Leave it to Beevus, Part II

On all sides we are surrounded by liberalism in many forms.

We see, pantheism (those worshiping the creation as divine) and the Social Gospel (the presentation of God's love divorced from God's justice and redemption). Another form of liberalism that surrounds us is humanism and relativism within the public school system teaching atheistic principals, calling them neutral.

Also, along this pathway we run into the hedonist, those who live for pleasure (not a new doctrine as Soloman has told us, 'eat drink and be merry for…'

The other side of our pathway you can see many other forms of liberalism that seek to distract us from His truth and allure us into believing that 'this doctrine', 'this life-style' will meet all of our needs. Putting this together reminds me of driving through Las Vegas with our children late one night years ago. Since we lived in California and we often drove to Colorado, the kids wondered why we couldn't go into this brightly lit and shining town. So, that vacation we stopped at Circus, Circus (our 4 kids ranged from 6 to 12 years of age). The lights flashed, the noises bombarded us – clanging coins, ringing machines, excited voices, strident, loud music, clouds of smelly cigar and cigarette smoke, alcohol, people, food smells and more people. The exterior called to 'Come, taste, enjoy' us, just like Christian in Pilgrim's Progress when he encounters Vanity Fair and is drawn to all that is sensual. But the devil lies and 'all that glitters is not gold'.

Along this pathway we continue and we see drunkenness and sensuality; living lifestyles of immorality.

What I find is an interesting part of this liberalism is a spirit of Victimization. Many in our society today excuse themselves from being responsible for their choices or behavior because they define themselves as victims. On one hand, since we all live in a broken world, we all have been sinned against (and sinned) but this argument translates victimization into entitlement. The legitimate claims of a few have become the expected demands of many. Have we created a society of people who expect benefits that are not proportional to their plight?

One aspect of liberalism that has grown over the 20th century has been communes and cults; those who are religious, coming together to live and love their form of God. I also see this in the clubs and hobbies that bring people together. These are not wrong, in the same sense as many of these others, yet they are inadequate to truly meet people's needs to belong.

To capsulate, these are the boundaries of our orthodoxy, though as we walk through this pathway of righteousness, Satan pulls us with his sensual promises, 'You will be satisfied here.' There is an allure of liberalism, which offers empty promises. I am not saying that if we stick close to the center of this pathway that we will not sin, for though we may fight the call of liberalism successfully, fulfilling the law that we're called to submit to can become a stumbling block also. As we know, it is not our obedience to the law that saves us, but His grace that saves us and enables us to do what is right. As we should be fearful (in a healthy since, not one of trepidation) of liberalism, so we should be fearful of legalism. We should live neither in license from the law nor in legalism under it.

Part of the pride of legalism is manifested in the absolutes that we sometimes promote. Where once Calvinism dominated our seminaries, now liberalism has washed over many mainline denominations for over 75 years.

On one side, where pantheism threatens, we find many forms of environmentalism. I place this word on the side of liberalism and on the side of orthodoxy because there is much we have learned about the importance of being good stewards of God's resources. - willing to be responsible to God's gifts given in nature. Francis Schaeffer, who was known for speaking to this culture and its needs, wrote of this in Genesis in Space and Time. Recently, Mark Futato spoke at one of our church events, concluding with one comment that we need to 'hug-a-tree'. My concern, which I stated, was, 'because it is important that our message is clear and our actions are clear, we can hug a tree but then say WHY we are hugging it. It is not the message of the pantheistic; I am not hugging it because I worship it.'

In the same way that liberals preached the social gospel, and the orthodox sought to be doctrinal pure, many evangelicals and reformed people left the social action to the liberals. But look today as the assurgency of mercy ministries all over the country and in recent decades from Redeemer Church; in New York.. If you haven't read Tim Kellers' book, Road to Jericho, it is a must.

Many have turned to hedonism; yet in some churches through the 20th century we see a form of ascetism, denying the goodness of physical creation. Yet today, we're being told about a Sacred Romance, that all that is beautiful, the stormy clouds, fulfilling His word, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, listening to the tender way Aslan ministers to Lucy, a bar of chocolate or a vanilla scented candle; all of these beautiful, sensual moments are God romancing us to Himself. All that is good in our lives is God loving us. We no longer need deny the sensual parts of ourselves. I am using this word in the broadest sense of the word; it is legitimate to do so. Because, if our culture sees us as dried up and unfeeling, not moved by beauty, they won't want to be near us.

Along this same pathway where we see Psychology that has become religion, we compare this to the absolutism of nouthetic counseling. There is a middle ground in the counseling programs that have become a part of most evangelical and reformed seminaries today. We are not saying the counselor should replace the pastor but come along side of him and help bring people from brokenness towards wholeness, encouraging their sanctification, that they might better hear, receive and obey the Word of God promised to them.

Instead of encouraging women to become men or aspire to be better than men (radical feminism) we give women the same tools of exegesis and apologetics, enabling them to go to the edge in our culture and become thinking and theological. This is why Carolyn James' books have swept our conservative churches with such popularity; she's called women to use their minds and emotions to think theologically and truthfully and respond to the pains of life with the theology they are learning and teaching. We should not allow the fear of radical feminisism to keep us from using all the gifts of learning and scholarship to become competent theologians. Neither should we forsake the soft, sensitive nurturing nature of the female. This is not a weakness but very much a part of God's image in women. Being scholarly does not mean being harsh, abrasive or obtuse.

We also should have the proper respect for the dangers of liberalism but trust women to study as any man can and then face head on a culture that needs to know we respect women in their abilities and gifts