When I equate liberals (whether they self-identify as Christian makes no difference in the end) with being barbarians like I did last week, it is because of their stubborn inhumanity. Like barbarians of old, the modern liberal loots and plunders that which it could never build. They must take from others because they themselves cannot reproduce institutions and culture which are built by faith.
Liberals who call themselves Christian do not often found institutions like seminaries, colleges, hospitals, or nursing homes unless they get money from some benefactor, like the government. Rarely do they collect small amounts of money at the grassroots level to build these institutions. There are some exceptions (Harvard), but mainly, they want to sneak in and take away the institutions that were founded by godly conservatives.
That is what happened to Princeton. Princeton was a Christian Seminary, Presbyterian by nature and creed, conservative. But in the early part of the 20th century, mainline churches began to import liberal German theology, which denied the inerrancy of Scripture and undermined the authority of the Bible by asserting that some parts were only myth. Presbyterians who held to this liberal theology quietly took faculty positions at Princeton preaching tolerance, but as soon as they held enough power tolerance was over. Princeton was reorganized to create a liberal school, even though the liberals had nothing to do with its founding.
Why didn’t the liberals begin their own school? Because preaching against the faith doesn’t move the mountains necessary for the founding of such an institution. Preaching relativism and anti-biblical dogma erodes the nature and spirit of Christianity. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Men like J. Gresham Machen had to flee in the face of their faithlessness. When he showed the Presbytery evidence that these liberals did not believe the doctrine of the church, the liberals went unpunished. The church looked the other way. The liberals were given a pass, until they took over. But the liberals did not give passes to conservatives—they purged them. Machen founded Westminster Theological Seminary as a revolt against the liberal takeover.
Today, Westminster Theological Seminary itself has been in danger of being overrun. Peter Enns said he slid away from orthodoxy while he was a teacher there. He rejected Adam as a historical person, redefined inerrancy in such a convoluted way as to be incomprehensible and deceptive, and championed evolution. Perhaps some of the Presbyterians were taking the lessons learned at Princeton because they refused to send any of their prospective ministers to be taught under Enns.
Westminster had a difficult process of removing Enns, and many board members resigned after Westminster asked Enns to leave. Good riddance. Nevertheless, Enns can still be found teaching kids not to believe the Bible.
Machen is one of my heroes of the faith and I am glad that the school he founded survived the takeover attempt, at least this attempt.
This is the same pattern that has corrupted the mainline churches. It can be seen in the recent votes by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to allow pastors to practice homosex. It can be seen in the controversy surrounding the United Methodist church on the same issue. It can be seen in the Anglican church. None of these denominations were founded by liberals. As one ELCA churchman told me, “Why should we leave? We were here before the gays. Why can’t they go found their own denomination?” Because that sort of thing requires faith and access to God, neither of which they have.
Jesus said, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:6-7) The liberals do not believe or teach the Word of God. Do you want them ruining your institution? Ignoring their apostasy and idolatry is cowardly and weak. Take a stand.
Those of us who have not reduced the Bible to a human book, who have not rejected the authority and inspiration of Scripture, who have not accepted a mediocre faith that does not require stark animosity with the world, who have not rejected the person and work of Christ, who have not bowed our knee to Baal – we must remain steadfast. Make no treaty with liberals. Their treaties only last until they have power. Look at the college campuses around our nation.
Remember what alliance Abraham was willing to make with the wicked king of Sodom: “I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal.”
Go and do likewise.
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