LIBERALISM AND ITS THEOLOGY.

LIBERALISM AND ITS THEOLOGY.

Dr. Benson Omole.
"According to Britannica, theological liberalism is a movement in Protestantism  that establishes religious inquiry on the basis of reason and experience rather than traditional authority. It seeks to ...focusing on inner motivation and adapting faith to modern intellectual, scientific, and ethical understandings."

The liberal approach to Bible commands, often associated with theological modernism, shifts authority from the literal text of Scripture to contemporary experience, reason, and social context. This approach often interprets commands as historical, culturally conditioned, or metaphorical guidelines rather than absolute, universal imperatives. 

Key Aspects of the Liberal Approach to Bible Commands includes:

a. Reinterpretation Over Obedience: 
Liberal theology frequently reinterprets traditional commands, particularly those concerning sexuality or gender roles, to fit modern, progressive social values.

b. "Grace Only" Focus: 
There is a tendency to emphasize the concept of divine grace while minimizing or rejecting the necessity of obedience to specific, literal commands of the Bible.

c. Subjectivity of Authority: 
The authority of a commandment is subjective, with an emphasis on personal conscience and individual interpretation over ecclesiastical or traditional, doctrinal interpretations.

d. Ethical Focus over Doctrine: 
Liberalism tends to reduce Christianity to a system of ethics—focused on love, social justice, and kindness—rather than adherence to doctrinal truth, or the literal fulfillment of biblical laws.

e. Cultural Adaptability: 
Commands are viewed through a lens of change, arguing that since society has evolved, the interpretation of biblical commands should evolve as well. 

Educational Perspective on Liberalism

Historical Context: 
Originating in the 19th century, liberal theology aimed to make Christianity more "respectable" or acceptable to modern science, often questioning the supernatural elements of the Bible.

View of Jesus: 
Liberal theology often presents Jesus as a human moral teacher and an example of ethical living, rather than the divine Son of God whose commands are absolute.

Critique from Orthodoxy: 
Traditional or evangelical theology critiques this approach as "dismantling" the authority of the Word of God, arguing that it replaces God's standard with human wisdom.

Redefinition of Sin: 
Liberalism often diminishes the seriousness of individual sin, viewing it more as a social or structural issue to be fixed by societal reform, rather than a spiritual condition requiring repentance. 

In summary. 
The liberal approach to Bible commands prioritizes personal and social application based on modern, progressive, or relativistic frameworks, often challenging the traditional, literal, and absolute understanding of those commands held by conservative and orthodox traditions.

1) The Bible is not “God-breathed” and has errors. Because of this belief, man (the liberal theologians) must determine which teachings are correct and which are not. Belief that the Bible is “inspired” (in that word’s original meaning) by God is only held by simpletons. This directly contradicts 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2) The virgin birth of Christ is a mythological false teaching. This directly contradicts Isaiah 7:14 and Luke 2.

3) Jesus did not rise again from the grave in bodily form. This contradicts the resurrection accounts in all four Gospels and the entire New Testament.

4) Jesus was a good moral teacher, but His followers and their followers have taken liberties with the history of His life (there were no “supernatural” miracles), with the Gospels having been written many years later and merely ascribed to the early disciples in order to give greater weight to their teachings. This contradicts the 2 Timothy passage and the doctrine of the supernatural preservation of the Scriptures by God.

5) Hell is not real. Man is not lost in sin and is not doomed to some future judgment without a relationship with Christ through faith. Man can help himself; no sacrificial death by Christ is necessary since a loving God would not send people to such a place as hell and since man is not born in sin. This contradicts Jesus Himself, who declared Himself to be the Way to God, through His atoning death (John 14:6).

6) Most of the human authors of the Bible are not who they are traditionally believed to be. For instance, they believe that Moses did not write the first five books of the Bible. The book of Daniel had two authors because there is no way that the detailed “prophecies” of the later chapters could have been known ahead of time; they must have been written after the fact. The same thinking is carried over to the New Testament books. These ideas contradict not only the Scriptures but historical documents which verify the existence of all the people whom the liberals deny.

7) The most important thing for man to do is to “love” his neighbor. What is the loving thing to do in any situation is not what the Bible says is good but what the liberal theologians decide is good. This denies the doctrine that man is incapable of leading himself (Jeremiah 10:23), until He has been redeemed by Christ and given a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17), and a new command.

There are many pronouncements of Scripture against those who would deny the deity of Christ (2 Peter 2:1)—which liberal Christianity does. Scripture also denounces those who would preach a different gospel from what was preached by the apostles (Galatians 1:8)—which is what the liberal theologians do in denying the necessity of Christ’s atoning death and preaching a social gospel in its place. 
The Bible condemns those who call good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20)—which some liberal churches do by embracing homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle while the Bible repeatedly condemns its practice.

Scripture speaks against those who would cry “peace, peace” when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14)—which liberal theologians do by saying that man can attain peace with God apart from Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and that man need not worry about a future judgment before God. 

The Word of God speaks of a time when men will have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5)—which is what liberal theology does in that it says that there is some inner goodness in man that does not require a rebirth by the Holy Spirit, (the Word of God) through faith in Christ. And it speaks against those who would serve idols instead of the one true God (1 Chronicles 16:26)—which liberal Christianity does in that it creates a false god according to its own liking rather than worshiping God as He is described in the Bible.




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