The Insanity of Liberal Religion
My own journey through the world of the liberal church
Why is liberal religion so crazy?
When the God of the Bible is rejected insanity ensues
In 1923 J. Gresham Machen, the legendary New Testament scholar, wrote Christianity and Liberalism. He declared theological liberalism to be a different religion from the religion of Jesus Christ and the enemy of the religion of Jesus Christ. Machen was spot on.
I encountered Machen when I was a college freshman. It was a time in my life when students and professors were confronting me with theological liberalism and trying to persuade me to join their quest to modernize Christianity which, in their view, had become outmoded and irrelevant. I knew there was something wrong in their arguments but I didn’t know what. Then one day when wondering through the University of Wyoming bookstore, lo and behold, there on the shelf was a copy of Machen’s book. I read it nearly in one setting and was loaded for bear. I was ready to refute the liberal, anti-Christian arguments of my fellow students.
That wasn’t my first exposure to liberalism, however. A couple of years before when I was a high school student I attended the youth group in a local Methodist church. We took turns leading the devotional portion of the meeting. When my turn came I led a study of John 3:16, stating that to enter heaven you had to believe in Jesus Christ and be born again. The liberal pastor of the church, who sat in on our meetings, strongly criticized my study and accused me of “proof texting.” At the time I had no idea of what he was talking about. I later learned that proof texting is taking a verse out of context to prove a preconceived idea. I don’t think that using John 3:16 to prove the need to be born again is proof texting. But the liberal pastor felt the need to attack a high school kid who was sharing that with his peers.
The same pastor had strongly opposed a Bible study led by my dad. The study included a number of members of the pastor’s church. Dad led three of those couples to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I have kept track of them for the past sixty years and they have faithfully followed Christ ever since. But it was over the bitter opposition of the liberal pastor. By the time I was out of high school I had come to recognize the evils of theological liberalism and I hated it.
In my first year of teaching after graduating from college I was asked to speak at a Thanksgiving celebration attended jointly by several churches. Before I spoke I had dinner with the young liberal pastor of one of the churches. I made some mention of heaven and he immediately reproved me. I was startled and asked him why. He said he didn’t believe in heaven because it had never been “located geographically.” In the years since I have wondered if that young pastor wouldn’t go on to locate hell geographically.
When I was a professor at the University of Colorado I had my students read a book by Thomas Reeves called, “The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Christianity.” Reeves said the big question liberal clergy could not answer was, “What’s the point?” If liberalism is true what’s the point of Christianity? What’s the point of a liberal church? What’s the point in being a liberal clergyman? Reeves said they couldn’t answer those questions and were on their way to oblivion.
While I was a professor at CU, Boulder, I attended a men’s group. One morning our speaker was the pastor from First Methodist. He began his message by saying he was a theological liberal who did not believe the Bible was accurate. He then said he did not believe Jesus died for our sins. He also said he was offended by people who didn’t think he was a Christian. I was offended by the fact that he thought he was. Can you deny Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and be a Christian?
In recent years the statistical expert on religion in America, Ryan Burge, has chronicled the collapse of the liberal denominations who have lost more than 80% of their membership and continue to decline. All I can say is, may God hasten the day.
I was drawn back to this issue recently when I read about a Lutheran church that had added a witch to their church staff. The church is led by a “pastor and priestess of ritual” and includes over a half dozen “priestesses.” The denomination’s bishop is an openly trans-identified female. The resident witch is seen in a photo on the church website wearing a traditional witch’s hat. On the church’s website it calls itself “an emerging, liberating feminist congregation” which is “hoping to be a part of the prophetic voice of the divine feminine that will deconstruct Christianity and other patriarchal religions.”
How does this happen? It’s very simple. When a group or individual rejects the God of Scripture they spiral down into the insanity like the above. Paul predicts and describes this perfectly in Romans 1. He says in v. 21 that after rejecting God, “they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools instead.” Paul then goes on to describe their descent into debauchery and moral insanity.
The implosion of liberal religion teaches a harsh lesson. The judgment of Almighty God falls on those who reject Him and His Son. Fidelity to Jesus Christ is the only antidote to the craziness mankind is capable of. Let’s renew today our efforts to glorify and spread His Holy name.
More: What is behind the sad decline of our major denominations? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_M4R-88JOw
Machen’s great book is found here
A Lutheran church adds a witch to their staff:
Ryan Burge on the decline of the UMC: https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-aftermath-of-the-schism-in-the/comments#comment-54819528
Ryan Burge on the decline of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-state-of-the-evangelical-lutheran
United Methodists on electing gay bishops:
https://religionnews.com/2024/07/16/united-methodists-elect-a-third-openly-gay-married-bishop/
A female Anglican pastor drapes an LGBTQ flag over the communion table:
A lesbian pastor of the United Church of Christ blasphemes Jesus as a “drag queen”;
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