What is the #1 issue that divides Moderate Christians from Conservative Christians?

What is the #1 issue that divides (excluding the errancy/inerrancy of Scripture)

  • (1) Can one possibly go to Heaven without becoming a Christian before death?

    Votes: 6 20.0%
  • (2) Divorce and remarriage (excluding adultery)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • (3) Ordination of women pastors

    Votes: 2 6.7%
  • (4) Gay marriage and/or ordination of gay pastors

    Votes: 7 23.3%
  • (5) Ecumenism among Christians of different faiths

    Votes: 1 3.3%
  • (6) Form of Baptism

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • (7) Interpretation of the Lord's Supper/Communion

    Votes: 4 13.3%
  • (8) Other (please specify)

    Votes: 10 33.3%

  • Total voters
    30

Philip_B

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In a sense one of the key variances I see is in the approach to matters of faith.

The conservative end of the spectrum is likely to be more concerned with correct doctrine - that is the right answer; whilst more moderate folk on the spectrum are more interested in doing theology, which in a sense is about how you get to the answer. Perhaps that would be best summed up in the role of reason in matters of faith.

The use of Holy Scripture is important, however what is our approach to it?
  • The Bible is true
  • The Bible is broadly true in all important matters
  • The Bible is wholly true in every detail and from every perspective
  • The Bible tells us what folk understood as the truth
  • The Bible is a record of the revelation of truth
  • The Bible is a vehicle of truth
  • The Bible is the starting point of theology
  • The Bible is the end point of all doctrine
 
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Basil the Great

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redleghunter

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Now that is one divide that I did leave off of my list of options, though I did touch on it to some extent with option #1.
Should not be much of a divide.

A Holy God will judge sin.
 
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worshipjunkie

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I think the biggest issue is the necessity of Christ for salvation. All the other issues stem from that. It's a different view of the whole purpose of Christ's coming to earth and dying and rising again.
 
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steve78

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What defines a moderate christian?

What defines a conservative/traditional christian?

Well i would define a conservative Christian as somebody who believes the bible is literal, is 100% true, homophobic, discriminates against women, believe in a young earth and creationists, opposed to science and social justice. Others may have different views.

I consider myself a moderate cause i reject pretty much all of the above.
 
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straykat

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Well i would define a conservative Christian as somebody who believes the bible is literal, is 100% true, homophobic, discriminates against women, believe in a young earth and creationists, opposed to science and social justice. Others may have different views.

I consider myself a moderate cause i reject pretty much all of the above.

Why would someone who reads the Bible literally be against social justice? Both the OT and NT promote social justice and reading them literally would naturally lead someone to want to stand for justice too.
 
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steve78

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Why would someone who reads the Bible literally be against social justice? Both the OT and NT promote social justice and reading them literally would naturally lead someone to want to stand for justice too.

Your find with the conservative type that their main failing is the love of money.
 
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straykat

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Your find with the conservative type that their main failing is the love of money.

Well, Isaiah, in the 700s BC, pronounced the true spirit of the Torah when he upheld justice over sacrifice and ritual:

"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." [Isaiah 1:11-17]

---

St. Basil spoke this below in the 300s.. and he's a giant of tradition:

“Tell me, which things are yours? Where did you get them from at the beginning of your life? It is like someone who has a seat in the theater, and who objects when others also take their places. He claims that he owns what is for the common use of all. So too with the rich. They claim in advance that which is common property and make themselves the owners of it. Moreover, if everyone acquires what they need and leave the excess over for the destitute, then there will be no rich and no poor. Did you not come naked out of your mother’s womb? Are you not going to return naked to the earth? Where did you get your present possessions from? If you say ‘from fate,’ then that makes you an atheist who neither acknowledges your Creator nor gives thanks to your Benefactor. If you acknowledge that they came from God, then tell me the reason why He gave them to you. Is God unjust that He gives the things of life to people unequally? Why are you rich while another is poor?

In any case, is it not so that you can receive the reward for good and faithful stewardship, and the other can receive the reward for his patient effort? But you, who grasps at everything in your insatiable greed, do you really think that you are doing nobody injustice by plundering so much? Who is the greedy one? The one who is not satisfied with that which is enough. Who is the plunderer? The one who takes that which belongs to all. Are you greedy? Are you a plunderer? The one who steals clothes off someone’s back is called a thief. Why should we refer to the one who does not clothe the naked, while having the means to do so, as anything else? The bread that you have belongs to the hungry, the clothes that are in your cupboard belong to the naked, the shoes that are rotting in your possession belong to the barefooted, the money that you have buried belongs to the destitute. And so you commit injustice to so many when you could have helped them.”
 
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steve78

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Is God unjust that He gives the things of life to people unequally? Why are you rich while another is poor?


God has little to do with it. God has provided enough for everybody on this world yet selfish and greedy people have more than they actually need.

The conservative types love money and are opposed to anything that might help those in poverty.
 
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straykat

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God has little to do with it. God has provided enough for everybody on this world yet selfish and greedy people have more than they actually need.

The conservative types love money and are opposed to anything that might help those in poverty.

I think you're hanging around the wrong "conservatives", personally. The scriptures explicitly say the love of money is the root of all evil. [1 Timothy 6:10]

And yes, God has plenty to do with it. A love for God leads to a love for his creation, and would respect the dignity he endowed people with. At the very least, a divine impetus gives a lot more "oomph" than merely leaving up humankind to it's whims and pride and gambling on whether it'll ever come to any of this. Why gamble and leave to chance when you have such clear instruction from God? No need to reinvent the wheel and take him out of the picture.

Even the people the world holds up as champions of social justice are not who they sometimes imagine either. Lets take Martin Luther King Jr. for instance. People often forget the simple fact that he was a minister. Let me offer this funny exchange between him and a teen in his day. Does this sound like a liberal? He's more conservative than even the conservatives today. Some would call this an extreme view:

"Advice for Living" | The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute

Question: I am a 17-year-old musician and I belong to the church. I play gospel music and I play rock ’n’ roll. Is it a sin to play rock ’n’ roll music for a living?

Answer: The question of whether playing rock and roll for a living is sinful or not sinful is really not the basic question confronting you. The real question is whether one can be consistent in playing gospel music and rock and roll music simultaneous. It seems to me that one must decide to either play gospel music or rock and roll. The two are totally incompatible. The profound sacred and spiritual meaning of the great music of the church must never be mixed with the transitory quality of rock and roll music. The former serves to lift men’s souls to higher levels of reality, and therefore to God; the latter so often plunges men’s minds into degrading and immoral depths. Therefore, I would say that you would be giving your life to a more noble purpose if you concentrated on the music of the church rather than rock and roll. Never seek to mix the two.


And yet this is the same man who got shot for simply protesting for garbage men to get better wages in Memphis.
 
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Seadish

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What do you think? Other than the very general answer of how Christians view Scripture, what is the key difference between Liberal/Moderate Christians and Conservative/Traditional Christians, regardless of which branch of Christianity they may belong?
My opinion, that
What do you think? Other than the very general answer of how Christians view Scripture, what is the key difference between Liberal/Moderate Christians and Conservative/Traditional Christians, regardless of which branch of Christianity they may belong?
my opinion as very conservative is that God was very serious about every word, yes we all grow differently but we all need to let Him grow us and nothing He said is to be ignored or put aside just because times have changed. Yes there is Grace there is also fruit . One day there will be no sin. I can hardly wait!
 
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Halbhh

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What do you think? Other than the very general answer of how Christians view Scripture, what is the key difference between Liberal/Moderate Christians and Conservative/Traditional Christians, regardless of which branch of Christianity they may belong?

While there is a clear separation among some, for the bigger majority that simply doesn't debate such things, among them the 'conservative' and the 'liberal' I've found after lengthy listening that these quieter 'conservatives' and 'liberals' to be mostly in agreement in essence about most things (and pretty much everything that matters), with very little they disagree about at all in essence, but for the few individual personal peeves (!) they individually have.... In other words, normally the disagreements are actually....rationalizations about personal emotions an individual has because of their own grievances in life, particular to them, and from which they later adapt and adopt some popular wordings and ideologies. Thus 'conservative' and 'liberal' in the political sense, but even also in many of these putative issues listed.

See, "all have sinned" and "all have fallen short", and no one really is "good" in that way needed, but rather all need Christ, and not even one instance of someone else judging them will help, not even the tiniest bit. But only Christ alone can save. So, we welcome sinners in our church (our own here locally), and don't try to judge them, but preach that we all are sinners utterly hopeless without Christ, and being transformed through Him over time. So there is zero (0.0000) room for us to judge other souls. This is not 'conservative' or 'liberal' at all, but Christian.

So, you'd find, easily, in our congregation people that would seem 'conservative' and others 'liberal' but Praise the Lord, they love one another.
 
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NeedyFollower

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What do you think? Other than the very general answer of how Christians view Scripture, what is the key difference between Liberal/Moderate Christians and Conservative/Traditional Christians, regardless of which branch of Christianity they may belong?
I would say " Pride " in all it's guises . Our inability to come before the Father and honestly say " Father , where is my humility ? Where am I wrong ? " What has my traditions kept me from seeing ? Is my version of christianity about your glory or my own will ? Where is my brokenness ?
Our inability to acknowledge that we are protecting our own opinions and are delusional in many aspects ...otherwise , we would be one to the glory of God . And yea all that would live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution . Why are we not suffering persecution ? Is it because we are not living Godly ?
What separates us ? A lack of Jesus . It is why Jesus tells the churches to repent in revelation but we will not because to repent would cost us the churches.
 
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Halbhh

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I voted #1.

Understandable. After all, we learn that in the Gospel of John.

But, Peter told us some more:

18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19After being made alive, d he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him."

So, therefore we learn from the Spirit, through Peter, that Christ went to the dead and brought the gospel to them....

This though is only one of many hundreds of examples of how we'd think one thing from one passage, and wrongly guess that's it, we know all about that thing. In reality we correctly know something, but that something is less than all, and that holds true over and over and over and over....

And that's not even yet trying to add in Romans 2:6-16, and wondering about 4:15, and 5:13, and then more that connects with these in other books.
 
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SolomonVII

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Life.


If any Christian is incapable of taking making a clear unambiguous stance on the issue of life in the womb, and the desirability of children in general,I don.t care much about how many rosaries they pray, or how many altar calls they make, or whether they believe in the Real Presence or something else.
 
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mark kennedy

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What do you think? Other than the very general answer of how Christians view Scripture, what is the key difference between Liberal/Moderate Christians and Conservative/Traditional Christians, regardless of which branch of Christianity they may belong?
The agency of salvation, specifically how the grace of God is communicated to the repentant sinner. You must be born again, marked with the Holy Spirit of promise and go on to produce the peacable fruits of righteousness. Chrstians are always communal, they seek one another for fellowship and mutual edification. Any ministry that demands anything other then faith for the salvation of the soul has done a diservice to grace.

Look at me, the guy with all the answers, what do I know? I know the simplicity of the gospel is where salvation happens. Arguments to the contrary seem trite.
 
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SolomonVII

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Well i would define a conservative Christian as somebody who believes the bible is literal, is 100% true, homophobic, discriminates against women, believe in a young earth and creationists, opposed to science and social justice. Others may have different views.

I consider myself a moderate cause i reject pretty much all of the above.
I consider anyone who thinks that of conservatives to be a bigot, but as long as you are right on life, meh, bigotry is not a crime.
 
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