Truth Vs. Transorthodoxy

The Battle Christians Are Facing Today

A wolf hiding among the sheep.

§I. What is Truth?

To many in the unbelieving world, what we call truths are actually non-negotiable socially constructed beliefs used to exclude people from one’s in-group. As far as these people are concerned, whether or not these beliefs are justifiable is irrelevant; they are non-negotiable and, therefore, exclusivist and harmful. The proponents of this thinking believe that there is only one non-negotiable belief about reality that must be recognized, and it’s this:

For all humans, objective knowledge of anything is impossible to obtain. This beliefs serves as the foundation for all subsequent beliefs, including those related to morality.

Consequently, it’s argued that if we are going to get along with one another, then we need to be more accepting and tolerant of others who see things differently than we do. Like Pontius Pilate, today’s metaphysically unmoored intellectuals, philosophers, artists, and their followers derisively ask: “What is truth?”¹ And like Pilate, they don’t wait for answer, but instead seek the approval of others by conforming to their customs.²

Christianity comes under attack from those embracing this way of thinking precisely because it teaches us that truth is not a social construct. Truth is God’s eternal possession, but one that he has given to man, and which he has given us the blessing and duty of coming to embrace by the proper use of our minds. As God is unchanging, so too is truth. What God has stated about himself and his creation, therefore, is unchanging and non-negotiable. Truths are propositions which correspond to reality.

§Ia. Truth and Spiritual Life Are Inseparable

Man cannot live properly, whether physically/naturally or spiritually/supernaturally, apart from the use of his mind in the pursuit, apprehension, embrace, reflection upon, propagation, and utilization of the truth. Regarding the relationship of truth to one’s spiritual life (in conversion and sanctification), the Scriptures speak clearly —

…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.³

…the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.⁴

“…the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.”⁵

“…John…has borne witness to the truth.”⁶

“…you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”⁷

“… when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…”⁸

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”⁹

“…for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”¹⁰

“…For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”¹¹

…he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.¹²

“…I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.”¹³

Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers…¹⁴

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.¹⁵

Love…rejoices in the truth...¹⁶

…in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God…by knowledge…by the word of truth, by the power of God…¹⁷

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation…¹⁸

…the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth…¹⁹

…we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth…²⁰

…God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth…²¹

Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.²²

…you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit…²³

…it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.²⁴

…the truth…abides in us and will be with us forever…²⁵

What is key to note in these verses is that salvation and sanctification cannot be separated from the truth. Or to put the matter simply —

One cannot be saved or sanctified through theological falsehoods.

§II. Transorthodoxy — A Definition

Given that Scripture teaches one can only be saved through the true Gospel, i.e. the Word of Truth, any person embracing a view contrary to this is standing in clear opposition to the Scriptures. Today, however, there are many Christians who identify heretics as Christian brothers, and by so doing lend support to the transorthodox community and its agenda. This is an evil that affects not only the individual Christians who are (likely) unwittingly supporting the infiltration of sound churches by heretics who will destroy them in due time, but also the larger society in which the transorthodox agenda progresses, as it lends credence to the thinking of the metaphysically unmoored thinkers mentioned in § I. above, thereby sustaining the very culture it pretends to oppose.

The transorthodox community is a group of unregenerate individuals (i.e. unbelievers) who identify as regenerate individuals (i.e. Christians). The transorthodox believe that orthodoxy is a theological construct intended to consolidate power in the hands of the few, and exclude and disempower those “Christians” whose beliefs are not acceptable within the boundaries of said orthodoxy. The transorthodox community rejects the biblical binary between regenerate and unregenerate, at least in practice, by deconstructing Scriptural absolute binaries —e.g. faith/works, law/gospel, covenant of works/covenant of grace, etc. This is done in order to make Christianity more “inclusive” of differently presenting “Christians” (e.g. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Federal Visionist, etc). Thus, the transorothodox community believes that if their self-designated spiritual status is rejected this is due to bigotry, fear, jealousy, or hatred.

§IIa. The Transorthodox Agenda and Its Unwitting Supporters

The transorthodox community’s agenda is to infiltrate churches and utilize them and their resources in the service of (1)their heretical views and (2)the pursuit of wealth and power via cultural institutions and productions. The process of infiltration is slow, and it proceeds by way of theological problematization. Transorthodoxed individuals, over time, deconstruct Scriptural absolute binaries — e.g. faith/works, law/gospel, covenant of works/covenant of grace, etc. — thus rendering the ultimate absolute distinction orthodoxy and heresy a mere theological construct that may, without negative consequences, be accepted or rejected by the professing Christian.

Assuming that the distinction between orthodoxy and heresy is a theological construct intended to exclude differently presenting “Christians,” the transorthodox believe that refusing to accept their spiritual self-identification is hateful and spiritually harmful to the transorthodox. Thus, refusing to recognize a transorthodox heretic as a true Christian will result in cancellation, scorn, mockery, blackballing, and shadow banning by the transorthodox community. Tolerance of individuals who identify as Christian — despite believing a false gospel — is viewed as the pinnacle of Christian virtue. Christians are urged to “show love” by accepting heretical individuals as brethren.

The transorthodox community is currently using the above appeal to brotherly charity to manipulate well-intentioned Christians who are genuinely confused — as a result of the long deconstructive program played out by the transorthodox — about the Scriptural binaries mentioned above. Additionally, the transorthodox are also using the collapse of the West to their advantage, arguing that those who oppose the transorthodox are going to wind up on the wrong side of history. This communicates to a Christian that he benefits in the long run from easing up on doctrinal distinctions that clearly differentiate orthodoxy from heresy. The benefits are also temporal, seeing as accepting any number of heretical “Christians” as brothers will result in the accepter’s increased financial opportunities, funding, and appointments to political power.

§III. Concluding Remarks

However, consider the seriousness of the transorthodox movement. Their call to abandon the objective distinction between orthodoxy and heresy is a call to abandon the truth that objects — be they material or immaterial — can be, and are, differentiated according to their natures. Rejecting the absolute distinction between heresy and orthodoxy, and, consequently, the absolute distinction between who is or is not a Christian, is essentially no different than rejecting the absolute distinction between man and woman.

In both instances, we are being told that we can ignore the natures of things, or change the natures of things, by merely using words in a different manner. We are being told that we can transubstantiate a heretic into a Christian by declaring him to be one, just as we are being told by the non-Christian world that those who clearly have the immutable attributes of a man or a woman can become the opposite sex by the mere use of language (e.g. “gender affirming” language, “pronoun hospitality,” etc.). In both instances, we are being told that what God has declared to be the case is not clear, fixed, and binding, but ambiguous, fluid, and morally undecided.

What is particularly troubling about this is that some of the more prominent anti-transgenderism voices just so happen to be transorthodoxed individuals. While they oppose transgenderism, they engage in essentially the same thinking and behavior. Contrary to evidence demonstrating that they are heretics, they demand to be called brethren. Those who oppose them are not met with sound arguments backed by evidence, but appeals to force, appeals to emotion, appeals to authority, ad hominem attacks, appeals to ignorance, and many, many, many ignoratio elenchi.²⁶

Chief among the transorthodoxed we find proponents of Christian-esque political movements that are ecumenical, allowing for the blending of otherwise incompatible religions under the banner of “Christianity” — for example, Roman Catholic Integralism, Christian Nationalism, the Benedict Option, and Butterfieldian “Radical Hospitality.” If we support the blurring of distinctions between orthodoxy and heresy, accepting those who identify as Christian but lack the essential spiritual attributes of true Christians, we are merely replacing one ideology that rejects God’s authority and power to create and define reality with another equally heinous ideology.

As Christians, our chief concern is to be the truth of the Gospel. It is of first importance. Transorthodoxy, therefore, must be rejected. Scripture clearly teaches us that there is a distinction between orthodoxy and heresy. It likewise teaches us that those who believe a false gospel/heresy are not brothers in Christ. As people of the truth, we must speak the truth about this matter, even if that means we will be rejected, scorned, mocked, cancelled, and browbeaten for refusing to call heretics brethren.

—h.

1. John 18:38a.

2. John 18:38b-39. (emphasis added) —

…And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.

“But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

John Gill draws our attention to the fact that Pilate,

…as soon as he had put the question about truth, having no great inclination to hear what Christ would say to it; nor did he put it for information sake, or as having any opinion of Christ, and that he was able to answer it; he directly goes out of the judgment hall, taking Jesus along with him, and addresses the Jews after this manner:

…“I find in him no fault at all…But ye have a custom…”

Not a law, either of God or man's, but a custom; and which was not originally observed at the feast of the Passover, and perhaps was not of any long standing; but what the Roman governors, by the order of Caesar, or of their own pleasure, had introduced to ingratiate themselves into the affections of the people; and being repeated once and again, was now looked for…

[Gill’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (emphasis added)]

3. John 1:14. (emphasis added)

4. John 1:17. (emphasis added)

5. John 4:23. (emphasis added)

6. John 5:33. (emphasis added)

7. John 8:32. (emphasis added)

8. John 16:13. (emphasis added)

9. John 17:17. (emphasis added)

10. John 17:19. (emphasis added)

11. John 18:37. (emphasis added)

12. John 19:35. (emphasis added)

13. Acts 26:25. (emphasis added)

14. Rom 15:8. (emphasis added)

15. 1 Cor 5:8. (emphasis added)

16. 1 Cor 13:6. (emphasis added)

17. 2 Cor 6:3-7. (emphasis added)

18. Eph 1:13a. (emphasis added)

19. Eph 5:9. (emphasis added)

20. Col 1:3-6. (emphasis added)

21. 2 Thess 2:13. (emphasis added)

22. James 1:18. (emphasis added)

23. 1 Pet 1:22a. (emphasis added)

24. 1 John 5:6. (emphasis added)

25. 2 John 1:2. (emphasis added)

26. Latin for “irrelevant conclusions.” For an accessible explanation of these informal fallacies, see “Fallacies of Relevance”, Philosophy Pages, 2011, http://www.philosophypages.com/lg/e06a.htm.