Views: 2<\/p>
[Note:\u00a0 <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our Longer Articles<\/strong>\u00a0 page.]<\/span><\/p>\n Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Railroad tracks run parallel to each other, as do numerous other things (e.g., lines on a music staff, window blinds, prison bars, et al.). Such items are not only aligned; they go in the same direction and generally have the same terminus. Parallels exist not only in the area of physical phenomena, but in the realm of ideas as well.<\/span><\/p>\n The \u201cno holds barred\u201d intensity of the 2004 (Bush [R], Kerry [D]) and later presidential campaigns served to accentuate the deep political rift in our nation. Numerous seasoned presidential campaign observers agree that this was one of the most bitterly fought races ever. This highly-charged atmosphere has provoked a few thoughts concerning some ideological parallels. Generally, the national political division breaks along \u201cconservative\u201d and \u201cliberal\u201d lines, often identified as the \u201cright\u201d and the \u201cleft,\u201d respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n Some General Parallels<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Some general parallels are obvious between the political and religious landscapes. Professed believers in God, the Bible, and the Christ are also divided along the lines of the \u201cright\u201d and \u201cleft\u201d dichotomy that is observable in politics. This conservative-liberal division is quite apparent in both the Roman Catholic Church and in Protestant Denominationalism (with pronounced liberal dominance in the latter). So we see these parallel \u201crails\u201d of politics and religion: both are very much divided along conservative and liberal lines.<\/span><\/p>\n Even closer to home, it is no secret that the church of Christ is also deeply divided <\/strong>along conservative and liberal lines. (I do not employ the term liberal <\/em>to be unkind or unfair, but to be accurate. Liberal <\/em>accurately describes those who take liberties with God\u2019s Word.<\/em>) What began in a seemingly small way about half a century ago has steadily developed into a cleavage with no foreseeable prospect of repair. The church is moving inexorably toward a repeat\u2014in the not-too-distant-future, I fear\u2014of the tragic complete sundering of the body of Christ that occurred a century ago (some seem never to learn or care about the lessons of history). Not a few believe said division has already occurred. As sad as it is to contemplate, the conservative-liberal tension has already produced internal schism in hundreds of congregations. The number of entire congregations that have moved or are moving leftward is surely in the hundreds\u2014if not more. It is only a matter of time now until the reality of this division is undeniable\u2014even by the most dedicated religious \u201costriches.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Those who have read any of my writings or who have heard me preach for any length of time are aware of my unashamed conservative perspective. Liberals fail who seek to slander me by throwing this label my way. To me, conservative <\/em>is neither pejorative nor demeaning; it is complimentary. For my part, the true meaning of this term has only positive connotations. I do not claim to speak for them, but I believe there are still many faithful saints whose only interest in religion is mine\u2014to simply conserve <\/strong>or preserve <\/strong>that \u201conce-for-all-delivered\u201d faith (Jude 3) for which the Lord died. Conservatives are the real restorers. We seek no more and no less than the unadulterated doctrine and practice of the New Testament.<\/span><\/p>\n The proclivity of liberals to categorize all who object to their schemes as \u201cantis\u201d stems from the misconception that conservatives like to \u201cmake laws.\u201d Notwithstanding this frequent accusation, I am not the least bit interested in making any new laws for God (If I have ever done so, it was not because of, but in spite of, any such intent). This charge accurately describes genuine \u201canti-ism,\u201d not genuine conservatism. (By genuine anti-ism <\/em>I refer to the practice of making personal scruples about such things as church support of children\u2019s homes, church cooperation, eating in the church building, the time of meeting, or even the color of the carpet, grounds of fellowship. All other things being equal, such scruples [whether held by congregations or by individuals] are of no consequence to a genuine conservative\u2014as long as they remain just that\u2014personal scruples<\/strong>.)<\/span><\/p>\n When one objectively considers the correct definition of conservative<\/em>, he will realize that personal-scruple-enforcing \u201canti\u201d brethren are no more conservative than liberals and that liberals are as much in the law-making business as are extreme \u201cantis.\u201d Liberals just make their laws broader<\/strong>, whereas said \u201cantis\u201d make theirs narrower<\/strong>, than God\u2019s law\u2014but both are lawmakers. The implication of the foregoing remarks is clear: Liberalism and anti-ism are both extremes; conservatism occupies the happy middle ground of Truth. If I did not believe this, I would seek other ground.<\/span><\/p>\n Liberal innovators drove the wedge that eventually split the church a century ago. They began it all by introducing the missionary society and the instrument of music a half-century earlier. Until then, the church was marching as a solid, united phalanx and making great gains for the Truth on every hand. Ironically, those conservative brethren (whose only aim was the restoration of primitive Christianity) who resisted the innovators and their innovations were shown the door and blamed for the division.<\/span><\/p>\n Like their earlier counterparts, today\u2019s liberals, with their host of innovations\u2014all symptomatic of their rejection of the authority of Scripture\u2014are completely culpable for the division now occurring in the church. The list of strange practices and doctrines they have imposed\u2014and are imposing\u2014on the Lord\u2019s people is as long as my arm (and I have long arms). The only sense in which those who endeavor to preserve the ancient landmarks are guilty of the current division is that we have dared expose and oppose the nefarious machinations of the liberals. Many of us plan to continue doing so.<\/span><\/p>\n Some Specific Parallels<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n With the foregoing as background, let us now consider a more specific set of parallels\u2014the one that exists between liberals\/leftists in politics (including the major news media) and their liberal\/leftist counterparts in the church (including the \u201cnews media\u201d operated by brethren). These two groups of liberals run on parallel \u201crails\u201d\u2014they just circulate in different spheres of activity. Liberals in the church mirror the nature, attitudes, and tactics demonstrated by politicians and media principals on the left (especially in the most recent) presidential campaigns. Consider the following:<\/span><\/p>\n Liberals do not like to be called \u201cliberals\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A politician may spend twenty years amassing the most liberal voting record in the US Senate. Yet, when his opponent emphasizes this, correctly labeling him a \u201cliberal,\u201d the liberal (and the \u201cestablishment\u201d media) will shame the exposer for daring to call him what he is. In politics, liberals know that they rarely win unless they can somehow disguise their liberalism, so they try to hide under such terms as moderate, progressive, <\/em>or centrist<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n Liberals in the church object to this term also, and for the same reason. Preachers, professors, and editors who no longer love the Truth and who seek to turn the church into a denomination (which they already believe it to be), do not like to be identified for what they are\u2014liberals. They know that faithful brethren will not tolerate their shenanigans if convinced of their liberalism. They thus prefer moderate, progressive<\/em>, and centrist<\/em>, just as politicians do. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Liberals are elitists <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Liberal politicians are generally arrogant and puffed up with their own importance. They believe they are better, smarter, and wiser than \u201cordinary\u201d people. They exhibit a \u201cnose-in-the-air\u201d condescension toward their constituents that smacks of an ancient landlord\u2019s attitude toward his serfs. The \u201ccommon people\u201d would hardly know how to tie their shoes or chew gum without their patronizing advice and oversight.<\/span><\/p>\n Liberals in the church are eaten up with arrogance and elitism. This is especially so if they have earned a PhD, and even more so if they occupy a professorship in one of the universities founded by brethren. Many of them have been off to Harvard, Princeton, or some other school full of infidel theologians, and have come back enlightened. They have escaped the shackles of simple faith in the Bible as God\u2019s verbally and plenarily inspired Word. Reminiscent of the Gnostics of old, they know it all\u2014even more than God has revealed. Job\u2019s mordant response to Zophar nails them: \u201cNo doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you\u201d (Job 12:2).<\/span><\/p>\n We pitiful souls who have only been studying and preaching the simple Truth for forty, fifty, sixty, or more years are just ignoramuses. We are not linguists or theologians, and they are. My, my, such Neanderthals as we still believe that faithful <\/strong>churches of Christ today are the one church of the New Testament in our time, that one must be in it to be saved, and that the only way one can enter it is by obeying Jesus\u2019 plan of salvation, culminating in baptism unto remission of sins (Acts 2:37\u201347).<\/span><\/p>\n Liberals profess themselves to be supremely tolerant <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n In their campaign speeches, liberal candidates typically boast of their tolerance for all viewpoints, lifestyles, behaviors, and attitudes. Their practice, however, reveals that their \u201ctolerance\u201d definitely has limits. It comes to an abrupt halt when one dares question and\/or expose the fallacies and\/or evils of such things as abortion and homosexual behavior. Verily, liberals are among the most intolerant people on earth\u2014just resist one of them or his policies if in doubt.<\/span><\/p>\n So it is with liberals in the church. They are so sweet and profoundly tolerant that they would not dare offend anyone by preaching on the errors of denominationalism, the sin of using instrumental music in worship, or the necessity of baptism for remission of sins. They would not think of saying or doing anything that might cause some sinner to get the idea he is lost. They see no problem with \u201csocial drinking,\u201d near-nakedness in public, adulterous marriages, or buying a lottery ticket\u2014they are so tolerant, you see.<\/span><\/p>\n Or are they? Actually, they are only tolerant of almost everything and anyone, except <\/strong>sound doctrine and those who preach and defend it. They have an extremely low tolerance threshold for any teaching that counters their agenda. For decades such places as Pepperdine U, ACU, LCU, Lipscomb U, and the Tulsa Workshop have not tendered invitations to conservative preachers to speak. Liberal churches years ago closed their pulpits to any but liberal preachers. I suppose it is because liberals are so exceedingly tolerant that they do not extend these invitations. \u201cBut conservative congregations do not invite liberals into their pulpits, either,\u201d someone observes. The difference is that we do not pretend or profess to be super-tolerant of all views. We make it known plainly that we are consciously in<\/strong>tolerant of and will not provide a platform for false teachers, as the Scriptures obligate us to be and do (Rom. 16:17\u201318; 2 Tim. 4:2\u20134; 2 John 10\u201311; et al.).<\/span><\/p>\n Liberals are experts at applying a double standard <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Liberal politicians demonstrate this practice in various ways (including their professed tolerance, discussed above):<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0First<\/strong>, political liberals project themselves as great champions of the First Amendment of our Constitution, part of which guarantees free speech. They are all for free speech as long as they and their media sycophants are viciously lying <\/strong>about their conservative opponents. However, they suddenly care not so much for free speech when opponents come forward with the truth <\/strong>about their dangerous policies, major character flaws, and inconsistencies. By threat and intimidation, they seek to silence conservative voices in the media. By long serving as the unpaid voice of liberals the \u201cmajor\u201d news media have outrageously abused the very free speech right under which they operate. Amazingly, they do such in the name of \u201cobjectivity,\u201d while denying their glaring bias. They are pleased to mitigate, slant, and\/or even withhold significant conservative facts and voices from the public.<\/span><\/p>\n Liberals in the church are not interested in freedom of expression. The closing of most of the university lectureships and liberal big church pulpits to all but their kind (all the while professing tolerance) is a case in point. The Christian Chronicle <\/em>bills itself as \u201cAn international newspaper for members of churches of Christ.\u201d It boasts of its \u201cbalance\u201d and \u201cobjectivity,\u201d yet its pages are filled with promotion\u2014paid and unpaid\u2014of the most liberal institutions, projects, and men among us. Its editors misname \u201cliberals\u201d as \u201cprogressives\u201d and refer to those seeking to conserve New Testament teaching and practice as \u201ctraditionalists\u201d (Oct. 2004:30). Where were \u201cbalance\u201d and \u201cobjectivity\u201d when its editor described conservatives as those who exclude all but those who \u201cworship as the church did in the early decades of the last century\u201d (July 2004:30)? Contrariwise, we charge them with rejecting the plan of salvation and the pattern for the church of the first <\/strong>century. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Second<\/strong>, as mentioned earlier, political liberals object to those who correctly label them liberals<\/em>. Labeling, they say, is unfair and prejudicial. Yet, in another application of the double standard, they are the biggest labelers around. They refer to political conservatives as \u201cthe radical right,\u201d \u201cthe vast right-wing conspiracy,\u201d \u201cthe religious right,\u201d and similar terms with a curled lip and an unbatted eye.<\/span><\/p>\n So it is with liberals in the church. As mentioned above, they do not want to be called what they are\u2014liberals. <\/em>They self-righteously and indignantly decry the awful practice of labeling<\/em>. I have even heard some conservative brethren mistakenly join the voices of liberals in this respect, declaring, \u201cThe New Testament does not contain the words, conservative <\/em>or liberal, <\/em>so we should not use them.\u201d No, not explicitly, but it does so implicitly <\/strong>in every passage that warns of apostasy and enjoins faithful adherence to the Gospel, which passages permeate the inspired volume (as even neophyte Bible students should know). Nonetheless, liberals have proved themselves very prolific, adept, and imaginative in labeling their opponents (e.g., \u201clegalists,\u201d \u201cfive-steppers,\u201d \u201cbrotherhood watchdogs,\u201d \u201cwitch-hunters,\u201d \u201ckeepers of orthodoxy,\u201d \u201cPharisees,\u201d \u201ctraditionalists,\u201d \u201ccommandment keepers,\u201d \u201cnew antis,\u201d et al.) It is not that liberals do not like labeling; they just do not like to be on the receiving <\/strong>end of labels that truly characterize them.<\/span><\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The truth of the matter is that liberals will be liberals, wherever one finds them. If political liberals should gain full control of all branches of our government and if they watered-down our constitution and the God-given rights and freedoms it guarantees, we could still live as God\u2019s people and be saved at last. Of course, we would likely be under severe opposition and duress (political liberals have generally demonstrated that they think believing in God is a joke, the Bible is a fairy tale, and alley cats and barnyard animals are proper role models for \u201cmorals\u201d\u2014with my apologies to the animals in some cases).<\/span><\/p>\n However, liberals in the church will cause souls to be lost. They have no more respect for the inspired constitution of the kingdom of Heaven than political liberals have for the U.S. constitution. They have an amazing ability to ignore Paul\u2019s mandate: \u201cAnd whatever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father through him\u201d (Col. 3:17). They preach a diluted message that is destroying the church everywhere men implement it. Their message robs men of the plan of salvation from sin, and ultimately, therefore, of Heaven itself. Liberalism <\/em>is simply another word for apostasy <\/em>and heresy<\/em>. Paul described those who thus walk as \u201cholding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof,\u201d and enjoined: \u201cfrom these also turn away\u201d (2 Tim. 3:5).<\/span><\/p>\n [NOTE: <\/strong>I wrote the foregoing MS while editor of THE GOSPEL JOURNAL<\/em>. It appeared in a slightly different form as my \u201cEditorial Perspective\u201d in the November 2004 issue of said publication, of which I was editor (revised\/updated 5\/17\/21). DM]<\/span><\/p>\n Attribution:<\/strong> From thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Views: 2[Note:\u00a0 This MS is available in larger font on our Longer Articles\u00a0 page.] Introduction Railroad tracks run parallel to each other, as do numerous other things (e.g., lines on a music staff, window blinds, prison bars, et al.). Such items are not only aligned;…<\/p>\n