Christianity and Liberalism
Today Machen continues proving that Jesus life is connected to his message/teaching: 'The truth is that when men speak of trust in Jesus' Person, as being possible without acceptance of the message of His death and resurrection, they do not really mean trust at all. What they designate as trust is really admiration or reverence.' Such a good point. Liberalism allows no faith in Jesus' person. Yes, liberals may hold Jesus in high esteem, but they cannot claim to believe in him.
(i) if doctrine is sound it makes no difference about life. On the contrary, it makes all the difference in the world.
(ii) all points of of doctrine are equally important (Machen then gives five examples of doctrines that can be legitimately disagreed upon between Christians: Premillenialism; Lord's supper; apostolic succession; Arminianism; Roman Catholicism - bit surprised by the last one, opens a door for many to misunderstand him!)
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
2 comments:
I agree with your reservation about Roman Catholicism, but we need to keep in mind that this book was published in 1923. It is not as if there were no RC errors but, at least, the RC church accepted supernaturalism then, e.g. Jesus' miracles. The trouble was, and is, that they accept 'miracles' that aren't really so, e.g. transubstantiation! Today, I understand many RCs are as Liberal as those Machen was challenging in the 1920s.
Thanks for that helpful comment Keith.
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