My remarks following are based on an article linked by the Aquila Report. As reported by Mark Joseph, President Obama was taken to task for his theological relativism on the issue of world religions and for his view that abortion is a viable choice for women with unwanted pregnancies. The speaker was Eric Metaxas. Unfortunately, the theologically liberal idea is that all religions have a core moralism that coincides. Basically, President Obama's theology is one that teaches that doctrine or special revelation is irrelevant as long as we all keep God's law. After all, we're all basically just good people.
Unfortunately, both Joseph and Metaxas have merely presented an Evangelical pietism that is as focused on a common moralism as that of the theological liberals. Evangelical pietists, although standing on the principle that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, diminish doctrine to a minimalism that is not that far removed from modernism and religious pluralism. Evangelicals and Catholics Together, the Manhattan Declaration, and other such documents are good examples of this. In fact, Joseph implies that "good" Roman Catholics are in because they believe in Jesus Christ and because they oppose abortion. Apparently, Joseph is unaware of the official Roman Catholic doctrine of implicit faith in other religions and that these other religions are not necessarily a cause for losing one's soul.
The short response here is that civil religion is as liberal and latitudinarian in some respects as the blatant religious pluralism and latitudinarianism of President of Obama. In the end, what unites Roman Catholics and Evangelicals is not a common doctrine of Jesus Christ and the cross, a common doctrine of Scripture, or a common doctrine of justification and the sacraments. What unites Roman Catholics and Evangelicals, according to Metaxas and Joseph is they are good Christians who uphold God's moral law which opposes the murder of the unborn. Of course abortion is infanticide. But how opposing murder makes one a Christian is a mystery. Many atheists and agnostics oppose abortion but that does not make them Christians.
What is problematic with this article is that it assumes Metaxas is some kind of prophet who foresaw the future. It does not require a divine revelation of the future to predict what President Obama might have been preparing to say at a prayer breakfast. Obama's background is in the liberal, mainline United Churches of Christ, a denomination that was once Reformed and Calvinist. Unfortunately, subjective pietism leads to this same loss of doctrinal and confessional standards--as any idiot can see when Protestants think Roman Catholicism is somehow akin to biblical Christianity and confessional Reformed theology. As the Westminster divines rightly saw in 1645, the pope is an anti-christ and the Roman Catholic Church is a synagogue of satan. Without realizing it Metaxas and Joseph are as liberal as Obama himself. Irony of ironies! Maybe Eric Metaxas ought to stick to Veggie Tales since his critique of Obama's theology is based on an anti-intellectualist perspective and a false Evangelical unity.
Click here to read the full article: The President & The Prophet: Obama’s Unusual Encounter with Eric Metaxas - By Mark Joseph - The Corner - National Review Online
Unfortunately, both Joseph and Metaxas have merely presented an Evangelical pietism that is as focused on a common moralism as that of the theological liberals. Evangelical pietists, although standing on the principle that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, diminish doctrine to a minimalism that is not that far removed from modernism and religious pluralism. Evangelicals and Catholics Together, the Manhattan Declaration, and other such documents are good examples of this. In fact, Joseph implies that "good" Roman Catholics are in because they believe in Jesus Christ and because they oppose abortion. Apparently, Joseph is unaware of the official Roman Catholic doctrine of implicit faith in other religions and that these other religions are not necessarily a cause for losing one's soul.
The short response here is that civil religion is as liberal and latitudinarian in some respects as the blatant religious pluralism and latitudinarianism of President of Obama. In the end, what unites Roman Catholics and Evangelicals is not a common doctrine of Jesus Christ and the cross, a common doctrine of Scripture, or a common doctrine of justification and the sacraments. What unites Roman Catholics and Evangelicals, according to Metaxas and Joseph is they are good Christians who uphold God's moral law which opposes the murder of the unborn. Of course abortion is infanticide. But how opposing murder makes one a Christian is a mystery. Many atheists and agnostics oppose abortion but that does not make them Christians.
What is problematic with this article is that it assumes Metaxas is some kind of prophet who foresaw the future. It does not require a divine revelation of the future to predict what President Obama might have been preparing to say at a prayer breakfast. Obama's background is in the liberal, mainline United Churches of Christ, a denomination that was once Reformed and Calvinist. Unfortunately, subjective pietism leads to this same loss of doctrinal and confessional standards--as any idiot can see when Protestants think Roman Catholicism is somehow akin to biblical Christianity and confessional Reformed theology. As the Westminster divines rightly saw in 1645, the pope is an anti-christ and the Roman Catholic Church is a synagogue of satan. Without realizing it Metaxas and Joseph are as liberal as Obama himself. Irony of ironies! Maybe Eric Metaxas ought to stick to Veggie Tales since his critique of Obama's theology is based on an anti-intellectualist perspective and a false Evangelical unity.
Click here to read the full article: The President & The Prophet: Obama’s Unusual Encounter with Eric Metaxas - By Mark Joseph - The Corner - National Review Online
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