The Daily Telegraph reports an attempt by a liberal Anglican group called ‘Inclusive Church’ to offer an olive branch to those who dissent from the liberal feminist/homosexualist agenda.
Those who are conservatives need to try to get inside the skin of the typical liberal. He really does not believe in such a thing as revealed moral and doctrinal truth which stands for all time. He really, honestly believes that religion is a human construct that not only may, but must adapt itself in every age. He really believes that this adaptation process is like evolution, that we are growing and understanding more and more about ourselves, our world, and therefore God in every generation. This can only be a good thing. It must be progress, and therefore what is new and what is now must, de facto be better than what is old and then.
Therefore there are two things which are absolutely necessary: First of all, it is the Christian’s obligation to launch out into the new with boldness. This is what the liberal understands to be ‘faith’. It means stepping out of the boat to walk on the waves. The liberals’ favorite Bible passage is the sheet of unclean beasts being lowered down to Peter, and Peter being commanded by the Holy Spirit to ‘kill and eat.’ This is a foundation text for the liberal. They wield it like a sword, along with the text beloved of charismatic Christians about ‘new wine for new wineskins’ and the new wine bursting the old wineskins.
The second thing which is fundamental and foundational for liberals is therefore the need to be open minded and receptive to all things new, and the corollary of this is that tolerance of new things and new ways is mandatory. Since there is no objective theology or morality it goes without saying that we must be open, accepting and affirming of all who differ.
When inclusive church therefore invites the members of FOCA to the table, or the liberals beseech the Anglo Catholics to sit down and talk they cannot conceive that both groups have certain principles and beliefs that are non negotiable. They cannot fathom that there are people in the world who call themselves Christians who are so close minded, so locked in the past, so ignorant, insensitive and just plain stupid.
This is the black hole at the heart of liberalism, and why liberalism and historic Christianity simply don’t mix. Mgr. Graham Leonard has said, (and I paraphrase) “There are now two divisions within Christianity, those who believe the faith is revealed supernaturally and demands our obedience and submission, and those who believe that the faith is a human construct which should, and must be adapted to every age.” These two are oil and water. They will never mix.
Finally, the liberals’ foundational Scripture texts are actually (of course) true. We do need to be open minded, step out of our little boat, walk on wave, be ready for the power and upset of the Holy Spirit and do daring things for God. The problem is, like all heretics, the liberals take one truth to the exclusion of all others and pound it home so that all other truths are distorted by it and life itself becomes a perverted and twisted mess.
That’s fundamentally it: in Christianity, God is different from us and reveals himself to us. In liberalism, God looks suspiciously like us.
Father, You have the Johnsonian knack of expressing complex ideas pithily. Scant need of 4,000 word essays when we have your blog. Many thanks.
It is no coincidence that nearly all the liberals’ objections to traditional Christian morality are aimed at sexuality/reproduction (contraception, abortion, homosexuality, feminism). The one exception of euthanasia is not really exceptional, since it has to do with the root cause of their intense drive for “change.”What the liberals both inside and outside all the traditional religions object to, at bottom, is not new at all, but the oldest objection in the world: human mortality. First expressed in Eden and identified by traditional Christianity as “original sin”, our discovery that we reproduce and die just like a giraffe or a grasshopper is just not acceptable to us. We insist on being the creators, not the creatures; ergo, we insist that our sexuality be elevated above and outside Natural Law. We insist that we are not subject to the laws of nature. Why? What is the real reason? Because we insist that we do not die. That is why we “choose” not to reproduce according to nature, because it brings us closer to the realization that we are, in fact, dying. No. Our sexuality must be elevated above and beyond mere animal lust. Everything in nature dies. The Fall from such a self-perception to the incredibly humbling recognition that we are just part of nature is the beginning of Wisdom and wisdom is never gained but at a very great cost. If Holy Scripture is not an accredited source for this understanding, you may try Aeschylus.Liberal agendas are not new at all but inherent in every romantic rebellion in human history against Authority, ultimately against God, against our maker and his rules, against the unacceptable truth about humanity: All of us will die. Indeed, the glory and the splendor of the Gospel message itself is that, if we accept this humility, we will, in fact, live. You have to acknowledge Facts before Truth can become visible; once it does, you see that it is always as paradoxical as it is immutable. (“He who would lose his life for *my* sake [I am the truth…] will find it.”) Get off the throne; it’s already occupied. I am God, not you. Accept death, metaphorical and literal, accept my Law, accept Truth. Then you will begin to live.
The “black hole” of liberalism is the Fall.
Kudos and well said from a “low church” (whatever that means) US Anglican. I enjoy using logic to try to deconstruct that which I know inside myself to be wrong, and rhetoric to try to argue it to disproof. You’ve done a masterful job in this post!There are many points here worthy of being “heard, read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested” (though naturally not in the same way as the Scriptures). Such continuing efforts are important if we are each to defend effectively “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”