DEFINITIONS OF CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGICAL TRENDS

The following definitions are offered to aid in an understanding of
the terms utilized in the "Policy Statement of Trinity Baptist Church,
Castro Valley, California," which was adopted by the church in a
quarterly business meeting April 7, 1971.

NEW EVANGELICALISM
   New Evangelicalism is a theological position which is basically
a compromise with unbelief in order to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ
more compatible with the world and palatable for the unbeliever.   New
Evangelicalism proclaims a "social gospel" (emphasizing political
participation and a stand upon social and moral issues), often denies
the verbal inspiration of Scripture, and repudiates Biblical separation-
ism.
   Other characteristics and examples are as follows:

  1. A conscious desire for intellectual prestige which leads
    to the "re-thinking" of all Christian doctrines with a
    view toward modifying them for the benefit of the "modern
    mind"    .   One doctrine particularly affected by this desire
    is that of Biblical inspiration.
  2. An emphasis of "love" over doctrine.
  3. Startling concessions to modern theories of evolution.
    This trend is evidenced by the teaching of theistic
    evolution in Wheaton College.
  4. A calling into question of the doctrine of verbal inerrancy
    of Scripture--as evidenced by Daniel Fuller's denial of
    verbal inspiration at Fuller Theological Seminary.
  5. A minimizing of the importance of the second coming of
    Christ in general and dispensational premillenialism in
    particular.   This trend is shockingly evident in the
    Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary where those holding
    theological positions other than pre-millenialism and
    pre-tribulationism are allowed to teach.
  6. An emphasis upon co-operation between evangelicals,
    liberals, and modernist unbelievers in evangelistic and
    social enterprises.   This involves increasing fellowship
    with liberals, Romans Catholics, and cultists for the sake
    of "witnessing" to them.   This is associated with number
    2, above, in that it places truth second to love, the
    Word of God being placed in the background for "loves'
    sake"    .

Other examples of concessions to the modern aspects of science include
the denial of the universal Noahic Flood, the explaining away of the
miraculous Red Sea crossing by Israel in the Exodus, and a re-thinking
of the miracles of Christ Himself during His early ministry.
   A tendency is also evidenced in which Christ's words in the Gospels
are given priority over the rest of the Word of God.   This is evidently
a reaction to dispensationalism which teaches that God has revealed in
the Bible how He has dealt differently with men through the ages and
that He has given different rules of life for different periods in the
history of man.

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NEO-ORTHODOXY
   Neo-Orthodoxy is the theological position which claims to seek
a return to true orthodoxy.   The terms which they utilize are orthodox
but their definitions are different and, in this way, deceptive.   The
tenets of Neo-Orthodoxy include:

  1. The denial of the Scriptures as the very Word of God.
    Neo-Orthodoxy does not say that the Bible is the Word of
    God, but that it becomes the Word of God as we read it
    and as it affects us.   The inspiration of Scripture is
    dependent upon how or when it inspires the reader.
  2. A mythological approach to the Scriptures, wherein Genesis
    1 and 3 are a couple of passages treated as mere legend.
  3. The new birth is seen, not as the result of the regenera-
    tion of the Holy Spirit, but of a psychological revolution.
  4. The second coming of Christ is also treated as a theolog-
    ical myth.
  5. Neo-Orthodoxy claims that the life of Christ is relatively
    unimportant in relation to His deity.   In other words, as
    they bring out in their writings, there is no necessity
    for the virgin-Birth of Christ nor the sinless life of
    Christ.

The "Father of Neo-Orthodoxy" was Karl Barth.   The "Grand-father of
Neo-Orthodoxy" was Soren Kierkegaard.   Other Neo-Orthodox theologians
include Paul Tillich (an originator of the "death of God" theology),
Reinhold Niebuhr, and Emil Brunner.   An example of how Neo-Orthodoxy
is able to make in-roads into New Evangelicalism is found in Dr.
Vernon Grounds' (president of Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary)
statements concerning Kierkegaard as recorded in the Los Angeles
Times for Sunday, May 5, 1963:

"Soren Kierkegaard, a difficult Danish theologian of the 19th
century, was at heart an evangelical, and it is time evangel-
icals accepted him as one of their own, according to Dr. Vernon
C. Grounds.   Today is the 150th anniversary of Kierkegaard's
birth, and in commemoration of it, Dr. Grounds delivered an
address recently on the theologian and philosopher at Fuller
Theological Seminary of Pasadena . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
'It is high time today for us as evangelicals to acknowledge
Kierkegaard fraternally as a confessor of our faith,' said
Dr. Grounds.   'It is high time for us to claim him gratefully
as a champion of our faith, and we should heed him as a critic
of it.'"

ECUMENICALISM

   Ecumenicalism is a movement which is bent of uniting all Christen-
dom under one banner.   It is not only seeking Protestant-Catholic unity,
but desires Judaism, Mohammedianism, Hinduism, and other pagan religions
to unite into one universal organization.
   Ecumenicalism may be evidenced in several ways:

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  1. The National and World Councils of Churches.
  2. Inter-faith services such as were held this past Thanks-
    giving (1970) in the Castro Valley United Methodist
    Church in which a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest (from
    our Lady of Grace), a Baptist, and other Protestant
    ministers participated.
  3. A "Festival of Faith" such as was held in the Cow Palace
    in 1955 which was originated by the President of the San
    Francisco Council of Churches (at that time, Mrs. Williams
    Lister Rogers).   The services included prayer and readings
    with participation by six religions: Christian, Moslem,
    Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Confucian.

ECUMENICAL EVANGELISM

   This movement is a key force in New Evangelicalism.   It is the
organizing of evangelistic programs bringing together believers and
unbelievers--as well as including professed believers who deny the
doctrines of the Word of God.   This movement sends the "converts" back
into the churches from which they came--be they Catholic, liberal
Protestants, Buddhist, or Jewish.   It does not see the responsibility
of feeding, training and guiding a spiritual infant once he has been
born-again--thereby becoming guilty of "spiritual infantcide".
   The primary example before us in this day is Evangelist Billy
Graham.   Billy Graham has evidenced his ecumenical evangelism in many
ways:

1957, New York-- Dr. John S. Bonnell was appointed to the
campaign committee.   He had been interviewed in Look
Magazine as disbelieving the Trinity, the virgin Birth
of Christ, the existence of Heaven or Hell, the literal
resurrection of Christ, and the verbal inspiration of Scripture.

1957, San Francisco--Mrs. W. L. Rogers (see the statement on
ECUMENICALISM) was made chairwoman of the arrangements for
the 1958 campaign.

1958, San Francisco--Billy Graham was one of the honored and
specially-invited guests at the consecration of James A. Pike
in Grace Cathedral (May 15).   James A. Pike led in prayer from
the Graham Crusade platform May 24.   Graham also preached in
Pike's church.

1961, Miami--Rabbi Irving Lehrman spoke from the Graham
platform.

1962, Brazil--Dr. Graham allowed Roman Catholic priests to
"bless" converts who came forward.

1963, Los Angeles--Bishop Gerald Kennedy was made chairman
of the campaign.   In one of his books (God's Good News,
p. 125), Bishop Kennedy says: "I believe the testimony of
the New Testament taken on a whole is against the doctrine
of the deity of Jesus. . . ."   Bishop Kennedy also endorsed
Dr. Nels F.S. Ferre's book, The Sun and the Umbrella,
which states (p.39) : "The use of the Bible as the final

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authority for Christian truth is idolatry."

1965--In an advertisement in the Shreveport Times, March 7,
1965, a western Union Telegram dated March 4, 1965, was
addressed to Rev. George Pearce of the First Methodist
Church of Shreveport, Louisiana: "Congratulations on
selecting Bishop Kennedy to conduct your evangelistic
effort Mission of Love with Bill Mann leading the music.
We know and respect these men very highly.   May God give
you a time of spiritual renewel."   It is signed "Billy
Graham and Team."

1967, Tulsa--Dr. Graham dedicated the Pentecostal Oral
Roberts University.

1967, North Carolina--Billy Graham was conferred the honorary
degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by Roman Catholic Belmont
Abbey College, November 21.

1971, Oakland--Bishop Floyd Begin, a Jesuit priest, was
asked to sit on the platform with Dr. Graham, Friday,
July 30.

It is a note of interest to read the Oakland Tribune's article of
December 17, 1958, in which Dr. Charles Farrah of the Crusade follow-up
team reported the results of the crusade.   The Crusade "had only a
negligible impact on those with no prior church affiliation.   Approxi-
mately 1,300 people made decisions at the Cow Palace who had not fre-
quented a church before.   Less than one percent of this number have
become church members".   These results were in spite of the fact that
96% of all those who made decisions were contacted in follow up work.
"Approximately 5 percent of those making a decision here were Roman
Catholics.   According to Dr. Farrah, nearly all of this number have
remained Roman Catholic."
NOTE: We wonder, what will the results of the 1971 Oakland Crusade be?
How many still return to the Mass to offer up Christ to be sacrificed
again and again--who yet pray to Mary--who return to "refrigerator
churches" where the Word of God is maligned, denied, and mutilated?
How many will be going on for God at the end of one Year?

INCLUSIVISM

   The Inclusive Policy allows men of different theological persua-
sions to go out under the same mission board and to teach in the same
seminary.   This is the inclusion of belief and unbelief alike in
Christian endeavor--resulting in division and conflicting testimony.
Inclusivism is akin to ECUMENICAL EVANGELISM and is a pattern of action
in NEW EVANGELICALISM.
   Examples of Inclusivism include:

  1. Denver Seminary's mixture of professors believing varying
    millennial and tribulational positions other than the pre-
    millennial return of Christ to set up His Kingdom and the
    pre-tribulational return of Christ to rapture the saints.
  2. The allowance of missionaries under the Conservative Baptist
    Foreign Mission Society board who do not hold the pre-
    millennial position.

"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he
was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.   And
while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up,
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said,
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this
same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so
come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
Acts 1:9-11

"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him."   Rev. 1:7

"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which
have no hope.   For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which
are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep.   For the Lord himself shall de-
scend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise
first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:
and so shall we ever be with the Lord.   Wherefore comfort one
another with these words."   I Thess. 4:13-18

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrec-
tion: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a
thousand years."   Rev. 20:6

Some other references are: Matt. 24:1-51; Phil. 3:20-21;
I Cor. 15:51-57; Rev. 19:11-16; Lk. 21:25-28; Matt. 25:31-46.

LIBERAL (modernist) one who does not believe the Bible to be
the Infallible Word of God.   Teaches a Social gospel.   Some of
the men associated with this movement are, Ralph Sockman,
Bishop Pike, Bishop Oxman, Nels Ferre, Edwin Dahlberg.

NEO-ORTHODOXY a new orthodoxy which fostered "higher criticism"
of the Scriptures.   A new approach to theology.   Two key men
were Reinhold Neibur and Karl Barth.

NEO-EVANGELICAL a new evangelical approach designed to bridge
the gap between the Liberal and Fundamental Theologian.   It is a
theological and moral compromise of the deadliest kind.   It
originated within Evangelical circles by men who once stood for
the old time faith.   It is a very clever system of compromise
which emphasizes love instead of Scriptural soundness.   It
listens and caters to the Liberal intelligentsia and claims
that those who disagree are unlearned.   It has fostered a doc-
trinal and ethical compromise.   Its main leaders are Dr. Harold
Ockenga, Dr. Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, and Dr. Bill Bright.

FUNDAMENTALISM defined in the entire paper.

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INTERDENOMINATIONALISM

   Interdenominationalism is a practice in which a group of
Christians of varying denominations organize for specific purposed
such as in the formation of a school or an evangelistic campaign.
Although the leadership may be of one denomination, people of all
denominations are allowed to be students of participants.   Although
these may all be believers, the doctrinal bases for unity must of
necessity be few so as not to exclude any particular group of believers.
   Such practices result in the suppression of baptism by immersion,
especially.   The doctrine of separation also must stand in the back-
ground.   Other doctrines, such as that of the Lord's Supper suffer
likewise.
   We, as Baptists, believe that the whole Bible is the inspired
Word of God.   There are no doctrines which are peripheral or central.
All doctrines are of equal importance.   If the Scriptures teach be-
lievers baptism by immersion, then such baptism must be adhered to--
no doctrine of the Word must be sacrificed at any cost for any reason.
To deny one portion of the Word of God is to deny the whole.