Presbyterian Outlook asks what is happening to liberalism...

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The liberal church has been in decline for decades according to the numbers. At one point liberal and moderate churches made up 40% of the congregations in the United States. I think I saw somewhere its under 15%. Dave Perkins said "Eighteen years ago when I joined Presbyterian Publishing, there were 3.2 million Presbyterians; today there are 2.3 million. This numerical membership decline has been among the center and the leftwing.”

The answer I believe lies in how liberal theology plays out. The liberal church in an effort to offend no one tosses out the condemnation of homosexuality, decides that the verse that clearly proclaims Jesus as the only way is not really from Jesus so as to not offend other religions, and tippy toes around Jesus's divinity for I assume the same reason and determines that miracles really couldn't have happened so I assume they can get along with scoffers more easily.

In my opinion it is their unwillingness to draw a line that can't be crossed that set up and continues this downturn. And now the liberal Episcopol Church has a priest who is also a practicing Muslim in its pulpit. Do they proclaim the priest a heretic and remove her? No. Its good for interfaith relations proclaims her bishop.

The Bible is relegated to second place for feel good theology. If it makes a person happy, then it must be good. If it makes someone uncomfortable, it can't be from God. There is simply no reason to keep worshipping in a liberal church because as long as you're happy, you're ok. You might as well stay home and mow the grass or watch the extra football coverage in the winter. All is equal. All religions are the same. Attend service or not. It really doesn't matter. And really who wants to go listen to a lecture for 20 minutes and drive for another 20 to church when you can get an extra 40 minutes of pregame football action since that 20 minute lecture is irrelevant when the message is all beliefs are good.

That is why I believe the Liberal Church is in decline. I could be completely off base. After all I am on the outside looking in. And of course not all Liberals are the same. Some do believe in those essential doctrines or at least some of the doctrines. Others(like the Episcopol Muslim) toss everything out with the bath water and those are the biggest causes of the Liberal Churches problems.

So is all liberalism bad? Of course not. A very good liberal theory(at least I've always assumed it came from liberals) is the Literary Framework Theory for Genesis 1. Someone noticed that Genesis 1 has the ring of Hebrew poetry and developed the theory.


So what steps could the liberals take? The first one would be tossing the Episcopol Muslim out on her ear and declare her the heretic that she is. After that is accomplished, reaffirm that Jesus is God and is the Son of God and that through faith in him are you saved. After that, you'll be on the road to recovery.