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What is/was the Enlightenment, and how is it affecting us today? Colin Brown explains it by offering Kant's "classic definition" : "Enlightenment was humanity's coming of age. It was the emergence from the immaturity that caused human beings to rely on such external authorities as the Bible, the church, and the state to tell them what to think and do (2001, 377)." The Enlightenment first started in Europe during the "sixteenth and seventeenth centuries" and came to full bloom during the "eighteenth century" (Brown 2001, 377). One can see how it later affected America after the once largely Christian Northeast rejected the Bible and their ivy league schools then embraced liberalism. Once, the Bible's authority was knocked down, theological liberalism emerged across the USA. Pierard explains that an "element" of liberalism posits that the "Bible is the work of writers who were limited by their times, it is neither supernatural nor an infallible record of divine revelation and thus does not possess absolute authority" (2001, 683). Out of this new understanding of Christianity emerges an existential version of Christ--an adaptable figure, who is not the Jesus of the Bible. Instead, culture dictates what is right and wrong instead of Scripture. Hence, universalism replaces exclusivism, and the social gospel replaces the gospel preached by early Christians. Certainly, many are quick to state that the social gospel is superior to the "outdated" gospel in the Bible. However, the social gospel cannot grant one access to the kingdom of God. Indeed, Matthew writes, "...Jesus began to preach and to say, 'repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near' (4:17)." In other words, if you wish to gain access to God's kingdom, repentance is required. Liberals state that this was religious superstition, but true Christians know through faith and by experience, that the supernatural is a key element of the Christian faith. What then of proposers of the liberal gospel? According to Jesus, their time is only for here and now, for they neither gain access to God's kingdom nor eternal life in heaven (see John 3:5). Of course that does not mean that born-again Christians should not help the poor; in fact, there are many who do seek out the downtrodden. But, they do it while submitting to the authority of Christ and the revelation of God presented to us in Scripture. Hence, those who live under the authority of God's Word both assist the poor AND find God for eternity.