Free Republic

I have been called a Pharisee more times than I can remember. It goes with the territory. I host a conservative Christian radio talk show. I publicly defend the teachings and practices of the historic Church. I also publicly point out false teaching and practices in the Church today. For these reasons alone, some believe that I deserve to be called a Pharisee. But I'm not alone. Today, the label "Pharisee" is applied to many Christians just like me - perhaps you're one of them. We are Christians who cherish God's Word, the Church's historic Creeds, confessions and practices. When...

In a post here on July 16 we mentioned an essay by Gene Edward Veith, titled "Liberal Conservatives", which in turn mentions an article by Todd Wilken titled "Bible-Believing Liberals". I had not been able to find this specific essay by Wilken, but somehow it has turned up on another blog, that of Rev. Paul McCain--who like Wilken is a Lutheran. If you would like to read Wilken's essay, this is it: Bible-Believing Liberals by Todd Wilken This is a very good essay that deals quite well with assertions such as "The church must change or die." (Interestingly, it features...

A commenter, "Phred," on a post below referred to a response to The Purpose-Driven Life, called "The Fad-Driven Church." Not being familiar with this, I did a search via Google and came up with this essay by Todd Wilken, who I gather is writing from a conservative Lutheran prespective. I have to say that Mr. Wilken makes some good points about "fads" in the Church:The Church has something better than any fad. The time has come. Ears are itching. Ears are turning. The Church must take up Paul's charge. Now more than ever the Church must preach the Word and...

Liberals today prefer to be called "progressives." They want to escape the negative connotations that have risen around the name for their ideology. The irony is that "liberal" was itself a label to make them sound better. The term comes from a Latin word meaning "freedom." Technically, a "liberal economic system" refers to free market, capitalist economics, as championed by today's "conservatives." The classical approach to teaching and learning favored by many conservatives today is technically "liberal education," referring to the equipping of a free citizen. Such an education specifically designed for freedom is in contrast to John Dewey's self-styled...

From WORLD magazine, Gene Edward Veith has an essay, Liberal conservatives, that may indeed describe part of a problem many evangelicals face: they are conservative everywhere but at church. As Veith writes:Todd Wilken, the Lutheran talk-show host, has identified another kind of liberal conservative. In an article titled "Bible-believing Liberals" in Issues, Etc. Journal, he observes that many Christians are conservative politically, economically, culturally, and in every other way except one: They are liberal/progressives when it comes to church. "While they believe that the culture needs to return to its historic traditions, they think the church needs to abandon hers,"...