How do you define a conservative christian?

Aino said:

Hey,
I was just wondering what conservative actually means when it comes to christianity. How would you conservatives self describe the meaning - I don't search for a dictionary definition now, but rather how you see that in your life.

- Aino

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For me, Conservative Christian is synonymous with Fundamentalist Christian. I try to interpret the Bible literally, if possible, and use Scripture to interpret Scripture.

As for what being a CC in my daily life, I try to live according to the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. I am comforted in the fact that if I fail (sin), I need only ask for forgiveness of my Father in Heaven in His Son's name and by His grace, I am restored to right fellowship with Him.

Rom 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Eph 2:9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

I get so tired of labels I try not to define anyone anymore. I'd honestly not seen stuff like this discussed in my life of 29 years until I came to this forum anyway. People are really hung up over the liberal versus conservative roles as it is here. I'm sure most conservatives don't agree amongst themselves over everything, and vice versa for liberals.

Aino said:

Hey,
I was just wondering what conservative actually means when it comes to christianity. How would you conservatives self describe the meaning - I don't search for a dictionary definition now, but rather how you see that in your life.

- Aino

Click to expand...

I don't really think of myself as a fundamentalist, conservative, moderate or liberal Christian, just a plain ol' Christian... but that's how the forums here are divided. I've been a member of CC since the beginning, but I've also been a founding member of Bridge Builders, a member of WWMC, and a frequent guest on the Fundamentalist Forum.

Generally, if I say I'm a conservative Christian, what I mean by it is that I'm orthodox on the central doctrines of the faith. Some might call me a fundamentalist, since I hold to the 1910 'five fundamentals', though I make no claim to that title otherwise and I don't fit into the culture.
I also agree with everything in the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed. I'm a member of a conservative evangelical Pentecostal church (AoG), and I have no major disagreements with it. OTOH, once you get past the basics of the faith, I'm less conservative. I score "moderate" on hermeneutics quizzes. And I like a lot of "emerging church" writers, though I don't always agree with them.

Also, "conservative Christian" and "Christian conservative" aren't synonymous phrases. Which is the noun and which is the adjective matters, and in this case, switching them shifts the focus to politics. "Conservative" is what kind of Christian I am (at least mostly), but "Christian" is not the kind of conservative I am. People would take that to mean I support a social conservative or "religious right" agenda, and I don't particularly. Barry Goldwater was my kind of guy, but Jerry Falwell wasn't. I'm libertarian to libertarian-conservative, and a card-carrying Libertarian Party member.

I see it as considering carefully that by and large Christians who went before me thought through many of the issues accurately -- more accurately than I could, without their counsel. It doesn't prevent me from contradicting them where they make assertions that are simply contrary to evidence that I think I see clearly. But it does deprive me of simply ignoring their contributions.

Reality hasn't changed much in 2000 years. And perceptions were often wrong and were reformed. But perceptions haven't revolutionized. We don't have cause to simply chuck 2000 years and come up with our own Christianity. But we do have cause to consider and reform them -- when we find ourselves infrequently in the position of seeing things more clearly than they.

Yes I agree with Faith Man. I live by faith and not by sight. I follow Christ and not man-made "religious" laws that take glory from God and place it on men. "Religion" needs to die, and faith begin.

My take:

Conservative Christians are those who believe that the whole Bible is the infallible Word of God, and try their best to apply it to their own lives. I have reasonable standards that are based on the Bible, and many unbelievers (and even some who claim to believe) do not understand this. Therefore, I believe I fit in the overall description of a conservative Christian.

I don't relate, however, when it comes to politics. Personally, I believe Christianity and politics are two separate worlds. I know many will disagree at this point (and maybe even write me off as "just another liberal" rather than a sister in Christ with a different way of thinking), but I don't think there is any such thing as a truly moral political party. Republicans and Democrats both have their good and bad points. I'm sure the "third parties" have their problems as well. That's why I'm really nonpartisan (probably always will be), and vote for whomever, if at all, sounds like they can best lead the country. I also believe strongly in praying for the President and other politicians, whether we voted for them or not, for wisdom to make fair and moral decisions -- then trust that God will take care of His people, no matter what happens.

to believe in the Bible as the word of God, that it is true, maybe not literal at all points but true, to have traditional values and morals
a lot of times people equate conservative christian with fundamentalist while there are many conservative christians in the Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox Churches but none of the members of those groups could be counted as Fundamentalist

Firstly, let me introduce myself as I am new here. I am John and I live in England, and I would describe myself as a conservative Christian.

What does that mean? I take the Bible to be the Word of God; I believe in a young earth; I am a dispensational premillennialist who believes in the rapture of the church; I am a big supporter of Israel and the Jewish people; I am increasingly irritated by the liberal drift of the church both here in the UK and elsewhere.

Others may have different opinions on what makes one a conservative, but for me this is it. The prime one however, is belief in the Word of God and accepting it rather than choosing which parts to use and which to discard.

English Conservative said:

Firstly, let me introduce myself as I am new here. I am John and I live in England, and I would describe myself as a conservative Christian.

What does that mean? I take the Bible to be the Word of God; I believe in a young earth; I am a dispensational premillennialist who believes in the rapture of the church; I am a big supporter of Israel and the Jewish people; I am increasingly irritated by the liberal drift of the church both here in the UK and elsewhere.

Others may have different opinions on what makes one a conservative, but for me this is it. The prime one however, is belief in the Word of God and accepting it rather than choosing which parts to use and which to discard.

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Hi, John. To be a Conservative Christian is to be a Christian whose views are in step with historic Christianity. It has to be that, in some shape or form.

Both Catholics and Protestant Christians are included, and it doesn't mean that there's some detailed set of beliefs (like how to relate to the modern State of Israel, for example) that must be accepted, but it would exclude theology that is not historicaly Christian. OTOH, it certainly cannot be said that to be a Conservative Christian it is necessary to be a dispensational millennialist or believer in the "rapture" and I'm assuming that you didn't mean it does.

English Conservative said:

Firstly, let me introduce myself as I am new here. I am John and I live in England, and I would describe myself as a conservative Christian.

What does that mean? I take the Bible to be the Word of God; I believe in a young earth; I am a dispensational premillennialist who believes in the rapture of the church; I am a big supporter of Israel and the Jewish people; I am increasingly irritated by the liberal drift of the church both here in the UK and elsewhere.

Others may have different opinions on what makes one a conservative, but for me this is it. The prime one however, is belief in the Word of God and accepting it rather than choosing which parts to use and which to discard.

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I would largely echo what Albion said: to be a conservative Christian is to agree with historic Christianity, with what the vast majority of Christians have believed since the beginning of the faith.

Believing the Bible as the word of God is definitely part of that, though not necessarily any particular translation. (I don't capitalize "word" in that because, per the Gospel of John, I understand the Word of God to be the Logos, the second person of the Trinity, who was incarnated as Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, and while the Bible is God's written revelation to us, authoritative and trustworthy, it is not identical with the Logos.)

Being YEC, dispensationalist, premillennialist and pretribulationist are all very, very optional. All of those are things many conservative Christians believe, but they're not part of the definition. I am myself OEC (the Framework Interpretation variant), and not sure where I stand on eschatology. I would rather not take a position on it than not be sure of my position.

The Terms Mean Nothing.

At least the older I get, the truer that becomes for me. I'm at a point where what some call 'conservative' reeks with humanistic secularity.

Perhaps we should bear in mind that Conservatism and Liberalism together are alien, heretical ideologies that both can and often do stand quite apart from any sense of Biblical faith.

Perhaps it is time to ask why people forever overlay those heretical ideologies on the church, thus breaking the theology of the cross.

As for historic Christianity -- hardly pristine at all. Plenty of error and heresy. True even as the canon was being written -- and later.

Blessings!

Covenant Heart

Covenant Heart said:

The Terms Mean Nothing.

At least the older I get, the truer that becomes for me. I'm at a point where what some call 'conservative' reeks with humanistic secularity.

Perhaps we should bear in mind that Conservatism and Liberalism together are alien, heretical ideologies that both can and often do stand quite apart from any sense of Biblical faith.

Perhaps it is time to ask why people forever overlay those heretical ideologies on the church, thus breaking the theology of the cross.

As for historic Christianity -- hardly pristine at all. Plenty of error and heresy. True even as the canon was being written -- and later.

Blessings!

Covenant Heart

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Actually, both terms are easily understood and far from alien, being that both were generated from within the experience of our civilization.

A Consekrvative, by definition, retains the best of that which has endured.

A Liberal, by definition, promotes that which maximizes liberty. The word has become associated with a mild form of Socialism in recent years while the word Libertarian now replaces it as expressing the original meaning, but otherwise the meaning is not hard to deduce.

In religious matters, the Conservative prefers traditional values and teachings, while the Liberal feels free to innovate and speculate. As to the point about either possibly being "heretical," either one of them may be that but not necessarily so.

Ummm...Er...

I thought that the word 'alien' would be understood in terms of 'heretical' and their frequent existence 'apart from any sense of Biblical faith.'

What is claimed as 'conservatism' and/or 'liberalism' often exists in the context of an atheistic or agnostic (a form of atheism) framework. In that sense, they are alien to a Biblical theology.

Blessings!

Covenant Heart

Covenant Heart said:

What is claimed as 'conservatism' and/or 'liberalism' often exists in the context of an atheistic or agnostic (a form of atheism) framework. In that sense, they are alien to a Biblical theology.

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Hmmm. In our religious lives, most of us deal frequently with conservative theology or liberal theology and understand what is meant. We even have the two of them represented by two different forums on 'Christian Forums,' each with their statements of belief.

So while there probably is some arena in which the terms are used as you say, IMO it's not as though that's the only way, or even the usual way, of using these words.

CC's do not agree with worldy people on bottom-line morality.

Aino said:

Hey,
I was just wondering what conservative actually means when it comes to christianity. How would you conservatives self describe the meaning - I don't search for a dictionary definition now, but rather how you see that in your life.

- Aino

Click to expand...

I don't have to answer - as your very first response said it all. Conservative (in a doctrinal - not political sense) means hyper-literalism. Everything is taken literally - if possible. This error has put the subject of Eschatology way out in left field. This paradigm is very popular today dispite the fact that Jesus allagorized, hyperbolized, and used similies all the time. This was to a point where the disciples complained and could not understand why he did so.

Hyperliteralism produces serious doctrinal error. Hyperliteralism produces Futurism where practically all Prophesy is moved out of the hands of those to whom it was written and placed in yet our future. This produces a clean slate and it is simply up to our imagination to put it all together by use of our newspapers and media. Of course when our concoctions are wrong we don't admit it - we just create a new one.

Jesusfreak93 said:

Yes I agree with Faith Man. I live by faith and not by sight. I follow Christ and not man-made "religious" laws that take glory from God and place it on men. "Religion" needs to die, and faith begin.

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Amen.

English Conservative said:

Firstly, let me introduce myself as I am new here. I am John and I live in England, and I would describe myself as a conservative Christian.

What does that mean? I take the Bible to be the Word of God; I believe in a young earth; I am a dispensational premillennialist who believes in the rapture of the church; I am a big supporter of Israel and the Jewish people; I am increasingly irritated by the liberal drift of the church both here in the UK and elsewhere.

Others may have different opinions on what makes one a conservative, but for me this is it. The prime one however, is belief in the Word of God and accepting it rather than choosing which parts to use and which to discard.

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Welcome. I too, as a Conservative (Fundamentalist) Christian, am irritated by the decidedly liberal drift of the many Christian denominations. We in the Body of Christ have become people pleaser's, not God pleaser's.

Mat 15:7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
Mat 15:8 "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
Mat 15:9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" (ESV)