…I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known…
Colossians 1:24-29
The liberal theology of the 19th century still plagues the church today. With likes of Hegel and Schleiermacher as “idols” of the liberal theologians today, it is a wonder that any true church exists today. They touted “naturalism,” a view that holds nothing exists except the physical universe. There are liberal theologians who do not believe in the miracles. Some of them even denied the existence of the personal God altogether. These men try to explain away the many supernatural events recorded in the Gospels. The feeding of the five thousand, for example, liberalism teaches that Jesus was able to convince those in the crowd who had brought food to share with those who had not. This kind of thinking ignores the details of the Gospel accounts and shows how far liberals with such biases will go to deny the work of God in Christ. Rudolf Bultman, another liberal theologian, denied the reality of the miracles as supernatural events, claiming that the disciples explained the significance of Jesus through legendary stories (myths). He argued that the New Testament contains a kernel of historical truth, around which are found myths like the resurrection, the ascension, etc. Bultman, denying the apostolic witness, said the historicity of the resurrection was unimportant and, through some kind of mysticism, not biblical faith, people can have a personal encounter with Christ and find our “real humanity.” This enables people to make a Christ in their own image. If faith is not based on historical events, how do we know if we are all following the same Jesus? How can Christ be the object of the Christian faith if we all meet a different Jesus? Gnosticism, a rampant heresy in the early church, said salvation was only available to those who possessed the hidden truths of Christ. Liberal theologians today espouse a kind of neo-gnosticism, a wholly subjective encounter with Jesus, which is the basis for many people’s professed Christianity. A personal encounter with Jesus is necessary. Christians do not believe simply because Jesus “lives in our heart.” Christians believe because He truly came, truly died, and truly rose again.
Source: S C Ball February 23, 2024
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