"No more fire and brimstone!"

Our world is filled with pain and despair.  We experience it personally through the death of loved ones, in illness, and broken families, and we experience it corporately when tsunamis and earthquakes shatter nations.  From this universal experience, the liberal pastor concludes that we no longer need the "fire and brimstone" of yesterday.  People need to be encouraged.  They need to hear that there is real good within them; they need to hear that they are loved by God.

Regardless of how these sentiments are packaged (e.g., "We believe in sin; we just don't like to talk about it," or "We like to give people a positive message."), they are directly opposed to the teaching of the Christian faith.  Our problem is not that we need more self-esteem - the conclusion of 20th century psychology - nor is it things like cancer, poverty, and oppression.  Our greatest problem is that we are alienated from our Creator due to our rebellion.  Our own conscience tells us that, but we continually try to suppress it.  Instead of teaching that man is virtuous and that God is our cheerleader unto greater acts of love, "Christianity is the religion of the broken heart." [J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 56]  This broken heart is the necessary precondition to grasping the goodness of the good news.  "Without the consciousness of sin, the whole of the gospel will seem to be an idle tale." [Ibid., 57]

Machen goes on to explain the gulf that exists between the message of Liberalism and Christianity:

The fundamental fault of the modern [i.e., Liberal] Church is that she is busily engaged in an absolutely impossible task - she is busily engaged in calling the righteous to repentance.  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 preacher gets up into the pulpit, opens the Bible, and addresses the congregation somewhat as follows: "You people are very good," he says; "you respond to every appeal that looks toward the welfare of the community.  Now we have in the Bible - especially in the life of Jesus - something so good that we believe it is good enough even for you good people."  Such is modern preaching.  It is heard every Sunday in thousands of pulpits.  But it is entirely futile.  Even our Lord did not call the righteous to repentance, and probably we shall be no more successful than He. [Ibid., 58] 

A Christianity that lacks the message that we are in sinful rebellion against God's law is not Christianity at all.  No matter the sincerity and intentions of the preacher, it is diametrically opposed to Christ.

Deeds without Creeds?
"I don't want to know about God"