The Death of Liberalism Covered by the ERLC
The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has a link on its website referencing several articles about the toll that Liberalism has had on the church. The article from the LA Times has been referenced by some of our favorite bloggers here and here. You can read it here. The LA Times article and another article entitled "God-Lite Doesn't Cut It" from the National Review tell a story that should be of great encouragement to the minister who strives to preach the scriptures as authoritative in our lives. This should strengthen our resolve to be committed to the authority of scripture and the exclusivity of Christ. It might stun you to realize the articles came from secular sources, but it is worth noting how the secular world looks at the problem of liberalism in the church. May this ERLC page make us grateful for the men of our convention who fought to win this battle over the “faith once for all delivered to the saintsâ€. May we realize that the battle for the Bible was not just about rescuing poor theology, but the battle for the Bible was about rescuing the perishing.
Also, not to beat a dead horse but the ERLC has a link on alcohol. It, like the other alcohol links we have referenced, is very clearly and well put together. The page goes through a number of scripture references to help the believer think through this issue.
Nathan Akin
Fascinating yet hardly surprising. I recall sitting in German class prior to entering the PhD program. My German prof, a quite brilliant scholar both in NT Greek and German, launched into a diatribe once on how conservative churches in Germany supported Hitler (a wildly unsubstantiated generalization I pondered then). One of my pals challenged that and noted how conservative churches tended to be more effective at reaching people than others (this was some time after Dean Kelley's watershed "Why Conservative Churches Grow").
He stood before the class and said he knew of no substantive (that being the key word to denigrate all opinions with which he disagreed) research that demonstrated a relationship between conviction and effectiveness in witness. At that moment I had an epiphany (I am from Alabama and rather slow): just because one has a PhD does not a scholar in all things one make.
I love this website. Best in the kingdom of blog at substantive (there I used the word) information.