In last week’s post about J. Gresham Machen’s 1923 classic, Christianity And Liberalism, I mentioned that I grew up with theological liberalism in a mainline Protestant denomination. The pastor of my high school years was great at preaching eloquent sounding sermons that merely parroted the popular themes and trends of the 1960’s. I did not yet know what “liberalism” was, but I noticed that it was only the occasional guest speaker at our church who ever talked about sin, salvation or the second coming of Christ, and I rolled my eyes at our minister’s many attempts to be “cool.”
That pretty well encapsulates the dilemma and the farce of liberalism, which I’ll return to below. Having rejected, on philosophical grounds, the most basic assumptions of Christianity, such as the fact that there is a real God who has actually spoken authoritatively to mankind, the empty shell of Christianity which liberalism is left with is worse than worthless, for a merely worthless religion wouldn’t be inoculating millions of churchgoers into thinking that they’re “okay” with some sort of emasculated, unholy, impersonal, ever-smiling, senile god who may yet exist.
Today I want to move beyond the basic tenets of theological liberalism, which I shared last week, and briefly mention a few surprising observations and insights from Christianity And Liberalism:
Theological liberalism and the state
Machen points out that since theological liberalism rejects the concept of the Divine creation of unique human individuals bearing the image of God, responsible before the person and justice of God, it leads inevitably to some form of statism, the glorification or even the deification, of the state. Machen accurately predicted that liberalism would lead directly to some form of socialism.
On the contrary, liberalism is no friend of the republican form of government – a rule of law – for there exists no meaningful law where there is no lawgiver. The only remaining options are democracy (sometimes called “organized mob rule”) or some variety of lawless oligarchy or dictatorship. Machen seemed to foreknow that when “rights” are determined by popular vote, no one would be safe.
“Liberalism finds salvation (so far as it is willing to speak at all of ‘salvation’) in man; Christianity finds it in an act of God.”1 As Humanist Manifesto II, will put it, in 1973, “No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.”
“This world is really the centre of all his [the theological liberal’s] thoughts; religion itself, and even God, are made merely a means for the betterment of conditions upon this earth.”2
Theological liberalism, education, the arts and literature
“The modern world represents in some respects an enormous improvement over the world in which our ancestors lived; but in other respects it exhibits a lamentable decline. The improvement appears in the physical conditions of life, but in the spiritual realm there is a corresponding loss. The loss is clearest, perhaps, in the realm of art. Despite the mighty revolution which has been produced in the external conditions of life, no great poet is now living to celebrate the change; humanity has suddenly become dumb. Gone, too, are the great painters and the great musicians and the great sculptors. The art that still subsists is largely imitative, and where it is not imitative it is usually bizarre. Even the appreciation of the glories of the past is gradually being lost, under the influence of a utilitarian education that concerns itself only with the production of physical well being.”3
“Modern life is tending more and more toward the contraction of the sphere of parental control and parental influence. The choice of schools is being placed under the power of the state; the ‘community’ is seizing hold of recreation and of social activities…the lives of children are no longer surrounded by the loving atmosphere of the Christian home, but by the utilitarianism of the state. A revival of Christian religion would unquestionably bring a reversal of the process; the family, as over against all other social institutions, would come to its rights again.”4
Theological liberalism and societal respectability
Jesus said that “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” John 15:18-19
Theological liberalism and legalism
This was an eye-opener for me. Machen points out that liberal theology – while viewing itself as a liberator from fundamentalist restrictions and demands – lays upon its adherents its own form of legalistic religion.6
It works as follows – and again, I grew up with this – while there is no personal God, no crucifixion of the persons we once were, no regeneration and no indwelling Holy Spirit – we should all, nevertheless, be good. In fact, we should be as good as Jesus!
We are not surprised, of course, that this doesn’t work. Nor should we be surprised when liberal “Christians” accuse us evangelicals of hypocrisy; they are merely thinking they see in us the moral bankruptcy and frustration which they are finding in themselves. “I’m faking it, so they must be faking it.”
Obviously, this only heightens the need for them to be able to see real victory, real joy and real humility in those of us who claim to enjoy the grace of God and the Spirit of God as a daily miracle. The admission that “Christians aren’t perfect, they’re just forgiven,” should come easily to our lips, and with it, the actual overcoming of sin’s grip with heaven-sent power should be seen in our lives.
Why theologically liberal institutions are dying
One might think that a message which is all “roses and lollipops” would be enormously popular, but clearly, this is not so. Just look at the empty parking lots of the liberal churches in your town. Somehow the approval of the irreligious and immoral power-brokers of this world does not translate into actual attendance at actual liberal churches, except on the days when liberal “ministers” open their doors to political campaign rallies.
Why is this so?
First off, as mentioned in my introductory paragraphs, theological liberalism has no distinct message. All it has is the humanism of the Optimist Club or the public school classroom wrapped in liturgical robes. It offers no certainty of anything. The audacious faith of the Apostle Paul addressing the Athenians (in Acts 17:16-34) would be just as laughable in the modernist pulpit as it was on Mars Hill.
Beyond that, Machen points out that there is no joy in liberalism, for there is no law, no wrath, no savior and no forgiveness. What’s there to sing about? The terrible weight of trying to imitate Jesus? Just as there is no certainty of anything, neither is there salvation from anything. “The truth is, the God of modern preaching, though he may perhaps be very good, is rather uninteresting. Nothing is so insipid as indiscriminate good humor. Is that really love that costs so little? If God will necessarily forgive, no matter what we do, why trouble ourselves about Him at all?”7
“Why indeed!?” says the son or daughter of the liberal church member. “I’ll show up at Christmas if I have to, but once a year is enough of that.”
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So what are your takeaways from all this?
I have several, you may have others. (And there are more “surprising insights” in the book which I haven’t mentioned here.)
First off, I’m reminded that a part of my wondrous salvation at the hands of our gracious God is epistemological. It’s knowing. We don’t have to wonder if there’s “any life out there.” We know who’s out there and we know that He is able and willing to love us in Christ. This is as wonderful to me today as it was when I first believed and left my hippie life and my hippie mind.
Second, I want to make sure that I’m not infected by liberal thinking in any way, shape or form. Thinking that our mission is to transform our communities – instead of building the community known as the Church which builds the Kingdom of God – is just one small example of liberalism’s insidious influence on our thinking.
Third, I rejoice in the death of liberalism even while growing in my burden for the millions of lost persons (including pastors) who are trying to conjure up some sort of Christian hope from behind the walls of their liberal churches. The most sanctimonious of them need Christ like you and I did before we trusted the Savior.
In some respects, we must view them as our enemies. They want our babies, our children, our schools, our rights, our government and our approval for their immoral lifestyles. We must not surrender on any of this.
And on the other hand, we must love our enemies, including those who think of themselves as Christian when everything about them says that they are not. They need the gospel of Christ like anyone else, and they desperately need to see our love and unity amongst ourselves.
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All quotations, unless otherwise noted above, are from Christianity And Liberalism. My “New Edition,” with a forward from Carl R. Trueman, is from Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
1p. 99
2p. 125
3p. 8
4pp. 129, 130
5p. 104
6p. 121, 122
7p. 112
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If I can bless you by listening to and praying with you, don’t hesitate to contact me at churchwhisperer@gmail.com. Let’s set something up.
