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Featured "CONSERVATIVE" Christian vs "LIBERAL" Christian

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Zaac, Jul 21, 2014.

  1. Zaac

    Zaac Well-Known Member

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    How on earth did those very politicized terms come to be used to describe followers of Christ?

    Shouldn't truly conservative Christianity be about Christ and holding to His teachings and behavior rather than politics?
     
  2. pk4life

    pk4life Member

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    I don't really have a problem if somebody wants to label themselves one way or the other.

    I take exception when somebody wants to label me one way or the other.

    My political beliefs are easily defined as "conservative". But you speak with a certain crowd, and they're liable to throw the "liberal" tag around, based on minor disagreements.
     
  3. Zaac

    Zaac Well-Known Member

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    Indeed. But it seems, at least on this board,and often in the evangelical church, that the term "liberal" is almost used as a prejorative while the folks claiming to be "conservative" are very non-conservative when it comes to acting with the love of Christ.

    If you're a conservative Christian, IMO, you should be striving to act and love more like Christ and looking to eternity as opposed to this world.

    The Pharisees were "politically conservative" when it came to obeying the law. But they were about as far away as could be imagined from being aligned with loving people the way that Christ loved people.
     
  4. Mrs.Owl

    Mrs.Owl New Member

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    I try not to use the terms when talking about other Christians who are serving the Lord and have different personal standards.

    To me, "Conservative" and "Liberal" are most important when they apply to taking life, marriage, how the Gospel is preached, how Israel is treated, and how we worship the Lord.

    But who cares if being Christlike is given political terms?
    I don't mind being labeled, and we shouldn't let it offend us. I'm sure Paul was given many labels. He was caught in political conflict because he was both Jew and Roman, and he switched from being a popular Christian hater to being sold out for Christ.
     
  5. thisnumbersdisconnected

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    Only someone who is primarily politically oriented, rather than Christ oriented, would leap to the erroneous conclusion that the term when used toward Christians and Christian theology, has any political connotation whatsoever.

    Ironically, the OP who suggests such a connection is guilty of accusing other Christians on this board of the very fault he displays with the beginning of this thread.

    At stake in the debate the "liberal Christian" wants to start with those they label "conservative Christians" -- I can't honestly say I've ever labeled myself thus, or known anyone who does -- are the miracles of the Bible. The theology of the "liberal Christian" demands they deny those miracles.

    They seem utterly clueless to the fact that, if there are no miracles, there is no Christianity.

    The resurrection of Jesus Christ is foundational to the Christian faith. If the miracles in the Bible are not true, the human authors of Scriptures were liars. They then sit in the place of the false prophets they and Jesus warned us about. In effect, then, they would have warned us about themselves. How is that possible?

    God gave us the Bible for the purpose of revealing Himself and guiding us through life and eternity. If He allowed it to be filled with myths, lies, half-truths, and misconceptions, how could He be a God worthy to believe, worship and follow? Would it not be cruel, twisted, and ungodly of Him to proclaim who He is and how He relates to us, then deny it all by His inability to act in the character He claims to have?

    If God is who the Bible says He is -- and He is -- He is perfectly holy, just, righteous, gracious, loving, and merciful. Giving us an error-filled book would not agree with any of those attributes.

    Liberal Christianity essentially wants to pick and choose which parts of the Bible are from God. They accept ...
    James 1, NASB
    27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress ...
    ... while ignoring the rest of the verse ...
    ... and to keep one's self unstained by the world.
    They reject
    John 14
    6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
    But they love to accept and repeat ...
    John 4
    8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
    I can’t live my life like that. If the instruction manual is faulty, why should I bother following His instructions? If I cannot trust God’s Word to be trustworthy and infallible why should I care what it says?

    That is where liberal Christianity goes wrong. It has nothing to do with being a political liberal. It has everything to do with a wrong perception and attitude toward God and His word. Liberal Christianity destroys the very foundation of Christianity -– the Word of God. Liberal Christianity essentially tells us to follow a book (or at least certain parts of a book) that they themselves do not believe in.
     
    #5 thisnumbersdisconnected, Jul 21, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 21, 2014
  6. Zaac

    Zaac Well-Known Member

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    Scripture tells us If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. 1 John 2:4-6

    So if someone says they believe in and follow Christ, we should expect them to obey and live as Jesus did.

    So it would be the utmost of liberal Christianity to not love Christ with everything and to also love our neighbors as ourselves?

    After all if someone believes in something they should be following it, right?
     
  7. Zaac

    Zaac Well-Known Member

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    It doesn't offend me Mrs. Owl. Welcome to the board. [​IMG]. But the words are tossed around on this board and throughout the church with the intent that one be seen as a bad thing and the other a good thing.
     
  8. thisnumbersdisconnected

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    Loving our neighbor does not mean ignoring the fact he is lying in a ditch, fearing to do so would make him feel stupid.

    Loving our neighbor does not mean pointing out errors in his lifestyle for fear doing so would be "judging him."

    Loving our God does not mean accepting only His love without being willing to be disciplined, molded and shaped by Him through His word.

    Loving our God means taking Him at His word, not only the parts of His word that don't make us uncomfortable, or that don't convict us.
     
  9. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    The term was probably coined by the media after Jerry Falwell and Ralph Reed started the Moral Majority. The media decided to call Christians that held to conservative political ideals (i.e. pro-life, 2nd amendment, marriage between man and a woman) as Conservative Christians.

    Yes. But realize that you are describing two different things here. "Conservative Christians" are Christians that as a political bloc hold to conservative ideals. "Conservative Christianity" would be a theological stance that falls in the orthodoxy of historical Christianity and follows the fundamentals of the faith.
     
  10. preachinjesus

    preachinjesus Well-Known Member
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    Labels are libels...but you gotta have them most of the time.

    Around here I've been called a liberal for a long time. On another board, I'm known as the fundamentalist. Both boards are Christian ministry boards.

    One man's liberal is another's fundamentalist. Or so the saying goes.
     
  11. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    It appears that most on this thread are using C vs L in a political sense.

    Well, C vs L can also be use in a theological sense as well.
    For example - a person may deny the divinity of Christ and the authority of scripture.

    Granted -a liberal theology may also give way to liberal politics as well.
     
    #11 Salty, Jul 21, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 21, 2014
  12. go2church

    go2church Active Member
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    Labels only stick if you let them. What someone outside your context (influence) thinks is really useless. What is important is what do the people closest to you, the people you do life with, think? Being overly concerned with what others think is in my experience an indication of a lack of confidence and comfort in who you are, who God is making you.
     
  13. Mrs.Owl

    Mrs.Owl New Member

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    True, and its pretty subjective...everyone's personal standards seem to dictate what is what. For example, skirts only folks often consider pants liberal, while pant wearers may consider strapless dresses liberal...while each one of them may indeed be trying to live for the Lord, but simply place higher importance on different things.

    And thanks for the welcome! ^_^
     
  14. thisnumbersdisconnected

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    .
    I too welcome you to BB. Nice to have new members.
    That really doesn't begin to touch on the issues that actually define "liberal" vs. "conservative" Christian theology. Those are peripheral social issues. They have no bearing on the belief concepts of certain veins of theological thought
     
  15. Mrs.Owl

    Mrs.Owl New Member

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    Well thankyou! :)

    And I agree, but I was replying to the original post, before theology was brought in:

     
  16. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    Anyone who believes the lables conservative and liberal are only political labels are just plain ignorant. There are those who are on this board who are theological conservatives and political liberals and vica versa.

    Of course trying to pit the political against Jesus in order to demonize it is no different than they way they are claiming to be portrayed. Drop the hypocrisy.
     
  17. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    Maybe then ....

    ... we should call the liberal believers (those who tend to support same-sex marriage, demonstrate compassion over enforcing our laws, and siding with political liberals) regular believers .... and those who do not try to mix politics with relationship with the Father (now called conservatives) supreme/ethal believers? Kind of like the differences in type of gasoline at the pumps :smilewinkgrin::smilewinkgrin:


    Look, the truth is, there are believers who belong to the Democratic party, and those folks are considered to be liberals! There are believers who belong to the Republican, and or, like me, the Tea Party, and we tend to be more conservative!

    Maybe, just maybe the labels of liberal and conservative come from one's political party affiliation, and the fact that their take on the Bible almost always follows the liberal or conservative mind sets!
     
  18. RLBosley

    RLBosley Active Member

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    The terms liberal or conservative can be useful when referring to theological convictions (or lack of) if it is used in a rational way. Several here simply apply the term liberal to anyone they disagree with.
     
  19. Zaac

    Zaac Well-Known Member

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    :thumbs: Yep.
     
  20. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    That is a good point!

    Many today have a huge lack of understanding of theolgoy and the applicaton thereof in their life. Great point!
     
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