Liberalism Can Be Deadly

Some weeks ago we said that orthodoxy can be deadly (CHRISTIANITY TODAY, April 23 issue), for an unlovely thing appears when it becomes an end in itself rather than a means to an end.

But a theological liberalism which rejects the complete reliability and authority of the holy Scriptures is also a deadly thing.

Nothing has robbed the Church of her witness so much as a low view of inspiration. Nothing has detracted so much from current preaching as this shift from an authority higher than man. Nothing has caused more needy souls to leave their pews on Sunday with a sense of emptiness and frustration as much as the substitution of man’s opinions for divine affirmations.

Theological liberalism is deadly because:

The basis of authority shifts from divine revelation to human reason. Even where the Bible is said to “contain” the word of God, the discovery of what is asserted to be authentic depends on scholarship, deduction and human receptiveness. One man finds one part “inspired,” while another finds that another portion “speaks.” The concept of total inspiration, irrespective of man’s reaction, is rejected.

The inevitable corollary of this attitude to the Bible is a loss of conviction. A sense of authority, urgency and vital importance is thereby lost. Although the individual concerned may be unaware of it, those who come under such a ministry know that something is lacking.

With such liberalism inevitably comes a shift in emphasis: symptoms are magnified while the underlying disease is ignored or minimized. The fact that Christ came to save sinners is lost in the emphasis that he came to make this world a better place in which to live. The biblically based doctrines of sin, judgment, the new birth, eternal punishment, and so forth, are ignored or qualified, while corporate social righteousness is stressed.

Such liberalism inevitably results in the loss of spiritual power. Just as Samson lost his physical prowess after having his head shorn, so too the theological liberal experiences a loss of spiritual power when he rejects divinely revealed truth and substitutes a Christ and a gospel foreign to the Scriptures.

We say that the theological liberalism so described is deadly because it is based on rejection of Christian truth revealed in the Scriptures and the substitution of ideas often completely at variance with such truth. To reject the historical accuracy and the spiritual implications of the Bible is to be “liberal” with that which we do not have the right to liberalize. It is one thing to interpret Scripture so that historical background, linguistic implications and significance of local customs and usages are clarified. But an “interpretation” which is actually a denial of clearly stated truths is no longer interpretation but presumption.

If the Bible merely contains the word of God, mixed with inaccuracies, deliberate frauds, statements stemming from ignorance, pre-dated history palmed off as prophetic truth, and thought-forms which actually mean the opposite of what they are intended to convey, then who will sort the true from the false? We are told that this must be left to the scholars. But it is disconcerting to find that the “assured findings” of scholars of yesterday have been replaced by other equally “assured” conclusions of a new generation.

Not for one moment should Christians tolerate anti-intellectualism. But a distinction must be made between a reverent scholarship, and that which sits in judgment on Scripture, and magnifies rather than reconciles difficulties. That increasing numbers of scholars are shifting back to far more conservative conclusions is significant and encouraging.

Theological liberalism is deadly when it assumes an attitude to the Scriptures at variance with that of our Lord and his disciples. A study of the record shows that to them the Old Testament was authentic and authoritative. To say, as some do, that our Lord’s own understanding was limited, is to assume a position utterly untenable to those who accept him as revealed in the Scriptures.

Of course there are difficulties in the Bible. A supernatural revelation transmitted through human instruments of varying personalities, nationalities and backgrounds inevitably poses problems.

The amazing thing is the unity and continuity of the revelation, and a rejection of its truthfulness poses even greater difficulties for the theological liberal. His greatest dilemma is to be found in his own contradictions and the strange phenomena of an emerging philosophy which is at complete variance to that presented in Holy Writ.

But the place where theological liberalism is most deadly is in the area of life and death itself. Face to face with man’s need of salvation and the fact that without Christ he is in spiritual darkness, dead and lost, what can one offer if the necessity of the new birth is debatable? What is there to offer if Christ did not die for his sins? What hope can be held out if the reality of sin and the judgment of God on unrepentant sinners are questioned?

We deplore the philosophy of Christian Science which denies the reality of pain and suffering; but is that more serious than a denial of the clear affirmations of the Scriptures with reference to sin, righteousness and judgment to come?

For instance, when liberal preaching stresses the fact that “God accepts man,” without at the same time making clear that this acceptance is based solely on the person and work of Christ, it is a deadly thing for it offers a false hope.

Liberalism is a good word but in recent years it has earned connotations which have little in common with the original meaning. Where it means the exercise of Christian love and tolerance in matters where men of equal piety may differ, it is good. Where it becomes a rallying point for ecclesiastical pressures or an intolerance of conservative Christians, it becomes a misnomer. Just as fundamentalism which is harsh, critical and unloving is a tragedy, so also is a liberalism which denies the liberty it espouses for itself.

It has been said that the liberalism of today is the conservatism of tomorrow. Where the basic elements of the Christian faith have been rejected and faith in eternal verities has been superseded by adherence to the changing currents of human speculation, liberalism is now and always has been deadly.

These are days when, in a shaken and uncertain world, men need something they know will never change. Theological liberalism offers no such message. This is a plea to those who stand on the ramparts to give bread instead of a stone; fish instead of a serpent.

L. NELSON BELL

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