Liberal Christians

[Violet Edge]

im a hardcore conservative Christian. I have always thought that conservative views go hand and hang with Christianity. Morals. Values. Standards. These are things I thought Christians should stand up for.

I can understand how some economic views such as capitalism and like healthcare can be controversial for anyone (including Christians) but issues such as abortion, gay rights, transgenderism, islam, - aren't these topics that all Christian's should be consistent with opposing? I mean, the Bible does support opposing it... so if Christians support scripture, why are some Christians liberal??? like shouldn't Christians be conservative?

I know a couple people who claim they are Christian but also have very liberal ideas. for example, this girl i met recently is basically a hardcore feminist, anti-trump, it seems her idealogy cannot support Christian values. This is just one example, I know so many Christians that are liberal. and i just dont understand

thoughts?

I dont wanna start a debate here, i am just genuinely concerned for the way our society is moving - LIBERAL.

 

[JackRT]

I am a Christian and a liberal and as I age (I am 74) I just keep getting more liberal. For myself it is the only way I can preserve my spiritual and intellectual integrity.

 

[majj27]

I am a Christian and a liberal and as I age (I am 74) I just keep getting more liberal. For myself it is the only way I can preserve my spiritual and intellectual integrity.

Me too (except for the age. I'm still an immature 40-something!) I thought I'd be getting more conservative as I got older, but it seems to be working in reverse on me. Most of my friends turned out likewise, oddly enough.

 

[Violet Edge]

I am a Christian and a liberal and as I age (I am 74) I just keep getting more liberal. For myself it is the only way I can preserve my spiritual and intellectual integrity.

okay, can you expand on this? why? thanks

 

[LoricaLady]

im a hardcore conservative Christian. I have always thought that conservative views go hand and hang with Christianity. Morals. Values. Standards. These are things I thought Christians should stand up for.

I can understand how some economic views such as capitalism and like healthcare can be controversial for anyone (including Christians) but issues such as abortion, gay rights, transgenderism, islam, - aren't these topics that all Christian's should be consistent with opposing? I mean, the Bible does support opposing it... so if Christians support scripture, why are some Christians liberal??? like shouldn't Christians be conservative?

I know a couple people who claim they are Christian but also have very liberal ideas. for example, this girl i met recently is basically a hardcore feminist, anti-trump, it seems her idealogy cannot support Christian values. This is just one example, I know so many Christians that are liberal. and i just dont understand

thoughts?

I dont wanna start a debate here, i am just genuinely concerned for the way our society is moving - LIBERAL.

I agree that it is not our liberal culture which is to be followed, but the Bible. Some of those liberal souls may become more and more atuned to the Word, instead of the world, overtime as the Holy Spirit works on them, though. It happened to me.

 

[JackRT]

okay, can you expand on this? why? thanks

Don't have much time at the moment but suffice it to say for now that I started out as a fundamentalist. Time, experience and education showed me that regarding the Bible as inerrant or to be understood literally was a mistake. Once the Holy Spirit had convinced me of that liberalism was the only option.

 

[Violet Edge]

Don't have much time at the moment but suffice it to say for now that I started out as a fundamentalist. Time, experience and education showed me that regarding the Bible as inerrant or to be understood literally was a mistake. Once the Holy Spirit had convinced me of that liberalism was the only option.

hmm okay thanks for commenting the scripture is God's word.. and God's word is not wrong. can you expand more on how you justify this?

 

[Ada Lovelace]

I am a Christian and a liberal and as I age (I am 74) I just keep getting more liberal. For myself it is the only way I can preserve my spiritual and intellectual integrity.

Me too (except for the age. I'm still an immature 40-something!) I thought I'd be getting more conservative as I got older, but it seems to be working in reverse on me. Most of my friends turned out likewise, oddly enough.

Me three, except I'm still in my teens.

The former dean of religious life at my school, Dr. Scotty McLennan, who is also a fantastic professor, wrote a book titled Jesus Was a Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All that was very insightful and influential to me, and helped to fortify my faith at a time it was beginning to corrode (in substantial part due to participation on this forum when I was younger and more impressionable).

I grew up attending liberal-leaning churches, and didn't encounter fundamentalism in person until I met someone at a summer camp a few years ago, and then joined this forum out of curiosity about perspectives like hers.

 

[rjs330]

The Bible isn't liberal or conservative. It's truth. It teaches us how to live in Christ. It tells us what holy living looks like and how we should view sin and the world while at the same time loving our neighbors.

It teaches us to uphold righteousness without being self righteous. It teaches us to judge without being judgmental.

It doesn't teach a social construct or a political structure. Jesus was not a conservative and he was not a socialist. The Bible teaches us as BELIEVERS to be self sufficient and not be a burden on others. It also teaches us to help those that need help. It teaches us to discipline those in the church who are actively sinning and not listening to reproof. It teaches us to be VERY humble when doing so because we might he next. God teaches us that we have the freedom to make choices, but we do not have the freedom to choose our consequences.

 

[Violet Edge]

The Bible isn't liberal or conservative. It's truth. It teaches us how to live in Christ. It tells us what holy living looks like and how we should view sin and the world while at the same time loving our neighbors.

It teaches us to uphold righteousness without being self righteous. It teaches us to judge without being judgmental.

It doesn't teach a social construct or a political structure. Jesus was not a conservative and he was not a socialist. The Bible teaches us as BELIEVERS to be self sufficient and not be a burden on others. It also teaches us to help those that need help. It teaches us to discipline those in the church who are actively sinning and not listening to reproof. It teaches us to be VERY humble when doing so because we might he next. God teaches us that we have the freedom to make choices, but we do not have the freedom to choose our consequences.

right, so if the Bible teaches such things then conservatism supports Christian claims. liberalism on the other hand encourages sin, for example, homosexuality, transgenderism. would you agree?

 

[Noxot]

I myself don't like lumping myself in with either the various sub-factions of the left or right even though we all will pick to be something. so I pick God and my own spirit. I don't believe that God has exhausted himself nor that humans have arrived at complete perfection. so I will try as much as I can to do this since i know this happens in us if we are willing to be born from above as we seek and fellowship with God and his heavenly ones:

Matt 13:44-52 (YLT)
`Again, the reign of the heavens is like to treasure hid in the field, which a man having found did hide, and from his joy goeth, and all, as much as he hath, he selleth, and buyeth that field. `Again, the reign of the heavens is like to a man, a merchant, seeking goodly pearls, who having found one pearl of great price, having gone away, hath sold all, as much as he had, and bought it. `Again, the reign of the heavens is like to a net that was cast into the sea, and did gather together of every kind, which, when it was filled, having drawn up again upon the beach, and having sat down, they gathered the good into vessels, and the bad they did cast out, so shall it be in the full end of the age, the messengers shall come forth and separate the evil out of the midst of the righteous, and shall cast them to the furnace of the fire, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.' Jesus saith to them, `Did ye understand all these?' They say to him, `Yes, sir.' And he said to them, `Because of this every scribe having been discipled in regard to the reign of the heavens, is like to a man, a householder, who doth bring forth out of his treasure things new and old.'

 

[Halbhh]

im a hardcore conservative Christian. I have always thought that conservative views go hand and hang with Christianity. Morals. Values. Standards. These are things I thought Christians should stand up for.

I can understand how some economic views such as capitalism and like healthcare can be controversial for anyone (including Christians) but issues such as abortion, gay rights, transgenderism, islam, - aren't these topics that all Christian's should be consistent with opposing? I mean, the Bible does support opposing it... so if Christians support scripture, why are some Christians liberal??? like shouldn't Christians be conservative?

I know a couple people who claim they are Christian but also have very liberal ideas. for example, this girl i met recently is basically a hardcore feminist, anti-trump, it seems her idealogy cannot support Christian values. This is just one example, I know so many Christians that are liberal. and i just dont understand

thoughts?

I dont wanna start a debate here, i am just genuinely concerned for the way our society is moving - LIBERAL.

Ultimately there is no such thing as "liberal Christian" or "conservative Christian".

The shorthand labels don't work, because they are not His own Words, which we are to all listen to and follow.

We should notice Christ has every bit of truth in 'liberal' and 'conservative' viewpoints as only a small part of the truth He is and says to us.

He is so much more than our mere labels and mere sets of issues we prefer.

 

[ValleyGal]

I am conservative in my beliefs. I believe the Bible (in its original language, state and context) is inerrant. That is not true of the English versions - any of them - due to language and translation issues. When I study the Bible and learn more about original language and cultural context, I have to deconstruct my fundamentalist faith construct from my younger years.

I still hold to my conservative beliefs for myself. I do not hold anyone else responsible for living up to MY expectations of what people should live like. Why? Because God is a God of choice. He has free will, we were created in his image, so we have free will. God chooses to always do and be "good." As believers, we love God, and that motivates us to do and be as he is: good, as in obedient to biblical principles as best we can...but we can't fully be good because our human nature is sinful. That human nature will never change, which is why we need salvation in Jesus. ... but back to choice. I value the ability to choose my faith, to choose to be Christian, to choose to follow him. I do not ever want that choice to be stripped from me! And so if I value the ability to choose for myself, then I would be a hypocrite if I were to try to force my Christian standards on those who do not choose as I do. I must value everyone else's right to choose, if I value my own right to choose.

That is why I will never have an abortion, never perform lesbian acts, fight against greed, gluttony, idolatry, etc. But I will not restrict these things for other people who choose to do and be other ways than I choose. That is what makes me liberal.

 

[jovanovic]

why should we be against islam but not against judaism, hinduism, buddhism etc?

 

[seventysevens]

im a hardcore conservative Christian. I have always thought that conservative views go hand and hang with Christianity. Morals. Values. Standards. These are things I thought Christians should stand up for.

I can understand how some economic views such as capitalism and like healthcare can be controversial for anyone (including Christians) but issues such as abortion, gay rights, transgenderism, islam, - aren't these topics that all Christian's should be consistent with opposing? I mean, the Bible does support opposing it... so if Christians support scripture, why are some Christians liberal??? like shouldn't Christians be conservative?

I know a couple people who claim they are Christian but also have very liberal ideas. for example, this girl i met recently is basically a hardcore feminist, anti-trump, it seems her idealogy cannot support Christian values. This is just one example, I know so many Christians that are liberal. and i just dont understand

thoughts?

I dont wanna start a debate here, i am just genuinely concerned for the way our society is moving - LIBERAL.

The personal identification of how people perceive what being liberal means could vary widely , I have never subscribed to any 'labeled ' Christian group , be it fundamentalist or any other group because the label would imply they would adhere to fundamental Christian beliefs , but when I attend some of their meetings I learned the title is a bit deceptive , like the Federal Reserve Bank name was chosen to cause the public to assume that it was part of the Federal government , but it is really a privately owned bank comprised of very wealthy people who's names are not publicly mentioned in association with the bank - intentionally

In the political arena the problems began when people became "career politicians" which is against what the founding fathers wanted as they wanted all people to have the chance to serve in congress for 3 years then step down and let someone else in. While the general public became obsessed with entertainment the wolves created their dens in congress creating an "us v them" environment

 

[Basil the Great]

Liberal means many different things. Some of us who consider ourselves to be moderate or liberal, myself included, still hold to most of the same moral values as conservative Christians. However, my main area of difference is that I do not believe that all Muslims, all Jews, all Hindus, all Buddhists, all agnostics and even all atheists are necessarily lost, even if they do not convert to Christianity prior to death.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

But we do know that liberal Christians do tend to take certain things in Scripture liberally. That is why they are called liberals. They are liberal with the text of God's Word. Liberal means free. That means they are not so hardcore with God's Word as a conservative Christian is. Granted, not all conservatives are alike; And not all liberals are alike. But we can at least know that conservatives strive to read take God's Word more seriously so as to apply it to their lives and they read the text literally unless otherwise indicated. Liberal Christians have a liberal view of many things in the Bible and can vary greatly. But they tend to allegorize certain things in the Bible that are historical and true. This does not sit well with me. In fact, the Scriptures warn against such a thing. Read 2 Timothy 4.

Also, I do not think any of us here can re-invent what a Liberal Christian means. The truth is that Liberal Christians are Liberal. They are liberal because they take Scripture liberally. See this Wikipedia article here:
Liberal Christianity - Wikipedia

 

[Bible Highlighter]

im a hardcore conservative Christian. I have always thought that conservative views go hand and hang with Christianity. Morals. Values. Standards. These are things I thought Christians should stand up for.

I can understand how some economic views such as capitalism and like healthcare can be controversial for anyone (including Christians) but issues such as abortion, gay rights, transgenderism, islam, - aren't these topics that all Christian's should be consistent with opposing? I mean, the Bible does support opposing it... so if Christians support scripture, why are some Christians liberal??? like shouldn't Christians be conservative?

I know a couple people who claim they are Christian but also have very liberal ideas. for example, this girl i met recently is basically a hardcore feminist, anti-trump, it seems her idealogy cannot support Christian values. This is just one example, I know so many Christians that are liberal. and i just dont understand

thoughts?

I dont wanna start a debate here, i am just genuinely concerned for the way our society is moving - LIBERAL.

I agree with you on everything here on being Conservative except with your support of Trump. While Trump does appear to be in support of certain Christian values, he does not behave in any way like a Christian should (as of the time of this writing). He attacks people verbally in such a way that is hateful. That is not Christ like or loving. He never once appears to be loving and nice. Every day he is in the media for insulting others in a hurtful way. If he said things that may be hurtful slightly every once in a while (i.e. to point out their sins) to lead people to Christ, that would be one thing, but he just insults and bashes people with no real rhyme or reason. He does not truly care about me or you. He is not that kind of president. He is simply out for himself. It's all about Trump and how he is awesome. It's about his wealth and power. He has an over inflated ego and he is not humble. He gets easily upset and constantly looks mad. That to me is not a Christian. So while I am happy that Christian values are being supported, I am still praying for him to be impeached soon because he is not a good leader for this country. He is teaching our kids that it okay to be a leader and yet bully others. That to me is not Christian. While I will pray for Mr. Trump to be out of office, I do hope he is safely somewhere else according to God's plan and purpose.

I personally think Pence would be a lot better choice.

 

[FireDragon76]

Do yourself a favor and don't put Christians in these pidgeonholes. It just becomes tribalism rather than truth-seeking. I read from conservative Lutherans, I read from very liberal Lutherans, and sometimes I disagree with both, and sometimes I agree with both. Don't be prejudicial.

 

[PloverWing]

I am a Christian and a liberal and as I age (I am 74) I just keep getting more liberal.

Me too (except for the age. I'm still an immature 40-something!) I thought I'd be getting more conservative as I got older, but it seems to be working in reverse on me.

Me three, except I'm still in my teens.

Me four. I'm 50-something.

I'm not theologically liberal -- I'm comfortable affirming the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian Definition. But I'm socially liberal on most of the issues listed in the original post, and on some other issues as well (poverty, e.g.). Like JackRT, majj27, and Stanfordella, I'm getting more liberal as I get older.

Back in college, I set out to memorize the Sermon on the Mount. This changed me in unexpected ways, and I think this was what first sent me down the path toward social liberalism.