Donald Miller, the DNC, and Liberal Christianity.
OK, first, I am not really a fan of Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz). I read his book. I did not like it. I know that I am like the lone person out there who does not think this is the greatest book ever penned. I find Donald Miller to be very shallow and basically his beliefs are just liberal Christianity repackaged to appeal to a new generation. He sounds so pious and brilliant in his views, but there is really no meat to what he has to say.
So, Donald Miller gave the Benediction the other night at the Democratic National Convention. I have no problem with him doing that. It is not a moral issue, so if he thinks this is a good thing to do, then that is his decision.
I did find it very interesting how he closed his prayer though. He said, “I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice. Let Him be our example.”
Miller actually affirmed the standard liberal Christian view of Christ’s death. The orthodox biblical view is that Christ’s death was a Penal Substitutionary Atonement. In this view, Christ took on the actual sins of believers and suffered God’s wrath and punishment for those sins.
Miller’s view of the atonement, as espoused in his prayer, is the Example View of the atonement as held by the Socinians, which is the standard interpretation of liberal theologians who deny a whole host of historical, orthodox biblical positions.
The Example View of the atonement denies that God’s justice requires a payment for sin. Basically, Christ was just a martyr and a good person. Christ died for what He believed in, so we should be courageous and stand up for what we believe in too. Basically, this view just says to be good like Christ, which is very humanistic with nothing mysterious or spiritual about it. This view is contrary to so much Scripture that teaches that Christ died for our sins; that He bore our sins; and that He was a propitiation. In the end, man really winds up saving himself by following Christ’s example.
How sad it is that much of American Christianity looks to a man as a spiritual leader who has very screwed up theological views. No wonder American Christianity is in such shambles.