The disease decimating mainline Protestantism has two main symptoms: Cheap-grace antinomianism that holds forth the promise of forgiveness, without issuing the call for amendment of life. Thus, only half of the message of grace is preached, the more appealing part. "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" Well, yes, for who are we to judge? After all, judge not! This fatuous self-excusal from seeing ourselves as moral failures leads to a distorted understanding of reality, for from time to time we all fall down morally, and there is none of us who could not do with a bit more holiness. Social syncretism. The mainline senses the spirit of the age and confuses that with hearing the Holy Spirit. Societal causes and movements are force-fit into a Christian frame. The loud debate about the authority of scripture is really a debate about this. For example, the church now feels an imperative toward marrying homosexuals to each other, the scriptures do not provide fo
