Hi Karen
"Is it within the bounds of Christianity?"
You have discovered the dirty little secret of Liberal Christianity. You are actually being charitable in your assessment. In fact Liberal Christianity and Biblical Christianity are in the words of the late J. Gresham Machen, "diametrically opposed" to one another. His book "Christianity and Liberalism" published almost eighty years ago is even more pertinent today, because, while the Liberal presuppositions have remained constant, the issues he discusses have moved from the realm of Theological academia, and have filtered down into the pews, through several generations of unbelieving leaders.
The head of the largest Protestant denomination in Canada, (United Church) created a stir about two years ago when he let it slip in an interview, that he did not believe that Jesus rose from the dead. That kind of candor is rare, but the view is common. What the leaders do, is, they continue to use the terminology of orthodox Christianity while simultaneous, redefining the content of the terms in such a way as to render them totally vacuous. It's sort of like those rolex watches that sell for ten bucks, it says Christian on the door, but it's just a shell. So the Bodily resurrection of Jesus, becomes the "risen Jesus who lives in your heart" This allows them to continue to collect their salaries, while pulling the wool over the eyes of their own sheep. Many people left when they understood what was taking place, but many understood, and stayed. Go figure!
Have a good day
Greg |
