Liberalism

Perhaps it all started with Galileo who had the audacity to suggest that the earth revolves around the sun! After the Church threatened Galileo with excommunication for saying something so absurd, Galileo wrote "The intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how to go to heaven - not how heaven goes." Basically, Galileo silenced the Church by saying, "You stick to theology and let the scientists do science"

On the surface, Galileo's little snide rebuke seems timely and profound. The Church was foolish and wrong to try to censure his great discovery for no good apparent reason. However, this little crack in the dam opened the floodgates to putting the Church in their place - which has become an ever increasingly small place.

After Galileo, others followed. There was Francis Bacon, Georges Louis Comte de Buffon, Pierre Laplace, Abraham Werner, James Hutton, Charles Lyell, etc. It was Werner who suggested the earth was one million years old. Lyell, a lawyer and geologist, argued that the earth must be explained "…by a slow gradual process of erosion." William Buckland and Adam Sedgwick, both geologists at Oxford and Anglican Clergy, led many in their congregation and university to believe the new theories about geology and the history of the earth, instead of believing… "In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth."

And then along comes Charles Darwin. As Darwin was formulating his theory about the evolution of the species, it was only natural at this point for others to conclude that religion evolved as well.

HIGHER CRITICISM

After years of being evolutionized, we now have biblical scholars who don't believe anything - And teach it at our universities. It is called "Higher Criticism" and it became popular in the 19th century. I was a victim of it at the first college I attended (in the 20th century). The professor of New Testament Studies challenged my thinking on every level , suggesting the Word of God was not really the Word of God, but just the words of people. He left the students to conclude that it's all just one big cute story (or the compilation of several cute stories). Myths! Similar to Greek Mythology. "I mean, come on! You don't really believe Jonah got swallowed by a whale? …that Noah saved the world with a big boat? …that the Isrealites crossed the Red Sea at floodstage?"

It is not uncommon for college professors to mock those who believe the truths of the Bible, and the miracles of the Bible. They teach, instead, that miracles were merely "natural events that people thought were supernatural". "People in Bible times were confused, ignorant, excited". "Jesus' healings were actually psychosomatic" (their sicknesses were all in the mind). Some of the things we think were miracles were simply "figures of speech". The Bible scholars of the infamous "Jesus Seminar" have concluded that Jesus actually said only 18% of what he is quoted as saying in the Bible.

This is dangerous stuff! This is lethal! They deny the resurrection of Christ, the 2nd coming of Christ, the power of Christ. They leave people without hope. This is what is being taught to our children that we send off to college after mortgaging our homes! This is why our children go to college on fire for God and come back as atheists!

HIGH TREASON

Paul writes, " I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ." (Galatians 1:7-7)

Liberalism is, in fact, another gospel. It has thrown the world into confusion. It uses the terminology of Christianity, but distorts the meaning. It has a high-view of man and a low-view of God. It values tolerance, and cares nothing about holiness. It exalts science and throws away Scripture. It believes what is reasonable - and concludes that much of what Christ taught and did is just not reasonable.

Never mind the fact the apostles John and Peter both claimed to be eye-witnesses (John 1:14, 2 Peter 1:16). Never mind that the apostles were killed for what they wrote and believed. Never mind that the Dead Sea Scrolls authenticate the prophecies spoken about Jesus. Never mind the archaeological findings that confirm the miracles of the Bible. Never mind that the Bible was authenticated by using 24,633 manuscripts (many dating to within the 1st generation of Christians) to ensure its accuracy. Never mind the millions of people whose lives have been radically changed after reading the living Word of God (Hebrews 4:12).

REVELATION

The Bible says, "Thus saith the Lord…" 2853 times. Either He did, or He didn't. Jesus says, "I tell you the truth…" 390 times. Did He tell us the truth or not? The Apostle Paul writes, "All Scripture is God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16).

Liberalism, the intellectual movement that has elevated human reason to near divine status, has caused Christians to conclude the Bible is not the inspired, infallible Word of God revealed to us by the prophets. Liberal Christians don't believe the apostle Peter, who writes, "…you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:20-21). Liberal Christians believe the Scriptures evolved... It's constantly changing…. They don't believe the Bible is authoritative because they have chosen to believe those who criticize the Bible.

My question is, if these scholars are so scholarly, then why have they wasted their lives studying something they don’t believe?

My concern is, many people are listening to these so called “scholars” instead of listening to God.

Go Bless,

Pete

Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. Romans 1:25




CASE STUDY


Harvard - founded in 1636 by Puritans who recognized the necessity for training up a clergy if the new world was to flourish in the wilderness.


They wanted ministers who were able to expound the Scriptures from the original Hebrew and Greek, as well as be familiar with what the church fathers, scholastic philosophers and reformists had written in Greek and Latin.


The kind of teaching that Harvard College was to provide was spelled out in its “Rules and Precepts” as follows:


Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all found knowledge and Learning…


Harvard’s original motto: Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae  (which means: “Truth for Christ and the Church”)


Harvard’s motto today: Veritas (Which means: Truth)