20th Century Man Centeredness: Part One

Liberal Theology[1] and apostasy[2] are similar in many aspects. I am not trying to state that every individual that practices or believes in a liberal theology system is an apostate. I would however state, that a good amount of liberal theologians tend to be or become apostates. The Liberal Theology of today’s Postmodern culture is not something that has just crept in or somehow managed its’ way into our churches of the 21^st century.[3] Liberal theology was a movement in which Christianity is classified by features such as, the embracing of higher criticism of the bible and which often leads to the willingness to question supernatural elements of the biblical stories in and throughout the whole bible. One of the hugest stories and a great example of this would be the virgin birth. Another area in which they believe or can fall into the area of their movement is the rejection of biblical literalism and the inerrancy of the bible. They also allow other to have their own freedom views of God and believe what they want and will about God. Then just here of late in recent years liberalism has had and put an emphasis on fellowship and community so that it would apply to homosexuals better. Another huge area they stand back and forth on is the fact that they have a willingness to consider and adopt viewpoints which have their roots outside of Christianity! Examples of this happen often and usually in the science areas and here of late in philosophical traditions. Talking science with theology also ends up combining theology and the bibles doctrines with moderns science theories which pervert the gospel and the Word of God. Then lastly and mostly importantly is the doctrine of salvations, the cross, and the gospel which is like a broader view then us Baptist bible college students, they are a little more universalist beliefs when it comes to this.

Ultimately, the word liberal shows a more progressive attitude towards Christianity based on individuality, in its emphasis on individual subjective experience, and liberalism, in its respect for the freedom of the individual to hold and express views which fall outside the boundaries of conservative religion. I would like to expound upon what Theological Liberalism is, so that we know how we got stuck with what we have today from what had happen. Theological Liberalism is rooted in three main presumptions that they bring to their theology. These three main presumptions no matter what branch or time started before the 20^th century and was blossomed in the 20^th century to give us what we are stuck in living in today’s 21^st. Its’ first root is in the idea that religion should be able to change to felt needs of the people. For the Liberal Theologian this change is both foreseeable and desirable. With this kind of theology there is no absolute truth. Truth can change due to feelings or whatever one may bring from their own minds to the Bible. Their second rooted idea is that the final authority of religious context is based on one’s own personal experience. What we have here is a person can actually bases their beliefs, morals, and ethics off of something they have done, or what their feelings are in an experience. Finally, Liberal Theology holds to that fact that man is made inherently good. Holding to this view would lead to the optimism regarding the evolutionary process and also was the primary focus behind the postmillennial teaching of the 1800’s. In the end, this doctrine of man being inherently good leads to a relationship with God based on works and them carrying out their servitude duty that they may believe honors God. In most cases this is due to the lack of intellectual knowledge of the Word of God, God Himself, and the redemption of Jesus Christ through faith alone.