Say Hi, Gracie (Newbies say hello thread)

Krikkor · Sep 21, 2016

Hi, my name is Greg and I considering recommitting myself to Jesus and seeking a church and faith group. I read your statement of faith and really liked it. My view is that God is all love and grace and appreciate all the other views. Part of what turned me from Christianity in the first place was what seemed to be contradictions and attitudes of many peoples' actions. In looking at the various boards and groups, this one seemed best to take part in and continue learning.

Uncle Tommy · Sep 30, 2016

Rinari said:
Oh my goodness. So I think I introduced myself in the wrong thread. Hopefully I'm in the right place now!

Hi, I'm Rinari!

I'm here to discuss my fairly liberal Christian faith with like-minded people. I believe in total freedom in Christ and that each person has to be accountable for their own spiritual growth. I used to be a very staunch Pentecostal Christian and a bit of a fundamentalist. About eight years ago, I began to really explore God for myself outside the setting of a Christian church service. What I found was that the God that was revealing Himself to me wasn't quite matching up with how He was presented in church. I prayed, 'God show me as you really are' and that has lead me to make friends with people of all kinds of faiths and broadened my perspective on how God can be experienced and manifested in our world. I still go to church and enjoy fellowship with other Christians and living out my values alongside them.

I would describe myself as a Panentheistic progressive/eclectic Christian. I know I'm absolutely called and claimed by Christ. the Christian God is the only God I worship, though I respect that others may have very valid spiritual experiences by worshipping other gods. I believe that in the end, all seekers find God. From my pagan friends, I have learned to appreciate God revealed in creation and that there is much to be learned about God through nature. I love getting out in the garden and going for nature walks. I would like to create my own Wheel of the Year that could sync with the Jewish feasts. The Sikh value that a spiritual life can be cultivated and maintained by taking pleasure in ordinary tasks has helped me to adjust to motherhood and come to terms with what can be achieved in a day. It has helped me to identify where I'm making a difference in my every day life. I am a big believer in the divine essence of the breath. I remember once being so sick, but knew that if I just kept breathing, I'd be okay. Since then, I have paid attention to my breath and use my breath in prayer. I also occasionally practise Yoga.

I hope to engage in some discussion here about what it means to be a Christian in this day and age and how we can make a difference in the world together as God's conduits and ambassadors.

Rinari; I think there is much we will find we have in common my new friend.

Uncle Tommy · Sep 30, 2016

Krikkor said:
Hi, my name is Greg and I considering recommitting myself to Jesus and seeking a church and faith group. I read your statement of faith and really liked it. My view is that God is all love and grace and appreciate all the other views. Part of what turned me from Christianity in the first place was what seemed to be contradictions and attitudes of many peoples' actions. In looking at the various boards and groups, this one seemed best to take part in and continue learning.

Hi Krikkor

DeerGlow · Oct 7, 2016

CaDan said:
Hi!

Hey, I just joined I think Wednesday? I forgot. But who knows where the search bar is I found one and lost it.

Krikkor · Oct 7, 2016

It at the top of the screen on the right. It says search and has a magnifying glass next to it.

archer75 · Nov 27, 2016

Hi all. I am new to CF and am at present visiting various churches. I have enjoyed reading threads here so far.

I am in the this condition: socially liberal (while not necessarily agreeing with every single thing that is often taken to mean) but getting more theologically "conservative" and feelimg drawn to liturgy. At the same time I'm dismissing a lot of claims associated with the liberal party line. So it's all up in the air.

hedrick · Nov 27, 2016

Of course there are plenty of political and theological liberals in the major liturgical traditions: Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal. Theological liberalism seems less common among EO.

Silmarien · Feb 27, 2017

Hey, guys! I'm so liberal that I only decided to give Christianity a real chance because I felt that anything else would be cultural appropriation. (That's a joke. The truth is not terribly far off, though--I'm not sure if I finally came around because God has been working on me or because of Western literature's cultural pull. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.)

I'm a Christian agnostic right now. Metaphorically, I accept it entirely. Literally, I don't believe that the apostles were hallucinating or fabricating the Resurrection so I do accept Jesus as a divine reality, but I can't say whether they were relying on the context of 1st century Judaism to make sense of what they'd experienced or if the New Testament represents firm theological truth. I'm more comfortable with the first than the second possibility (it means I wasn't completely wrong for rejecting the faith in the first place), so I can't in good conscience call myself a Christian until that changes. Not convinced that specific doctrines matter, but very much convinced that humility and repentance do.

Socially and politically very liberal, and wondering if I just read the same Gospel as the people out there who think that's a problem. Theologically much more liberal than I'd like to be, but I don't think there's any way around that stage for postmodern recovering atheists.

hedrick · Feb 28, 2017

I’d say a typical position for mainline Christians (i.e. members of Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, etc) is that God really acted in history. The Bible was written by humans who experienced him. They understood their experience with God and with Jesus in terms of their own culture, so the Bible reflects that. That sounds like what you’re saying. If so, then in my church (Presbyterian Church USA) that would be considered quite normal.

I consider anyone whose primary religious commitment is following Jesus to be a Christian. But I’d point out that Jesus taught more than just being nice to people. He said God had sent him to reconcile men with God and to call them into God’s kingdom. He asked us to join him in that mission of reconciliation, and warned that God would hold us accountable for how we responded (though how literally he meant his pictures of judgement is debated).

CF has a narrower definition of Christian, but in the PCUSA you’re just asked if you accept Christ as Lord and savior.

Here's our most recent official statement of faith: A Brief Statement of Faith, though you're not required to sign that in order to be a member.

Silmarien · Feb 28, 2017

hedrick said:
I’d say a typical position for mainline Christians (i.e. members of Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, etc) is that God really acted in history. The Bible was written by humans who experienced him. They understood their experience with God and with Jesus in terms of their own culture, so the Bible reflects that. That sounds like what you’re saying. If so, then in my church (Presbyterian Church USA) that would be considered quite normal.

I consider anyone whose primary religious commitment is following Jesus to be a Christian. But I’d point out that Jesus taught more than just being nice to people. He said God had sent him to reconcile men with God and to call them into God’s kingdom. He asked us to join him in that mission of reconciliation, and warned that God would hold us accountable for how we responded (though how literally he meant his pictures of judgement is debated).

CF has a narrower definition of Christian, but in the PCUSA you’re just asked if you accept Christ as Lord and savior.

Here's our most recent official statement of faith: A Brief Statement of Faith, though you're not required to sign that in order to be a member.

Yeah, I've been going to the Episcopal Church recently. I know I'm not the most radical person around on the Episcopalian spectrum (hello, Bishop Spong), but I think there's a big difference between always being Christian and eventually ending up theologically liberal and landing at atheism for a while before turning around. I'm not comfortable with the label yet after spending time in the anti-theist camp, and really not ready to start fighting with evangelicals over whether or not I qualify.

My problem is that once you've spent time as an atheist, you're not worried about any of the theological implications of the historical-critical approach. I'm willing to assume that the teachings themselves are historically reliable, since denying that is just skepticism for its own sake, but the doctrine of the Trinity starts looking like creative calculus based on the assumption that the authors of the Gospels meant everything completely literally, even if you accept that all three persons of it are both real and divine. (Just... not necessarily quite so distinct?) Every atonement theory except Moral Exemplar goes out the window since that's the only one that doesn't rely on a whole bunch of unprovable theological claims.

But yeah, all my issues are epistemological and metaphysical, and I really wish I didn't have them, since it's not fun to accept the Gospel and then turn around and reject almost the entirety of theology as conjecture. That said, I actually do see reconciliation as central--I look like a liberal right now, but I'm really just transitioning from atheist to Christian existentialism, and that's a whole different beast altogether. We're a cheerful lot that's obsessed with estrangement and ending up in your own living hell, so both of those concepts are easy for me. I just drop the Western version of heaven and hell entirely and start eyeing Eastern Orthodox soteriology instead.

So I feel like I'm in the odd position of accepting everything that matters, but none of it in quite the traditionally approved manner. I shall be hanging out with Tillich and Schleiermacher in the corner.

hedrick · Feb 28, 2017

Silmarien said:
So I feel like I'm in the odd position of accepting everything that matters, but none of it in quite the traditionally approved manner. I shall be hanging out with Tillich and Schleiermacher in the corner.

Sure. Not so unusual in the Episcopal Church.

SeekerOfChrist94 · Mar 22, 2017

Hi everyone. I go by the name of Seeker here on the forums. I grew up in a very conservative Christian household but have found myself agreeing with most of the liberal Christian topics, mostly the secular things. It's nice to see a more inclusive part of the forum.

CaDan · Apr 11, 2017

And I'm back for now.

Maitri · Apr 25, 2017

Hi ~ so happy to have found a liberal Catholic forum which seems pretty active. I am a Catholic, a Benedictine Oblate, affiliated with the Catholic ashram in India called Shantivanam. One of its founders was Father Bede Griffiths, who is such an inspiration to me.

I'm very open minded and non-critical/non-judgemental. My hope is to find a supportive and kind hearted community. God bless.

Berl · Jan 22, 2018

Howdy to all, I am from the typical christian background of the baby boomer generation. Dropped out at grade 9 and went to work, didn't give my christian background much attention in my youthful adventures until life forced a refocus on what was the purpose for this life with all its twist änd turns.
To condense it down to a micro version of a macro experiençe to where ''I am'' now, just picture a redneck literalist historic believer waiting for the Rapture (no offense intended just symbolic) that progressed to others doctrinal positions over my life's path back to "I am''. Revelational enĉounters along my wäy stoked the fire to search deeper into the outward/historic answers that only covered the inward eternal pearls buried in scripture I was searching for, all the fear based theology slowly lost its ability to hide those pearls of true liberty from my divine origination under temporal amnesia, once grasping this life is just a school for learning unconditional love, the only absolute King who has the right to rule within us all, and the Christ we are told we are in is also the one within us the kingdom of God making us the Christ of scripture on the way back to our inheritance from this far away land of duality.

HoneyBee · Feb 2, 2018

Hey there everyone! I'm so glad to have found a liberal Christian forum! I was afraid I might have been part of only a few on these message boards, lol.

Part of what scared me away from Christianity was the fact that there are so many conservative-minded folks out there who give Christianity a bad name. But now I know better and know that there are Christians out there who are liberal like me, are making this world a better place, and are accepting of people like me. So yeah... with all of that said, I'm glad to be here!

Ronaldus · Sep 5, 2018

Hello. I am new to CF but found this site via WWMC on a thread concerning Bible Studies (for Liberals). I have a general interest in Bible Study methodology and hope to use this forum to solicit ideas and previous methods.

Evenstar253 · Jan 1, 2019

I haven't been around since 2013-ish, but I thought I'd pop in and say hi. I see a couple familiar faces around. This place seems much quieter than it used to, but the forum has a lot more buttons than I remember. I know internet forums in general have lost traffic to social media in recent years. For as much time as I waste on Facebook, I do find myself missing "real" message boards.

I'm liberal politically and theologically. I'm a UCC member and was PCUSA before that. I spent 4 years at a conservative Christian college and realized I'm neither conservative nor Christian, as many define the term. These days, I'm somewhere between Christian and agnostic.

Hope everyone is doing well, and Happy New Year! I'll be around at least long enough to play with the buttons and emojis

Anglican Liberal · Oct 28, 2019

Hi! New member here. Was a conservative evangelical for a long time, but have become more and more liberal over time. Hoping to get advice and help and make some friends. I am in the UK and attend an anglican/methodist church.

Fantine · Sep 2, 2022

I've posted here a few times, not recently.

I have pretty much always been Catholic. When my parents were alive, I never explored other churches because I thought it would be too painful for me to change, especially since I had become a parent. By the time my parents passed away at ages 83 and 94 I was 64 myself and could not imagine changing.

I have always felt spiritually nourished by the more progressive movements in Catholicism. Richard Rohr. Louis Savary (Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius combined with the theology of Pierre DeChardin, SJ.)

I look at Catholicism and other spiritual paths as ways to support my walk with God and as ways to give back and share with others--through prayer, relationships, and, when needed, physical support.

I like Catholicism because, as Andrew Greeley says, here comes everybody. Millenia of tradition and so much tradition, literature, prayer, devotions, music that no one could embrace them all. I embrace the prayers and the people in Catholicism who enrich my life, I allow others to do the same.

Say Hi, Gracie (Newbies say hello thread)

Saved by Grace

Just a Christian

Just a Christian

User Gifted Supporter Status by Someone Else

Saved by Grace

Well-Known Member

Senior Veteran

Existentialist

Senior Veteran

Existentialist

Senior Veteran

Grandma ♡ June 26, 1942 - January 10, 2017 5:32 pm

I remember orange CF

New Member

Active Member

Prodigal Daughter

New Member

somewhere else

Member

Dona Quixote

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency