Being Liberal in a Sea of Conservatives

SnowyMacie

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"I didn’t shift left because it made my life easier. I shifted left because I went to college and learned that the world doesn’t work in the simple logical way that conservative talk-show hosts and evangelical / fundamentalist pastors think it does. It’s complicated."

"People think that because I don’t think that the Bible’s “inerrancy” is a fundamental doctrine, I’m not a Christian, or at least I’m on the road toward apostasy. We’re Christians, not Biblians."

One of the best blogs I've read about being a liberal Christian in a while:
Unacceptable: What it’s like to be a Liberal Christian in a Sea of Conservativism | David M Schell
 

elman

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"I didn’t shift left because it made my life easier. I shifted left because I went to college and learned that the world doesn’t work in the simple logical way that conservative talk-show hosts and evangelical / fundamentalist pastors think it does. It’s complicated."

"People think that because I don’t think that the Bible’s “inerrancy” is a fundamental doctrine, I’m not a Christian, or at least I’m on the road toward apostasy. We’re Christians, not Biblians."

One of the best blogs I've read about being a liberal Christian in a while:
Unacceptable: What it’s like to be a Liberal Christian in a Sea of Conservativism | David M Schell

Some things learned at college are incorrect. I agree the Bible is not inerrant and I am a Christian. Being a Christian means one follows the command of Jesus to love others. Why would you be on the road away from that?
 
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Marius27

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Sadly some Christians exalt the Bible to levels God never intended and if you don't believe exactly as they do, they contend you're clearly not following God.

Just going to the Conservative Christian forum here, you'll see posts criticizing liberals for not believing as they do, and thus not being in line with God.
 
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Putres Omega

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That is a very well written piece. I was once extremely right leaning then I had something of a near death experience, recovered from what I was certain was going to kill me initially only to wind up falling in love with another guy who supported me in my recovery, having to grapple with the betrayal of my old faith community feeling my way in the dark on my own, and essentially having my whole life turned upside down by fate.
 
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Izdaari Eristikon

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Being somewhat theologically liberal in sea of conservative evangelicals didn't work out well out for me. They didn't reject me or anything, but I was uncomfortable. So I left AG and joined a church with both TEC & ELCA affiliations, and that change has been very good for me.

I started out conservative politically, and as I learned more I found conservative, liberal and radical left views of the world all unrealistic and unsatisfactory. I shifted to libertarian, which I still am. It's not perfect but I think it's closer than any of the others. That evangelicals are still mostly social conservatives and Religious Right supporters is one reason I left for the mainline.
 
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Marius27

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That is a very well written piece. I was once extremely right leaning then I had something of a near death experience, recovered from what I was certain was going to kill me initially only to wind up falling in love with another guy who supported me in my recovery, having to grapple with the betrayal of my old faith community feeling my way in the dark on my own, and essentially having my whole life turned upside down by fate.

If you don't mind me asking, were you gay before that experience? Or was falling in love with a guy an out of the blue, unexpected thing?
 
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elman

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Sadly some Christians exalt the Bible to levels God never intended and if you don't believe exactly as they do, they contend you're clearly not following God.

Just going to the Conservative Christian forum here, you'll see posts criticizing liberals for not believing as they do, and thus not being in line with God.

Yes throughout history some self proclaimed Christians have not understood the message Jesus delivered and insist there is a different message.
 
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Targaryen

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Yes throughout history some self proclaimed Christians have not understood the message Jesus delivered and insist there is a different message.

Yet, they then also proclaim that we misunderstand the message Jesus taught us. It gets slightly depressing.
 
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XtianAgain

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"I didn’t shift left because it made my life easier. I shifted left because I went to college and learned that the world doesn’t work in the simple logical way that conservative talk-show hosts and evangelical / fundamentalist pastors think it does. It’s complicated."

"People think that because I don’t think that the Bible’s “inerrancy” is a fundamental doctrine, I’m not a Christian, or at least I’m on the road toward apostasy. We’re Christians, not Biblians."

One of the best blogs I've read about being a liberal Christian in a while:
Unacceptable: What it’s like to be a Liberal Christian in a Sea of Conservativism | David M Schell

I personally feel like thinking the Bible is inerrant (or any spiritual text that's ancient for that matter) can hurt your faith is 2014 more than help it. I try to take it for what it is. A guide, not the be all end all.

Gonna check this blog out. Sounds interesting.
 
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Putres Omega

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If you don't mind me asking, were you gay before that experience? Or was falling in love with a guy an out of the blue, unexpected thing?

It was unexpected but, looking back, I think there were signs. I have never empathized with or connected to women as I did other men and I never had the same revulsion towards male touch as my peers did as far back as I can remember. It was and has been confusing due to the fact that I don't tend to be sexually attracted to other men, initially, like most other gay guys are. The physical attraction always follows romantic attraction.

For example, as far as other guys go I tend to be attracted to effeminate guys (which for gay men is actually quite rare - feminine guys tend to be one of the least liked of all the sub-types in my experience). I believe what I am drawn to in other men are traits that remind me of the guy I fell for. He is effeminate himself (so much so that he has cosplayed as female video game and anime characters at conventions before).


I haven't met many with anything approaching my own experience. Those I have met have been women whose life experience differs, greatly, from men.
 
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ViaCrucis

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My own leftward experience came largely about during the mid-Bush years, not really suddenly, but it seemed to have happened somewhat quickly. It really, for me, simply came down to being unable to reconcile the conservative world view I had grown within with the Jesus I kept encountering in the Gospels. That coupled with my love affair with Church history ultimately meant encountering a radically different social preoccupation among the writings of the ancient church fathers, which were consistently pushing forward with a strong opposition to violence and a drive for social justice.

That drive toward social justice was something I saw knit together throughout the history of Christianity, and lay at the heart of its moral teaching. The stark contrast between the social and moral teachings of the historic faith with the gun-loving poor people are lazy yee-haw attitude I saw, ever more increasingly during the Bush era, drove me further and further toward the left.

It became really about a matter of conscience, and if I'm going to take Jesus and the Church seriously, it probably means I couldn't remain a conservative--or at least a particularly "good" conservative. I didn't identify as "liberal" for a long time, and mostly just accepted it because that's what people kept calling me--apparently that's what happens when you believe in things like universal healthcare, marriage equality, and programs of social uplift.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Targaryen

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My own leftward experience came largely about during the mid-Bush years, not really suddenly, but it seemed to have happened somewhat quickly. It really, for me, simply came down to being unable to reconcile the conservative world view I had grown within with the Jesus I kept encountering in the Gospels. That coupled with my love affair with Church history ultimately meant encountering a radically different social preoccupation among the writings of the ancient church fathers, which were consistently pushing forward with a strong opposition to violence and a drive for social justice.

That drive toward social justice was something I saw knit together throughout the history of Christianity, and lay at the heart of its moral teaching. The stark contrast between the social and moral teachings of the historic faith with the gun-loving poor people are lazy yee-haw attitude I saw, ever more increasingly during the Bush era, drove me further and further toward the left.

It became really about a matter of conscience, and if I'm going to take Jesus and the Church seriously, it probably means I couldn't remain a conservative--or at least a particularly "good" conservative. I didn't identify as "liberal" for a long time, and mostly just accepted it because that's what people kept calling me--apparently that's what happens when you believe in things like universal healthcare, marriage equality, and programs of social uplift.

-CryptoLutheran

Only comment to this other then cheering is, Bush did drive a lot of "liberals" out of the shadows, didn't he?
 
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elman

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My own leftward experience came largely about during the mid-Bush years, not really suddenly, but it seemed to have happened somewhat quickly. It really, for me, simply came down to being unable to reconcile the conservative world view I had grown within with the Jesus I kept encountering in the Gospels. That coupled with my love affair with Church history ultimately meant encountering a radically different social preoccupation among the writings of the ancient church fathers, which were consistently pushing forward with a strong opposition to violence and a drive for social justice.

That drive toward social justice was something I saw knit together throughout the history of Christianity, and lay at the heart of its moral teaching. The stark contrast between the social and moral teachings of the historic faith with the gun-loving poor people are lazy yee-haw attitude I saw, ever more increasingly during the Bush era, drove me further and further toward the left.

It became really about a matter of conscience, and if I'm going to take Jesus and the Church seriously, it probably means I couldn't remain a conservative--or at least a particularly "good" conservative. I didn't identify as "liberal" for a long time, and mostly just accepted it because that's what people kept calling me--apparently that's what happens when you believe in things like universal healthcare, marriage equality, and programs of social uplift.

-CryptoLutheran

I am a conservative-politically. I do not feel that compels me to support programs of the government the government claims are social uplifts when another agenda is involved, and when they are funding these programs with borrowed money that will effect our economic stability. The effect of some of these programs are also suspect as being not that great even for the people they are supposed to help. Nor am I compelled to support universal healthcare when I can observed other countries with universal healthcare that are not taking care of sick people as well as my country does. Again I believe in the universal healthcare issue I see an agenda for obtaining power and not just helping people. The command of Jesus to love your neighbor is not fulfilled in voting for liberal government polices of waste and overspending with borrowed money. Many of the liberal polices and politically correct polices are feel good things where someone can think they are doing something about a problem and feel good about that when the reality is they are not helping the problem be solved at all. When I pay my taxes I am not loving my neighbor as commanded and this is also true when I contribute to my church so they can paint the building or whatever. The only way we can truly obey the command to love is to be involved personally in helping the people around us as we have the opportunity.
 
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Targaryen

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I am a conservative. I do not feel that compels me to support programs of the government the government claims are social uplifts when another agenda is involved, and when they are funding these programs with borrowed money that will effect our economic stability. The effect of some of these programs are also suspect as being not that great even for the people they are supposed to help. Nor am I compelled to support universal healthcare when I can observed other countries with universal healthcare that are not taking care of sick people as well as my country does. Again I believe in the universal healthcare issue I see an agenda for obtaining power and not just helping people. The command of Jesus to love your neighbor is not fulfilled in voting for liberal government polices of waste and overspending with borrowed money. Many of the liberal polices and politically correct polices are feel good things where someone can think they are doing something about a problem and feel good about that when the reality is they are not helping the problem be solved at all. When I pay my taxes I am not loving my neighbor as commanded and this is also true when I contribute to my church so they can paint the building or whatever. The only way we can truly obey the command to love is to be involved personally in helping the people around us as we have the opportunity.

Do some research on universal healthcare, you will actually be surprised. And given your age, you are in the demographic in the US that enjoys the type of universal healthcare that other nations provide to all citizens regardless of age demographics and not put a huge strain on the GDP like it is in the US or bankrupt people that need the care either.
 
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elman

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Do some research on universal healthcare, you will actually be surprised. And given your age, you are in the demographic in the US that enjoys the type of universal healthcare that other nations provide to all citizens regardless of age demographics and not put a huge strain on the GDP like it is in the US or bankrupt people that need the care either.

My point is it is an issue that does not demand my support simply because I care about others. I agree the universal healthcare is beneficial to me and my age group. I don't agree it is beneficial to everyone nor to the country in the long run especially given the record of the government for being inefficient in all they do.
 
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Izdaari Eristikon

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He is effeminate himself (so much so that he has cosplayed as female video game and anime characters at conventions before).

Actually, that isn't at all unusual for veteran roleplayers like myself. Many of us, both male and female, like to play characters of opposite gender at least sometimes. And even MMO gamers who aren't especially roleplayers do it just for the "eye candy", figuring the character they're looking at on screen for hours at a time should be one they enjoy looking at.

I'm a female who mostly plays female characters myself, but if I have a character concept that calls for a male look or name or persona, I don't shy away from it. Or maybe just for the "eye candy"... but I like both flavors.
 
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