Redeemed Zoomer is a prominent Christian YouTuber who explains the basics of Christian doctrine in a compelling way for young people. He is also the figurehead for the Reconquista movement, an effort to retake Mainline Protestant denominations for Christ. This effort has seen minimal success. and Redeemed Zoomer has drawn much criticism for overemphasizing aesthetics over doctrinal purity.
Recently Redeemed Zoomer announced that he was done with interdenominational apologetics, meaning he would no longer focus on debating Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, etc. However, instead of criticizing other denominations, he unfairly paints Protestantism with false characterizations of our struggles with liberalism.
Protestants answers this: why did virtually EVERY historic Protestant institution get hijacked by liberalism and Catholic, Eastern, and Oriental Orthodox ones didn’t. Why [do] WE have to “rebuild” and they don’t?
There are a myriad of counterexamples to Redeemed Zoomers point here. With regard to Roman Catholicism, the French Enlightenment is a clear instance of liberalism hijacking Papist institutions. Notre Dame, the most historic cathedral in France, was hijacked and, to this day, is not owned by the Vatican. Moreover, liberation theology ran rampant through South America, specifically fomenting communist revolutions. This was first in the Catholic Church before becoming a precursor to the modern Social Justice Gospel phenomenon. Pope Francis is ultimately a product of the liberation theology movement, and his current exploits into liberalism are clear evidence that the Papists’ institutions have been hijacked by liberalism.
Concerning Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy, they have mostly had institutions hijacked by Islam rather than liberalism. Hagia Sofia is the one of the most beautiful historic churches ever built and it was turned into a Mosque, as a result of getting hijacked. With regard to liberalism, the Kremlin was also a church that the Judeo-Bolsheviks coopted and turned into a state palace. This is a clear instance of liberalism hijacking a historic institution of Eastern Orthodoxy.
I bring this up not to disparage the aforementioned denominations, but to highlight how the challenges faced by Protestantism are not unique to Protestantism. And as Redeemed Zoomer operates in the PCUSA, he is in one of the gayest mainline denominations in the United States.
Speaking of, White Evangelicals remain the least liberal voting bloc in the country, whereas the Mainliners, Papists, and Orthodox are evenly divided. Clearly, the laity in Evangelicalism is less overtaken by liberalism than the other denominations.
But the real reason there exists a great emphasis on liberalism in Protestantism is that there is a concerted effort to fight liberalism. This does not exist in Papist or Eastern circles. So because we talk about it more, Evangelical Dark Web being a media outlet to this end, there is a perception that the problem here is worse than in other places. In contrast, an Eastern church could be extremely woke, but there is not a market for such a story to go viral thus creating an effort to challenge the rise of Social Justice in Eastern circles. And when the Pope says something liberal, “not ex cathedra” is a common cope.
Protestantism is unique in its structure but not necessarily in the challenges of liberalism, we face.
Redeemed Zoomer concluded by recommending Gavin Ortlund, Jordan Cooper, and The Other Paul for apologetics, ironically in 2/3 promoting liberalism. The Other Paul is a friend of EDW, by the way, and I’m surprised to see him on this list. So there is yet hope for Redeemed Zoomer to be based one day.
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The Kremlin was built as a military fortress to protect Moscow. It is not a church. It has 5 Russian Orthodox Churches in the fortress.
TOP is a StoneChoir appreciator as well, doubt RZ knows that though.
I shared so many RZ video’s then he started with all the horrible takes and I haven’t paid attention to him since. I seriously doubt he will ever be right wing, he will likely be against us when things start heating up, as will many conservative Christians unfortunately (J. White as an example).
Basically, most Conservative Chrisitan’s are liberals without realizing. Being right wing was banned with the post-war consensus. Everyone became a leftist, or a liberal.
So when they see a true right-wing nationalist movement, it terrifies them. They realize if they associate with anyone like that, they might be shamed publicly and seen as a bad person by the world, and that terrifies them more than anything.
If as some suggest the Church Fathers on the whole knew nothing in their teaching of Grace [ https://faithalone.org/journal-articles/repentance-and-salvation-part-1-the-doctrine-of-salvation-in-church-history/ ] we can also say the Orthodox are as these Fathers. And if as some suggest the papists are basically semipelagian, well than what’s left for Satan to co-opt with liberalism? If a man is already shot why hang him? One might link arms with these for the purpose of marching down the road in sociocultural efforts, but if we died on the road with them we may not both rise.