"I well know that you are in for a fight and that you will make enemies."Some of Machen's writings:
"Despite the use of traditional phraseology modern liberalism not only is a different religion from Christianity but belongs in a totally different class."
"The Christian movement at its inception was not just a way of life in the modern sense, but a way of life founded upon a message. It was based, not upon mere feeling, not upon a mere program of work, but on an account of facts. In other words, it was based upon doctrine."
"Paul was convinced of the objective truth of the gospel message, and devotion to that truth was the great passion of his life."
" `Christ died'-that is history; `Christ died for our sins'-that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity."
"Modern preachers are trying to bring men into the church without requiring them to relinquish their pride; they are trying to help men avoid the conviction of sin.(The Chruch) is busily engaged in an absolutely impossible task-she is busily engaged in calling the righteous to repentance."
"The greatest menace to the Christian Church to-day comes not from the enemies outside, but from the enemies within."
"We are in a great fight, and we are fighting, I am convinced, for the unity of the church, not against it. The only trouble is that the fight ought to have been made twenty years ago before the disintegrating elements had become so powerful."
"This is the true order of Christian pedagogy-`trust in His redeeming blood' first, and then `try his works to do.' Disaster always follows when that order is reversed."
"That need of the soul from which Jesus alone can save is sin."
"Nothing is more characteristic of present religious conditions than the loss of the consciousness of sin; confidence in human resources has now been substituted for the thankful acceptance of the grace of God."
"Many persons are horrified by the use of a theological term; they seem to have a notion that modern Christians must be addressed always in words of one syllable."*
"If we face the real situation in the church and in the world, and decide, despite that situation, to stand firmly for the gospel of Christ, we shall be very likely indeed to find ourselves engaged in controversy. But if we are going to avoid controversy, we might as well close our Bibles, for the New Testament is a controversial book practically from beginning to end. The New Testament writers and our Lord himself presented truth in sharp contrast with error, and indeed that is the only way in which truth can be presented in any clear and ringing way."
"... if we are not going to abandon Protestantism and unite ourselves with the Roman Catholic Church, then we must inevitably admit that there are times when separation from an existing church organization is not the sin of schism but an inescapable and very solemn Christian duty."
"Last week it was reported that the churches of America increased their membership by 690,000. Are you encouraged by these figures? I for my part am not encouraged a bit. I have indeed my own grounds for encouragement, especially those which are found in the great and precious promises of God. But these figures have no place among them. How many of these 690,000 names do you think are really written in the Lamb’s book of life? A small proportion, I fear. Church membership today often means nothing more, as has well been said, than a vague admiration for the moral character of Jesus; the Church in countless communities is little more than a Rotary Club.... The truth is that in these days the ecclesiastical currency has been sadly debased. Church membership, church office, the ministry, no longer mean what they ought to mean.... we ought to face the facts. It will be hard; it will seem impious to timid souls; many will be hurt. But in God’s name let us get rid of shams and have reality at last."
"To pray for tolerance without careful definition of that of which you are to be tolerant, is just to pray for the breakdown of the Christian religion; for the Christian religion is intolerant to the core. There lies the whole offense of the Cross—and also the whole power of it. Always the gospel would have been received with favor by the world if it had been presented merely as one way of salvation; the offense came because it was presented as the only way, and because it made relentless war upon all other ways."
“Show me a professing Christian of whom all men speak well, and I will show you a man who is probably unfaithful to His Lord.”
“A Christianity that avoids argument is not the Christianity of the New Testament.”
“Souls will hardly be saved,...unless evangelists can say with Paul: ‘If we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed.’...every true revival is born in controversy and leads to more.”**
"Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." (1 Ti. 4:15-16).
*Stephen J. Nichols. J. Gresham Machen: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought (Kindle Location 273,675, 681-682, 683-684, 685-686, 707-709, 740, 766-767, 879-880, 891, 895-896, 904-905,). Kindle Edition.
**(2012-05-13). Always Reformed: Essays in Honor of W. Robert Godfrey (Kindle Locations 944-948, 856-858, 666-674, 648-652, 655-656, 657-658, 659-662 ). Westminster Seminary California. Kindle Edition
No comments:
Post a Comment