 2 Corinthians 10:3-6:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

While God called Christians to be separate from the world in holiness, He doesn't give us the option to isolate ourselves from the world physically. As Jesus said:

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. John 17:14-15

Because of false piety and a lack of understanding of these and other Dominion affirming Biblical texts, Christians far too often vacate the world, leaving an "influence vacuum." As the old saying goes, "nature abhors a vacuum." Because of this, instead of taking Dominion over the arts, sciences, court systems, political offices, universities, and so on, Christians withdraw into isolated communities only to leave the world unoccupied.

As a result, anti-Christ people and philosophies have readily taken over virtually every facet of life. The greatest antithesis to Biblical Christianity has understood and intentionally implemented the Dominion Mandate for their own sinister ends.

The most dangerous of all are those espousing Cultural Marxism. Briefly, Cultural Marxism is an expansion of Classical Marxism, which focuses primarily on the economic philosophy of Karl Marx. Cultural Marxism is much more all-encompassing than Classical Marxism.

Ultimately, Cultural Marxism is about liberating humanity from the moral constraints of Biblical Christianity. The Bible prohibits same-sex intimacy, adultery in all forms, polygamy, bigamy, bestiality, pedophilia, and so on. God created man and woman in His image and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply; the Dominion Mandate!

The method Cultural Marxism employs to propagate its insidious agenda is through applying the Biblical Mandate. The plan has been and continues to be for those who oppose Biblical Christianity to infiltrate and dominate every known sphere of influence. As Voddie Bachem pointed out, their strategy is to take over the "robes" of society; professors, pastors, and judges, for example.

R.J. Rushdoony and the Christian Reconstructionists proposed the same tactic, taking over the "robes" of society. However, instead of a great "Amen" from the rest of the Church, Christian Reconstructionism has been vilified as patriarchal, extreme, and misguided.

In the meantime, Cultural Marxism is dominating the universities, media, churches, courts, arts, etc. They are putting Christians and Christianity to shame by their ardent intentionality to dominate the world for Self.

As the degeneration of our culture continues, so will the hostility toward Biblical Christianity. And just as Marxism tried to destroy Biblical Christianity through the reign of terror in anti-Christ regimes like the Soviet Union and Communist China, modern Marxists will not rest until Biblical Christianity is destroyed.

The good news, however, is the promise of Jesus Christ. He said that the "gates of hell" will not prevail against the Church. (Matthew 16:18) The image Christ was giving was not a Church that was cowering in the corner, battening down the hatches until the storm of hell subsided. Just the opposite. Hell is under attack, and its filthy gates are no match for the power and glory of the Risen Christ and His Bride.

Christians can no longer cower in corners. It is time for us to take up the battle cry and assault Cultural Marxism and any other "high place" (2 Corinthians 10:3-6) that dares to raise itself against the knowledge of God. Our weapons are not of the flesh (Ephesians 6), but they are weapons nonetheless and are worthless if left unused.

It is time for Christians to take back our country, our world for Christ. We must do it according to the means and methods of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, which means we must take Dominion and occupy all walks of life for the glory of the crown rights of Jesus Christ.