...And I Agree Completely

Jim Tonkowich, president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy writes in the Weekly Standard about the breakup of the ECUSA and the struggles in the PCUSA. The article is titled Religion Without Foundations.

I've been writing quite a bit about subjectivism in matters of faith, the lack of adherence to both scripture and the consensus of church history. Tonkowich says of the mainliners:

"In contrast to Christians through the ages, the denominational left has substituted sentiments for facts, passions for authority, and subjectivity for reason. Their belief seems to be that if they "create space for dialogue" it will allow them to emote and vote with the result that a simple majority determines the new revised standard version of God's truth and will."



I have also complained much about the trend in evangelical circles to embrace a post-modern worldview even if avoiding overt heresies for the short term. Says Tonkowich:

"THIS SAME CONFUSION OVER TRUTH is rapidly infecting the evangelical world as churches drink the "emerging church" Kool-Aid. Emerging or post-modern church leaders insist that truth is relational and must be experienced. I agree, but to leave it there is to fall into the same subjectivist error in which the mainline/old-line denominations are mired. The traditional Christian understanding is that truth is true even if it is not experienced. It is true objectively and absolutely. This is an assertion for which modern people have little patience."

The point of contention is not the issues themselves, but a completely different way of seeing reality, of seeing truth. In arguing about "modern" vs "postmodern" ideas, we miss the point that something stands above both - an orderly God who created an orderly universe that has objective existence. One final quote:

"In a speech given in 1898, Dutch theologian, pastor, politician, and professor Abraham Kuyper diagnosed modern problem with understanding the nature of truth: "Everyone who thinks he can abandon the Christian truths, and do away with the Catechism of Reformation, lends ear unawares to the hypotheses of the modern world-view and, without knowing how far he has drifted already, swears by the Catechism of Rousseau and Darwin." 

Thank you Jim Tonkowich. Hopefully somebody is listening...