“[T]he Church hurled anathemas at those who held that Christ, though great, was less than God. And rightly! That difference was no trifle. There is no such thing as ‘almost God.’ The thought is blasphemy. The next thing less than the infinite is infinitely less. If Christ be the greatest of finite creatures, then still our souls are restless, still we are seekers after God. But now is Christ, our Saviour, our Champion, the same who says, ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee,’ revealed as very God. And we believe! It is the supreme venture of faith; faith can go no higher” (Machen, God Transcendent, p. 84; underlining mine–CD).
Whattaya mean, “And rightly!”? What right have YOU to say that full knowledge and full conviction of His Deity are necessary before a man can put his trust in the crucified and risen Lord? How quickly you forget Machen how YOU treat essential gospel doctrine as a mere trifle when you sold it down the River Non-Essential:
“What then is our conclusion? Is belief in the virgin birth necessary to every man if he is to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? The question is wrongly put when it is put in that way. Who can tell exactly how much knowledge of the facts about Christ is necessary if a man is to have saving faith? None but God can tell. Some knowledge is certainly required, but how much is required we cannot say. ‘Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief’ said a man in the Gospel who was saved. Though today there are many men of little faith, many who are troubled by the voices that are heard on all sides…What right have we to say that full knowledge and full conviction are necessary before a man can put his trust in the crucified and risen Lord? What right have we to say that no man can be saved before he has come to a full conviction regarding the stupendous miracle narrated in the first chapters of Mathew and Luke?…One thing at least is clear: even if the belief in the virgin birth is not necessary to every Christian, it is necessary to Christianity. And it is necessary to the corporate witness of the Church….Let it never be forgotten that the virgin birth is an integral part of the New Testament witness about Christ, and that that witness is strongest when it is taken as it stands” (Machen, The Virgin Birth of Christ, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1930), pp. 395-396).
For a fuller account of Machen’s Christ-hating and trifling ways, see the following link: http://www.calvinism.us/2015/06/correspondence-with-herman-hanko-of-prc_16.html
Agrammatos 