The Murder of Charlie Kirk, Part 4c: Cultural vs. Biblical Christianity

The Murder of Charlie Kirk, Part 4c: Cultural vs. Biblical Christianity
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Contemporary issues / Postmodernism / Scripture discussion / The church / Thought for Today / Truth telling

Cultural vs. biblical Christianity. Whether the cultural version of the faith is that of the political right or left, neither side represents biblical Christianity.

In the previous post, we observed that the most prominent version of Christianity on the political right meshes well with the old “American dream” materialistic goals, but not what Scripture states. Difficulty, suffering, hardship, dying to self? Nope, not here.

But the “Christian” versions of the political left are no better. Biblical Christianity? Not to be found here either. Can the political left point to some things? Sure. In Acts 2:43–47, in the earliest church, believers held their possessions in common. Was that arguably a type of socialism? Yes, although in a strictly voluntary, Christ-centered form, not the enforced confiscation typically politically demanded. But still, it does serve as a type of example. Contrary to the political right, the political left also speak of hardship, suffering and oppression, albeit in terms of political oppression.

But what about the political left’s Jesus? Does that Jesus bear any resemblance to the Jesus of the Scriptures? No. Who is their Jesus? The left’s typical Jesus, is a Jesus remade in the left’s image. That Jesus is a rabble-rousing illiterate peasant—even though Luke 4:16–17 indicates Jesus could read—who uttered pithy short sayings. His reformist goals got him in trouble with the authorities, both political and religious, so they had him crucified.

He never claimed to be God. That claim was invented by his later well-meaning but misguided followers. Jesus dying on the cross for our sins? No. Sin is an old outdated erroneous concept. Our problems are cultural, social, possibly related to upbringing, psychological difficulties, and so forth; anything except the biblical reality of personal sin. Faith in Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation? Absolutely not. Jesus’s death as even just a means of salvation? Not really.

Starting in the late 19th century, with what was then known as the social gospel, Jesus’s teachings began to be reduced to a good ethical system, one worth following. Jesus, a great ethical teacher along with Buddha and others, nothing more. As we move on to the 20th and then the 21st centuries, we see what passes as the Christian religion in the Left being in lockstep with their causes and beliefs at the time.

From the social gospel, on down to liberal Christianity, to the Emergent church of about 1990–2015, and now the rise of progressive Christianity, the Left’s version of the faith keeps jettisoning whatever Scriptures had previously been retained, and rejecting what Christianity actually is.

What does one find today in denominations such as the ELCA, the Episcopal Church, and other faith groups of the Left? One finds very little even remotely biblical. Embracing Mother Earth? Certainly. Prayers to the Goddess? Yes. Even the Lord’s Prayer has been rewritten to be prayed to the Goddess. A total embrace of all forms of non-binary identity? Most definitely. Acceptance of all beliefs other than biblical Christianity? Yes. A form of godliness without the power of it (see 2 Timothy 3:5)? Absolutely.

As we saw in an earlier post, the same words will still be used, but their meanings will have been deliberately changed. The goal is to confuse, to convert opponents to the new position without them realizing it. For the longest time, that has been the approach used when it comes to biblical Christianity and the Left.

What do we see? All forms of cultural Christianity whether from the Right or Left are outright lies. Both sides reject biblical Christianity. Neither side wants the real Jesus. Albeit for different reasons, the biblical Jesus, the Jesus that He, himself, claimed to be is anathema for both sides. That is why it is so dangerous to let the faith become enmeshed with politics.

But when it comes to politics, where is Jesus, the real Jesus? We will turn to that question in the next post.

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