Liberal vs. Conservative Christianity.... HUH?

[Soma-Sight]

hardly
Others can make up their own minds without my opinions.

I listen to Savage religously at 5pm on 590 AM.

That guy is awesome.

 

[Rick W]

I used to get into other people's philosophies holding them in high regard, like... "I wanna be just like them." But as time goes on things always change. I liked so-and-so but not now, I liked joe-cool but he no longer trips my trigger and that other fella, what's his name. <snaps fingers>
After so many of those one loses interest in following the opinions/ideals of those you think you wanted to mimic. Besides, you lose track after a while. I used to be able to tell you all the names and what they played in my favorite bands while young. But now, heck, I hardly remember the name of the bands anymore. :
Time passes, your ideas change and you move on.
The only one I haven't lost my love for was my dad. And I suppose that's how it should be.

Do I like Jerry Falwell?
Not really but he makes some good points now and then.
Do I like my pastor?
Depends.

At one time I wanted to be just like Paul until I was told I have my eyes on the wrong guy

 

[Soma-Sight]

The only one I haven't lost my love for was my dad. And I suppose that's how it should be.

You are right there...

Life is a continual evolution of character it seems...

It is too bad we all have to "label" each other one thing or another instead of just being God's family.

 

[Rick W]

Labels?
lol
Didn't know I was a conservative until a year or two after I was saved. Thought a conservative was someone trying to preserve the environment. :
Since then I've bumped into all sorts of labels. Found out I was a "fundy" too. Sounded to me like something you get in a McDonald's happy meal.

 

[Soma-Sight]

Didn't know I was a conservative until a year or two after I was saved. Thought a conservative was someone trying to preserve the environment.

Conserving the environment is the Christian thing to do.

 

[lovely]

I voted other because I want to be a Christ-like Christian. It's my desire that all things in my life glorify Christ, and not please man, even if they are calling themselves conservative christians. I vote independently. There is a political party that I favor. http://www.constitutionparty.com I do not agree with them on everything. I do not like being called a conservative or a liberal, because those things do not define me, and I do not want to be put into man's stereotypical categories. They both do things I do like, and things I do not like. I would prefer to be known as a believer given over to God on all things. I want my allegiance and loyalty to be only with Him.

Blessings.

 

[DivineNames]

**

 

[DivineNames]

You can of course question whether liberal Christianity is a viable and coherent religious position, (the same question could be asked for conservative Christianity...). Scriptural issues could conceivably come into that.

However, its not necessarily going to be as easy as some may think to argue against liberal Christianity from Scripture. Why not? because it is very likely going to involve the fallacy of question begging, liberals will obviously take a different view of the Bible than conservatives.

A conservative Christian may believe that their view of scripture is in keeping with what the Bible teaches about itself, and that the 'liberal' view goes contrary to this. Could the conservative Christian argue along these lines? again, its going to involve question begging. ('view' of the Bible in the sense of whether one believes its the inerrant word of God)

 

[Rick W]

I've known professing christians that refute even the simplest forms of scripture. I've seen the following verses cut apart focusing only on the bolded parts to read...

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son... that the world through him might be saved.

supporting the idea that because Christ died all men are saved.

Or, only "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" is quoted to prove the same idea. And many taught this won't even pick up a bible to check it out themselves.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The hard part about liberalizing scripture is that many may have a different view on many things. Some may believe the Virgin Birth and some may not. Others may believe Adam was real and others don't. Yet others believe the entire book of Genesis is simply a story, a myth... all to be taken allegorically. Here there is little solidarity on what is to be believed concerning Genesis and what is not. I've even known some professing christians to state on another forum that the entire OT can be ripped from the bible citing that it has nothing to do with present-day doctrines.

Yes, there are some conservative christians with differing views but all in all those views are much closer together like the grouping of holes shot into a target by a rifle instead of a shotgun blast at the same distance. Not all are in the bullseye, that's true, but at least the vast majority of holes are at least on the paper.

Liberalizing scripture greatly widens the operating parameters to include a much broader set of beliefs that may also include the tolerances that society, the world, is willing to embrace with secular thinking. In this manner a professing christian circumvents peer pressure and general opposition from a disbelieving world. Attempting to widen the path from a two lane blacktop to an 8 lane expessway isn't the answer.

There are a LOT of things I don't like within scripture but I believe them anyway. That doesn't mean I need to find other ways to interpret scripture so I'll feel better or feel more comfortable.

The Word of God is unchanging, unmoving. The world is forever changing, constantly moving this way and that. This opens a gap between scripture and worldly thought. As the world drifts further away the chasm becomes more pronounced and the potential for conflict increases. As time goes by it's not going to get any better and we're seeing that happening today.

 

[reznwerks]

liberal

I just don't understand how anyone can be anything other than conservative. If you can explain to me how they can, please do post some reasons that are in line with scripture.

I guess the first and foremost response to your dilema is the fact that God is a liberal and all around "groovy" guy...
You have hit the nail on the head. Christianity if followed to the extreme is so liberal it is socialist.Read ACTS 4:34 -5:11 and here you will find a situation that would make Karl Marx proud.


Jesus Himself is a prime example of progressive thinking.

This can be seen time and time again in His rhetoric with the Pharisee's or "Holy Men" that used a guise of "conservative" semantical psychobable to confuse the masses from realizing the Truth that is inherant in all men regardles of "beliefs".
Absolutely and Jesus would not be a member of the Republican party regardless of what they would have you believe.

We see that the best friends of Christ Himself were the liberals of His day.....

[]

 

[Chupacabra]

http://www.anglocatholicsocialism.org/acsoc.html

While I'm not a Christian, I think there's a decent case that one can be both Christian and liberal at the same time. Jesus was extremely concerned about the poor and its tough to imagine him concurring with the laissez faire folks or with the war-mongers.

 

[Soma-Sight]

renzwerks,

The character of God in the NT is socialist for sure. Looking back at the OT gives you a more "dictator" feel...

Bottom line here is Christ wouldnt fall under the "Republican Party" if He came back to earth right now. Of course he wouldnt fall under the "liberal" camp either. According to scripture it would be a socialist type revolution where the poor are elevated or "made equal" to the elitists in the world.... It would be a classless society....

 

[Lyric's Dad]

http://www.anglocatholicsocialism.org/acsoc.html

While I'm not a Christian, I think there's a decent case that one can be both Christian and liberal at the same time. Jesus was extremely concerned about the poor and its tough to imagine him concurring with the laissez faire folks or with the war-mongers.

Jesus did not condone the lifestyle choices that go hand in hand with liberalism. Liberals are famous for condoning such things as homosexual marriage, abortion, and other freedoms that are directly in opposition to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus was a friend to the sinners but He did not vacilate on letting them know that their choices were wrong. In todays p.c. world, Jesus would be labeled a hatemonger by many liberal groups.

 

[Soma-Sight]

Jesus did not condone the lifestyle choices that go hand in hand with liberalism. Liberals are famous for condoning such things as homosexual marriage, abortion, and other freedoms that are directly in opposition to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus was a friend to the sinners but He did not vacilate on letting them know that their choices were wrong. In todays p.c. world, Jesus would be labeled a hatemonger by many liberal groups.

Jesus did not condone the lifestyle choices that go hand in hand with conservatism. Conservatives are famous for condoning such things as massive destruction of the environment and God's creatures, hoarding of wealth and shunning the poor, promoting multi-national capitalist companies, exploiting third world countries to feed their capitalist goals, promoting ego centric male dominated paradigms and other freedoms that are directly in opposition to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus was a friend to the sinners but He did not vacilate on letting them know that their choices were wrong. In todays p.c. world, Jesus would be labeled a "leftist" by many conservative groups.

 

[Rick W]

I think it's funny that those who don't even believe Jesus even existed or if He did that He was the Messiah or even that He rose from the dead have an opinion of what Jesus would be labeled as or what He did or would do.
Frankly, I think Darth Vader wouldn't even consider liberalism or conservatism but would choose to support and enlarge his own political agenda. But then, maybe he was a conservative believing in "the force". Dunno.

 

[Soma-Sight]

Frankly, I think Darth Vader wouldn't even consider liberalism or conservatism but would choose to support and enlarge his own political agenda. But then, maybe he was a conservative believing in "the force". Dunno.

"Anger" and "Fear" seem to be proponents of the Conservative movement currently.

With that in mind Darth Vader would be a good canidate for a facist "conservative" all imcompasing dictator. The "Empire" seems to fall into a catefory of....

1. Little flexibility on moral issues...
2. Rules through facist authoritarianism...
3. Was actually quoted by Ben Kenobi as "dealing in moral absolutes only"...
4. Uses "fear of the other" or "hellfire" to instill fear into masses and consequently moral programming....
5. Cares little for the environment, and is on fast track of "technological development" over the health of individual ecosystems (such as the Ewok's planet). Parallel this to the United States Conservative movement and the exploitation of the Alakan preserve for more "oil" to feed the "Death Star" or "industry" in our case.
6.Places great emphasis on materialsm rather than God and his creation...

 

[Rick W]

LOL!!!!!!
:

good one :

<chuckles>


even though it's a jab at the conservative I think it's still funny

 

[Steve]

In some areas I am conservative. In other areas, I'm pretty progressive.

Theologically, I am conservative.
Socially, I am progressive on most issues.

 

[Dave...]

To me Liberals seem much like a parent that has no concept of tough love. They judge everything to be right or wrong by it's immediate result on the surface, which usually results in bad things over the long haul.

 

[ThinkerMan]

I'm kind of an odd duck...

An atheist republican.

I'm generally conservative in economics, government structure (big fan of federalism and state's rights), and criminal rights.

For the most part liberal-to-moderate on social issues such as welfare, civil rights, international relations.