Christianity & Liberalism: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Introduction

In this chapter, Machen tells his readers that the purpose of this book is to clearly present religious issues so that we can wrestle with them and come to an understanding on them on our own. During this chapter, there were two particular points that I felt like I had emotional sparks to, and I would like to elaborate on these points, and explain why I felt a connection to them.

1. Machen spends time explaining that there is a new era where modern inventions and industrialism is taking over. From my understanding, he refers to people who aren’t happy about the fact that the world continues to change and grow as new technology develops. He states; “…we can no more remove ourselves from that world that we can escape from the atmosphere that we breathe” (2). We live in a world right now where living a minimalist lifestyle is a hot topic and “the thing to do”. While I believe it is important to be careful how much we follow along with where the world is going with new inventions, I also believe it could be easy to get caught up in being minimalist and forget why Christ asks us to live simply. Colossians 2:6 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”. This verse clearly explains that living simply should be a desire of the heart in order to be fully rooted in Christ, not just because it’s a hot topic.

1. Towards the end of chapter 1, Machen talks about the issue that “great men are few and far between or non-existent…”(13). I am currently married to an incredible man who is better at loving me than I am at loving myself at times. While I’m extremely thankful for this gift God has given me, I have to agree with the point Machen is trying to make. Before meeting my husband, I had a very significant moment with the Lord where I was wrestling with Him on why it seemed so hard to find a decent man. If I’m being honest, every man that I dated before my husband, was dating me for the wrong reasons. However, I also think that the pressure is often put on men to be perfect, and when they’re not (because it’s truly not possible), they get hammered for it. I think society often puts high expectations on men. Because these expectations are often impossible to meet, their self esteem goes through the floor. I was able to realize (while wrestling with God on this topic) that my expectations of what society says a man “should be” were completely wrong. 1 Timothy 6:11 says, “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness”. Instead of looking at a man and expecting what society says we should expect, we should look for character traits that 1 Timothy 6:11 describes.