“As measured by demography, liberal Christianity is a clear failure.”
A few quick thoughts:
1) The success of Christianity is never measured by demography. The Sovereign Lord does as He pleases and always accomplishes His purposes. All that the Father intended to save from the foundation of the earth will come to Christ and be saved. Large and ever-growing numbers impress men, but they mean nothing. Christ builds His church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Men scheme to grow churches, but Paul explained that one man plants a seed, another man waters it, but it is God who gives the increase. The sovereign God is pleased to use the means of foolish men, and for that we should be thankful not prideful. He should get all credit and glory when a church grows with true believers who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. We cannot control the Spirit. We have no idea who will or will not be saved.
“And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35)
“But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”
(Psalm 115:3)
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37)
From John 3:
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
2) Liberal Christianity was never biblical Christianity. Let it die!
“Schuller displayed similar impatience with younger priests. When an audience member lamented that younger priests were “more official and hierarchical,” Schuller said that for the last 20 to 30 years seminarians have been “interested in the First Vatican Council Church” and that such views represent a “real clash between two visions of Church,” since Schuller sees himself and his confreres as championing Vatican II. The only hope Schuller offered his distressed interlocutor was that younger priests will “gather some experience in life and faith,” the unspoken assumption being that experience will lead ineluctably to holding the same opinions Schuller has. Schuller repeated this theme in Los Angeles, warning his audience there that “The church is more and more led by relatively young priests of these movements, who nobody knows really.”
All really good signs, sounds scared and frustrated that the younger priests don’t seem to be meeting the standards of grey-haired old liberals.
FReegards, thanks for all the pings on FR
Needless to say, most of what Schuller advocates is contrary to the New Testament and authoritative Church teaching
In fact the Church itself has been doing that for hundreds of years, they have opened the door for anti Christs or unbelievers to do just what this nut is doing.
If one man can add to or take away from the scriptures then why not another?
Re: women and married priests.
Like the society Schuller wants the Church to mirror, it won’t stop there. And what is intended to be an island of calm and steadiness in a chaotic world becomes the chaos it was intended to offset.
Too late. When the Catholic Church adopted liberal Protestant Biblical criticism it boarded the liberal Protestant train. And now any hesitation to kiss the ring of historical criticism is met with accusations of (of all things) Protestantism.