Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 06:1 (Spring 2024)
Article: Editorial: Some Things Never Change
Author: Colin J. Smothers

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Editorial: Some Things Never Change

Colin J. Smothers

Eikon Executive Editor

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus (535– 475 BC) famously quipped, “There is nothing permanent except change.” From one angle, we can understand what he meant by this oxymoron. As time-bound creatures, all we experience is change. And to be familiar with human history is to know each passing era is marked by slower or more rapid change. But the Christian knows a higher Truth rooted in greater Wisdom: There is nothing permanent except God, who does not change (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8). Those who supplant God with change make Progress their god. And “progress” is a cruel taskmaster.

2024 is shaping up to be a year of seismic change. Under the guise of “progress,” humanity is regressing in rebellion. Caught in the fray, the church continues to be buffeted by the world on every side, challenged particularly in her understanding of anthropology and authority. What does it mean to be male and female in the image of God? What does it mean to be creatures coram Deo, before God, who is our Maker? And have the right answers to these questions really changed with the changing times?

Will our generation stand on God’s unchanging Word against the tide and resist change just for the sake of it? Or will we be duped by the god of “progress”?

As Christians prepared on Good Friday to celebrate Easter this year — an event believers around the world have marked every year for 2,000 years — the President of the United States issued a proclamation declaring March 31st, Resurrection Sunday, to be “Trans Visibility Day.” The contrast could not be any more stark: A fallible, sinful man issued a word about a fake

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holiday celebrating a fake identity (everyone knows a man cannot become a woman and vice versa) from one of the most powerful seats in the world. Meanwhile, Christians celebrated the true Word made flesh, obedient and sinless, crucified, buried, and raised from the dead to rescue us from our fraud and rebellion, and who is right now sitting at the right hand of God in heaven.

Of course, we should not be surprised when the world acts worldly. But what about those who bear the name of Christ? At their General Conference earlier this year, the United Methodists voted overwhelmingly to capitulate to the LGBT revolution, lifting a ban on the ordination of homosexual clergy. The sinful rebellion did not stop there. The platform instructed delegates to introduce themselves with their preferred pronouns and not to use “exclusively masculine” language for ...