As stated a few 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 before the pink highlighted quotation.
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.
In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord;
the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
The ruthless will vanish,
the mockers will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,
who ensnare the defender in court
and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
- Isaiah 29:18-21
At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
- Luke 7:21-23
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
“It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modem medical and surgical discoveries and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles. (New Testament and Mythology l.A.2)
“It is of course true that demythologizing takes the modern world-view as a criterion. To demythoiogize is to reject not Scripture or the Christian message as a whole. but the world-view of Scripture, which is the world-view of a past epoch, which all too often is retained in Christian dogmatics and in the preaching of the church. To demythologize is to deny that the message of Scripture and of the church is bound to an ancient world-view which is obsolete. (Jesus Christ and Mythology, Chapter 3)”
- Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought
Rudolph Karl Bultmann (1884-1976) was not a theologian. He was a New Testament scholar. I cannot imagine how anyone could be a New Testament scholar, but they must throw out any discussion about angels, demons or miracles as they are impossible, thus unbelievable. He felt the concept of the three-storeyed Bible was the problem with the church. The three-storeyed being heaven, earth, and hell. Yet, Bultmann’s theology allowed for the resurrection in that in his “mythology” the Crucified One was the Resurrected One. Theologians, who followed and believed in the supernatural, have used Bultmann’s concepts and argument regarding resurrection.
His virtual destruction of heaven and hell led a young theology student in South Korea, who talked to Corrie ten Boom, to say that he had read Bultmann, and he had lost his faith. He had no idea where heaven is. The link is HERE. Corrie ten Boom prayed, and the answer came in a song “Where Jesus Is, Tis Heaven There.”
Thomas Jefferson was of like mind. He took out a razor and cut every miracle out of his Bible. But late in life, Jefferson corresponded with John Adams, his most powerful opponent, and the two wrote about how important Jesus must be in the country known as the USA. And that today is forgotten.
But when you throw out miracles and you throw out the existence of hell, you have little left of the New Testament. You have a nice loving way of life with no power in which to live it. With the miracle that the living Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit indwell believers, only then do we have the power to love our neighbor and love our enemy.
And when you see the continued damage that a belief in nothing spiritual or supernatural does to people who want to believe in Jesus and His power within us, continuing to consider such “theology” without the “theo” is just what Satan wants, a church without a foundation.
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.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
Leave a comment