Theological Liberalism & the Sidelinging of Orthodoxy

(originally published as a Facebook note on February 20th, 2009)

I’ve noticed that there have been increased attacks on Biblical truth, Bible-believing churches & Christians, along with Bible preaching pastors. Yet, what’s disturbing is that this is coming from WITHIN the professing church, mostly from the theological left.

If you ask me, theological liberalism is one of the greatest dangers in the church today & unfortunately, many mainline denominations are veering to the left, including the United Church of Christ, the Episcopalians, the PCUSA, & some branches of the Anglican Church. In fact, I firmly believe that theological liberalism in some form or another is the root of most of the rank heresy coming from the church.

An Episcopal priest made the claim that one doesn’t have to believe that Christ physically & literally rose from the dead to be a Christian. A variety of Christians don’t believe that Christ is the ONLY way to Salvation, in fact liberal “Christian” scholar Marcus Borg, who also questions the inspiration of Scripture, prides himself on being a “non-exclusivist” Christian & there seems to be a push amongst some to make Christianity more inclusive. Last fall, the Anglican Church made the claim that the Darwinian theory of evolution is compatible Christian teaching. A variety of Christian groups & churches are pushing to find “common ground” with religions inspired by Satan. There are even elements of New Age philosophy being embraced amongst liberal professing Christians.

Then, of course, there’s the whole homosexual issue. I realize that homosexuality is a touchy subject. But, there are liberals like Tony Jones & Episcopal “bishop” Katherine Jefferts Schori coming out & saying that you can be an unrepentant homosexual & a Christian & that there isn’t a conflict between the two. Heck, one “minister,” a certain Reverend Ed Bacon, yet another Episcopalian, said on Oprah that “being gay is a gift from God.” Since when did clergy get the prerogative to turn something that God declared to be an abomination to be something that’s celebrated & a “holy lifestyle” as Schori put it?

I believe that the root of the issue of theological liberalism is the idea that God didn’t mean what He said in Scripture, or we have no means to really understand what He meant, as the Emergents often claim. When Schori claimed that homosexuality can be a holy lifestyle, she also pretty much made the argument that (& I’m paraphrasing this) “wait, we need the cultural CONTEXT of the passages that Christians claim are condemning homosexuality before we make a judgment on whether the Bible is condemning it.” It’s basically a case of the same old lie that Satan asked Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden: “did God really say?”

Then, of course, there are the liberals like retired heretical Episcopal “bishop” John Shelby Spong, who claims to be a “Christian,” yet denies almost every cardinal doctrine of Christianity that you can list, something that emergent guru Brian McLaren is going towards.

This liberalism combined with the modern method of evangelism, in my opinion, has created a spiritually deadly toxin. Too often, there’s been too much of an emphasis on the altar call or the sinner’s prayer in evangelism, without instruction in orthodox theology or Biblical repentance. So, it’s come to the point that although there’s been no repentance, the person isn’t growing in their faith & the fruit of their repentance is rotten to the core, to the point that you can almost see the flies buzzing around it, God bless them, the person’s saved because they prayed a prayer, made a “decision for Christ,” or came up during an altar call. But, I could write another note entirely about the neglecting of the sovereignty of God & the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s salvation when it comes to modern evangelism. But, it’s come to the point that doctrinally illiterate & carnal, wicked people are calling themselves Christians, who are really reprobates, are infiltrating the church, making theological liberalism extremely attractive & are pushing the church in that way. Hey, who want’s to even bother conforming to Christian teaching these days? After all, Oprah says she’s a Christian yet she’s had a spiritual love affair with New Age theology & proponents like Marianne Williamson & Eckhart Tolle. Country singer & sitcom star Reba McEntire also claims to be a Christian who believes in reincarnation. Even our new commander-in-chief, while I don’t believe that he’s a Muslim, if his theology is the same as it was when he gave an interview in 2004, has made it clear that he believes in a “god” of his own imagination & not the God of Scripture.

But, what is worse, is the increased marginalization of orthodox Christianity (no, I’m not referring to Greek or Russian Orthodoxy) by those professing to be Christians. I get the feeling that the liberals who are going around showcasing their new brand of man-centered Christianity are trying to sweep sound doctrine under the rug as much as possible. When doing some research concerning the author of a book that my school is endorsing, I came across a site run by the Episcopal Church (already a cesspool of liberal apostasy & outright heresy in some cases), in which a variety of Episcopal priests were answering questions submitted by people. Well, what they were basically saying is that there are SOME right wing fundamentalists who believe that Christ is the only way to salvation, or that you have to believe that He rose from the dead literally, but in reality, you can be a Christian but reject that. Those who believe in that are just backward crazy fanatics who are bigoted & ignorant.

In a sense, it reminds me very much of the public relations blitz that Muslims went on after 9/11. They were going on TV & radio shows claiming that Islam is a religion of peace & tolerance, while the Quran openly calls on the Muslim faithful to wage war on non believers, especially Christians & Jews, until they convert & allows husbands to beat their wives into submission to their will.

It’s getting increasingly ridiculous & as the liberal theologians try to cater to the carnal world, I suspect that it will get worse. I mean, there are people who are stunned when godly pastors cut through the fat of the pop-psychology, self-help seminars & group therapy sessions that pass as “sermons” & that are so prevalent in the American church & actually PREACH FROM THE BIBLE. Oh, the horror of actually BELIEVING what the Bible says!!! What’s worse is that this theological liberalism is getting ahold of the youth, particularly through Emerging leaders like Brian McLaren & Rob Bell.

It is my prayer that the godly pastors & true Christians stay strong, because, frankly, I believe that there will be some sense of persecution for holding to Biblical truths, be it outside or inside the church. I can see that wheat & the tares are already beginning to be separated in the church already.