Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

As stated two weeks ago, this is the same introduction for all “Liberal Christian” essays.  If you have read this opening before, you can skip to the Scripture immediately after the Editor’s Note.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

• Romans 12:2

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.

• Ezekiel 5:7

And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”

• Ezekiel 11:12

“Liberalism is a thorough-going adaptation of Christian theology to the modern world. Liberals are prepared to sacrifice many elements of traditional Christian orthodoxy in their search for contemporary relevance. The same sacrifice has also been made by others who would not call themselves Liberals in the classical sense.”

• Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought

“Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason bad philosophy must be answered.”

• C. S. Lewis

Editor’s Note: The Romans 12 and Ezekiel quotes are followed by a preface to the section on modern Liberalism within Christian thought.  In no other sections of his book does he give such a “warning” of sorts, although maybe a few should have had such warnings.  The author considered skipping this section of the book as being a waste of time, but then the C. S. Lewis quote kept calling.  Apologies for not identifying the source by book.  I am thinking either Mere Christianity or God in the Docks.  Due to the liberal idea of only accepting the parts of the Bible that match their way of thinking, R. C. Sproul said in one of his Bible study series that “Liberal Christian” was an oxymoron.  Once you carve through the Bible, accepting what you like and discarding what you do not like, you have created your own God.  Calling the God that you created “Jesus” does not make him the Jesus of the Bible.  These posts are only provided due to Lewis’ assertion that good philosophy must exist if for no other reason to answer to bad philosophy.

You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.

• Proverbs 8:5

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

• 2 Timothy 3:10-17

“Harnack examines the teaching of Jesus. He considers it under three headings:
“ ‘Firstly. the kingdom of God and its coming. Secondly, God the Father and the infinite value of the human soul. Thirdly, the higher righteousness and the commandment of love.’ (What is Christianity? Lecture 3)
“But when all is said and done, these three coalesce, ‘for ultimately the kingdom is nothing but the treasure which the soul possesses in the eternal and merciful God’.”

• Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought

Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack, aka Adolf Harnack (1851-1930) was a Lutheran theologian and church historian.  He was from Estonia and of Baltic German descent.  He was an influencer of Kaiser Wilhelm which might have had a great influence in Germany’s involvement in World War I.

Is there anything wrong with Harnack’s three points?  Not really, but in boiling down every bit of the teachings of Jesus, he left out one important thing – Jesus.    The former archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, argued this in his talk entitled “The Deadly Simplicity of Adolf von Harnack.”

How can you go from being an influential theologian, church historian, and library director to being an apologist for Germany’s role in the Great War, even the atrocities?  You leave Jesus out.  You leave out the atonement for sin.  You leave out our need for salvation, our need for a Savior.

When you simplify all of Scripture to a single sentence like “God is Love.”  Then, you leave your theology up for interpretations in a thousand directions from your starting point.

When I was asked to serve on a board of Session the last time, the pastor, in a closed-door discussion, asked if I could answer all the required questions in the proper manner.  I told him that I had great concern over the last few confessions in the church’s book of confessions.  Then the pastor said that all I had to say was “I will” to the question that asks whether you will allow those confessions to guide you.  My reply was that the “Brief Statement of Faith of the PCUSA” had holes in it.  The Confession of 1967 was nothing but fluff that could be interpreted as many ways as there are people who read it.  And the Theological Declaration of the Barmen is quite moving, but it would have never been necessary if the Nazi government was not trying to subjugate the church to their way of thinking.  The pastor’s answer was kind of shocking.  “We need you on session.  We need someone who has actually read the confessions and read them with an open mind.  Yes, those confessions ‘guide’ you by turning your stomach.  Please, agree to be on the ballot.”  After five years, I was burned out, and I may never serve again.  I cannot be the only one who has read the confessions.

And now with secular progressive influence causing the church to conform to the world, where is our Theological Declaration of the Barmen?

Incidentally, Karl Barth was a student of Adolf Harnack, but then he influenced the drafting of the Theological Declaration of the Barmen.

When you boil down the Gospel into a few phrases that could mean anything, and many different things as people define each term, then you are left with drivel.  It might sound nice but is more like silly putty instead of being the bedrock to build the Church upon.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.