{"id":448,"date":"2019-09-24T19:07:04","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T23:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awarningministry.com\/?p=448"},"modified":"2019-10-21T20:43:38","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T00:43:38","slug":"theological-liberalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/24\/theological-liberalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Theological Liberalism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Theological Liberalism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Confidence\nin the Bible was weakened by theological liberalism and Darwinian evolution,\nand this greatly weakened the spiritual power of churches.&nbsp; Though liberalism took many forms, it was an\nattack upon the authority of the Bible and it was an application of the theory\nof evolution to Bible history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nNorthern Baptists became liberal in theology at the beginning of the 20th\ncentury. (They were known as the Northern Baptist Convention until 1950, when\nthe name was changed to American Baptist Convention.) For example, in 1918,\nHarry Emerson Fosdick, pastor of the influential Riverside Church in New York\nCity, published <em>The Manhood of the Master<\/em>, denying\nthat Jesus Christ is God. In 1926, the Northern Baptist Convention voted by a\nmargin of three to one <em>not <\/em>to evict\nRiverside Church from the convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Liberalism\nentered the Southern Baptist Convention in the first half of the 20th century. By\n1902, J.W. Bailey of North Carolina wrote in the <em>Biblical\nRecorder <\/em>that there were a multitude of\n\u201ctheologies\u201d in the Southern Baptist Convention. He said, \u201cTheologies change\nevery day. &#8230; [Baptists do not stand for] formulated dogmas.\u201d&nbsp; A Baptist pastorate that was probably largely\nunregenerate stopped depending on spiritual weapons and turned to carnal\nweapons such as programs and an efficient organization.<em> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\nwas an emphasis on \u201cefficiency\u201d and \u201cpragmatism\u201d (using whatever works to\nproduce a desired goal). \u201cEfficiency consisted not in purity or\nobedience, but in system, organization, and rationality in all areas of church activity.\n&#8230; progressive church leaders held that the church in the modern age needed a\npolity based not on ancient authority but on science, rationality, and system.\nThey looked to social scientists and efficiency experts such as Frederick\nWinslow Taylor, who in this era developed management into a science for\nproducing efficient organizations\u201d (<em>Restoring Integrity\nin Baptist Churches<\/em>, Kindle loc. 2167-2174).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the\n1920s, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary appointed Gaines Dobbins as a\n\u201cprofessor of church efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His 1923\nbook <em>The\nEfficient Church <\/em>had a wide influence. He claimed that\nChrist\u2019s ministry in the Gospels was \u201cthe perfection of<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>efficiency\u201d\nand Paul was the \u201cworld\u2019s greatest efficiency expert in religion.\u201d The churches\nbegan leaning to the spirit and wisdom of the times instead of God\u2019s Spirit and\nGod\u2019s Word. Instead of separating from the world and its unenlightened\nthinking, they learned from the world.&nbsp; They\nbowed to the American spirit of individualism and consumerism. They stopped\nrequiring evidence of salvation and practicing discipline so as not to offend\npotential members. The churches appeased the people\u2019s idolatrous, me-centered\ndesire to shop for a church that met their felt needs. They lowered the spiritual\nstandards, became entertainment-oriented, borrowed the world\u2019s music to make\nChristian music more appealing to the unsaved and carnal, softened the\npreaching, created \u201cyouth ministries\u201d that encouraged the generation gap and\nwere merely Christianized versions of the world\u2019s pop culture. By the last half\nof the 20th century, this spiritual appeasement produced the seekersensitive, megachurch\nmovement.&nbsp; The churches bowed to the\ninfluence of the \u201cnew morality\u201d and allowed church members to live worldly\nlives. Such things as dating, pre-marital sex, drinking, jazz, rock, divorce,\nunisex fashions flooded the weak churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nchurches bowed to the philosophy of non-judgmentalism and non-dogmatism that\npermeated society. The concept of Christians as pilgrims and strangers in a\nforeign country was replaced by Americanism and flag waving. The Social Gospel\nproduced an emphasis away from evangelism and church planting. Building God\u2019s\nkingdom on earth through social-justice projects and maintaining good social\norder began to replace \u201csaving brands from the burning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1910,\nWilliam Poteat, president of Wake Forest College, told the annual Southern\nBaptist Convention that Baptists were in the best position to save\ncivilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1920,\nRichard Edmonds wrote, \u201cUpon the Baptists of the South may rest the salvation\nof America and of the world from chaos and from sinking back into the darkness\nof the middle ages\u201d (<em>The South, America and the World<\/em>).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The\nDiscipling Church: The Church That Will Stand until Christ Comes&nbsp; <\/em>Copyright 2017 by David Cloud&nbsp; Page 444-446<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last chapter documents some of the cultural factors that have weakened churches over the past 100 years, including the theological liberalism, public school system, materialism and working mothers, the rock &amp; roll pop culture, pop psychology, the feminist movement, New Evangelicalism, television, and the Internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> There is also a list of recommended materials for a discipling church.&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wayoflife.org\/publications\/books\/the-discipling-church.php\">https:\/\/www.wayoflife.org\/publications\/books\/the-discipling-church.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Theological Liberalism Confidence in the Bible was weakened by theological liberalism and Darwinian evolution, and this greatly weakened the spiritual power of churches.&nbsp; Though liberalism took many forms, it was an attack upon the authority of the Bible and it was an application of the theory of evolution to Bible history. The Northern Baptists became&hellip; <br \/> <a class=\"button small blue\" href=\"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/24\/theological-liberalism\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,4,5,14,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-warning-ministry","category-biblestudy","category-kingjamesbible","category-properbibleinterpretation","category-theologicalliberalism","category-wolf-watch"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Theological Liberalism - Earnestly Contend For The Faith Jude 3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Theological Liberalism - Earnestly Contend For The Faith Jude 3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Theological Liberalism Confidence in the Bible was weakened by theological liberalism and Darwinian evolution, and this greatly weakened the spiritual power of churches.&nbsp; Though liberalism took many forms, it was an attack upon the authority of the Bible and it was an application of the theory of evolution to Bible history. The Northern Baptists became&hellip; Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/24\/theological-liberalism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Earnestly Contend For The Faith Jude 3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/230380461031046\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-24T23:07:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-22T00:43:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Roger Fulk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Roger Fulk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/24\/theological-liberalism\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/24\/theological-liberalism\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Roger Fulk\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c3417c2d65df06db0da74c8e9b11990\"},\"headline\":\"Theological Liberalism\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-24T23:07:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-22T00:43:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/24\/theological-liberalism\/\"},\"wordCount\":780,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"A Warning Ministry\",\"Bible Study - 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