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As liberalism entered the 20th century, it developed aggressively socialist sympathies.  This shouldn’t surprise us. Those years were the heyday of socialist (and Marxist) giddiness in the West, and an operative tenet of liberalism  is reconfiguring the Christian Faith to make it conform to the temper of the contemporary world.  It was trendy to be socialist, so… Continue reading

An indispensable tenet of liberalism is getting rid of the Bible as God’s infallible (i.e., inerrant) Word. Liberalism is all about adjusting the Faith to the temper of the times, and you can’t do that if you stick to the full inerrancy of the Bible amid the fluctuations of history and culture. The whole point… Continue reading

Most of us have heard the morality tale of the frog that leapt from the boiling pot when tossed in but allowed himself to be placed in a pot of cool water over a stove and boiled slowly to death.  Myth or not, it describes the pernicious deceptiveness of apostasy.  The unwary, foolish young man… Continue reading

Western culture is in dire — that is to say, depraved — straits.  But we’ve been in dire straits before. As recently as 70 years ago, fascism and National Socialism were engulfing Europe while England stood nearly alone in opposition and America quibbled about what role to play (or not). A massive world war shattered… Continue reading

In the first three installments, I’ve noted liberals’ (and liberal evangelicals’) enthronement of experience, their war on certainty, and their preference for pre-redemptive-era interpretations of Jesus rather than post-redemptive-era interpretations (Paul versus Jesus). We can’t go forward without touching on the liberal view of science. Liberalism emerged at a time (the 19th century) when scientific… Continue reading

I’ve already addressed liberals’ and (liberal evangelicals’) enthronement of experience and war on certainty. They claim to be Christians, so what do they say about Jesus Christ? In liberal theology, “[t]he core of Christianity is to be found in the personality of Jesus and in his teaching,” write Dillenberger and Welch (p. 209).  In this… Continue reading

I already observed in part 1 of this series that liberalism reengineers the Faith, and creates theology, in terms of man’s experience and feelings. The objective dimensions of Christianity (Bible, doctrine, church) become nothing other than a projection of man’s subjectivity.  This means that when man’s experience changes, his religion changes.  This is also why… Continue reading

An increasing number of evangelicals are becoming liberal evangelicals, which is to say, they are becoming liberal. Liberalism narrowly considered is identified with a movement in Europe and American in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but its theological impulse — to conform the Faith to the spirit of the age — has been… Continue reading

The most significant theological contribution by the late John Murray was his configuration of what he termed “definitive sanctification” (Collected Writings, 2:277-293).    Murray doesn’t deny the validity of the traditional definition of sanctification (the Christian’s progressive conformity to the image of Jesus Christ [pp. 294-304]); but he holds that “definitive sanctification” is anterior, and “is… Continue reading

Now as he [Paul] thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!” Acts 26:24 To my fellow Christians: would any unbeliever ever have warrant to accuse our vast learning of driving us mad?  If not, why not? Our times are marked by… Continue reading

Tullian Tchividjian writes: “When it comes to drawing near to God and pleasing him, legalism insists that obedience precedes acceptance — that it’s all up to us. But the fresh breeze of gospel freedom announces that acceptance precedes obedience — that once we’re already approved and already accepted by God in Christ, we can freely… Continue reading

“All anyone need know about the long-term prospects of gay marriage — and of the likely fate of a political party that opposes it — is that evangelical Christians under the age of 25 are more tolerant of gay marriage than New Deal Democrats over the age of 65.” Carl M. Cannon, Politics Daily, “Gay… Continue reading

This is a blunt message to Christian (and other) young adults. You are entitled to your own life choices, but you are not entitled to widespread endorsement of those choices.  You have a claim on your life, but you do not have a claim on everyone else’s imprimatur. Twin traits of young adults are (a)… Continue reading

Can We Expect Only to “Muddle Along”? I’ve already noted how that Mark Galli, Managing Editor of Christianity Today, has flirted with antinomianism in suggesting that the “gospel . . .  takes ethics away as duty and gives it back as joy — precisely because we don’t have to do it anymore but get to… Continue reading

My youngest daughter Peace was participating in a missionary trip to Mexico years ago with a local evangelical church. This was a basically good group, as far as I can tell, though I would, of course, disagree with some of their theological distinctives. She asked me, “Dad, before we go, we’re required to give the… Continue reading

Mark Galli, Managing Editor of Christianity Today, writes: We are in the bad habit of thinking that ethics is a REAL SERIOUS BUSINESS [his caps], that our welfare and the welfare of the world depend on its proper execution. Not quite. The gospel is the end of ethics in this sense. In Christ, God was reconciling the… Continue reading

So here is the problem. Man is a guilty sinner, God is a holy God. How can the two be brought together? The answer is the cross of Christ. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Cross[1]   “God was in Christ,” writes Paul to the church at Corinth, “reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing [counting] their trespasses… Continue reading