Life Together

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Greshman Machen  Chapter 4: The Bible                               The Christian view is one that holds the Bible, at the very least, in some type of authority. There are some Christians who whole-heartedly believe the message of the Bible but are convinced that the Bible was written by men without any supernatural guidance. Machen’s point is that they at least hold that the message of scripture is true and that Jesus did come to save the world from their sins by dying in our place and taking on our deserved punishment. There are other Christians who believe the Bible is the Word of God and was written by the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit.                 The modern liberal “Christian” does not hold to any of this. Machen describes the modern liberal as someone who boil...

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Greshman Machen Chapter 3: God and Man In this chapter Machen expresses how the relationship between God and man ought to be compared to what it has become. As Machen explored in the last chapter God is not a thing to be felt but a person about whom objective truth can be known. There is also important truth to be known about the condition of man. These two things; knowing God and knowing man allows people to understand the gospel.  Our first step is to know God. Machen suggests this can be done through knowing the person Jesus but also through creation, the law, the prophets and the Psalms. It is even possible that man's mind can come to the conclusion of God without working through the logic step by step. Sometimes our instinct is actually guided by valid arguments synthesized by our minds without us purposefully walking through them one by one.  We come to know more about God through relationship with Him. That relationsh...

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Greshman Machen Chapter 2: Doctrine Machen's focus in chapter 2 concerns the loss or replacement of doctrine in the church mostly brought on by modern liberalism. Machen writes that the idea "Christianity is a life not a doctrine" is false. His concern is that the message of Christianity is lost when the focus is turned towards life experience rather than doctrine. The real hope of Christianity is that it is true. It's not a collection of stories meant to cause encouragement and strength in the reader. The message is derived from history. If there is a loss of truth then there is a loss of the message and of real faith. The human experience needs to be interpreted through the lens of doctrine. Christianity was founded on a message which was developed based on facts and history rather than feelings. For example Jesus died. That is a historical fact but, he died for our sins. That is theology. The disciples and Paul also did not  ...