Christian liberals vs. Christian conservatives
Hi,
Nathan Nelson posted these questions to answer from his blog, Here I Stand and I will do so on my blog below:
1. What is good about Christian liberalism?
Christian liberalism is good when it encourages change in the Church that is not against the authentic teachings of Christ and the Bible. Liberalism is a call to change, to reform and to make things better (in liberals' minds) in any context be it Christianity, politics or even baseball. Examples of good Christian liberalism are abolition of slavery, the end of Church run Political states ( i.e. Holy Roman Empire) and Vatican II. As humans evolve and grow, change will always be needed and liberals will probably be the ones that first come up with the ideas (though they probably will have to be tempered by guess who? conservatives).
2. What is bad about Christian liberalism?
Christian liberalism is bad when it encourages change in the Church either against the authentic teachings of Christ and the Bible (I say authentic teachings because everyone has their own opinion on what the teachings of Christ are, but authentic teachings are the teachings that have been declared by either the magisterium of the Church or by the Holy Spirit to the whole Church - not someone's own personal prophecy) or that is based only on emotional or sinful desires. I think a liberal idea can be bad at one point in time since it could be against the current authentic teaching and then that same idea can be good later because I do believe the Holy Spirit can enlighten the entire body (or at least more of the body :) and show the Church that the liberal idea or change is good and right. But I do believe a lot of liberal ideas are started because of selfishness or pride or lust and anytime that happens, the liberalism is bad.
3. What do you think would make for a more authentic Christian liberalism?
Christian liberalism could be more authentic if the liberal ideas and beliefs were prayed about, were discussed within the liberal community and presented to the entire body with regards to traditions of the Church and why these traditions should be changed.
4. What one thing would you like Christian liberals to understand better?
I would like Christian liberals to understand that authentic change should not take place
quickly, any good change especially for something as old as Christianity will take a while to be manifested and that isn't a slam against liberalism, it is the proper way. I realize that means that some may not live to see the change take place, but that is life.
5. What is good about Christian conservatism?
Christian conservatism is good when it upholds and protects the authentic teachings of the Church as presently understood. It is good when it demands that liberal ideas be tempered against traditions and years of teachings. Liberalism tends to want everything changed at once even when trying to reform a small portion of Christianity, conservatives are necessary to hold the changes back until they are seen as necessary or part of the authentic teaching of Jesus - usually by the Holy Spirit showing the majority of the Body of Christ that the change needs to occur.
6. What is bad about Christian conservatism?
Christian conservatism is bad when it tries to resist change that is authentic because of a resistance to change. Most conservatives don't like change and won't want to change even if the change is shown by the Holy Spirit to be good for the Body. Also conservatism is bad when it holds onto traditions and teachings due to emotional or sinful desires, just the opposite of bad liberalism.
7. What do you think would make for a more authentic Christian conservatism?
A more authentic Christian conservatism would be possible if liberalism wasn't demonized but seen as a positive force that needs tempering or steering. One example of this is the Catholic church's teaching of Humanae Vitae and also with homosexuality. Humanae Vitae allowed for a liberal thought of that sex is good and should be encouraged and enjoyed by both married partners but it tempered the liberal beliefs of contraception and outside fertilization.
Also with homosexuality, the Church has embraced the belief that homosexual people are not bad or evil people, it is only the homosexual act that is bad. It is too easy for conservatives to bash liberals (I know I fall into that trap) instead of just continuing to state the teachings that show some liberal ideas as not good ideas.
8. What one thing would you like Christian conservatives to understand better?
See answer to question 7.
9. Do you have a problem with "liberal" and "conservative" in the Church? If so, please explain, and please explain how you think that diversity of opinion should be better presented in the Church.
The only problem I have with liberal and conservative is that liberals have been allowed to
change the liturgy without doing the above steps I have shown - bishops and pastors have allowed liturgical changes in certain parishes that have not been fully thought out and are merely experiments, I don't think the Mass is a place for experiments against authentic teachings. Diversity of opinion should be discussed two ways, one is correspondence to those you want to enlighten, say the pastor or bishop or theologian and this correspondence can be two ways and can help a liberal or conservative see why their stance is with or not with Church teaching and also, I believe "town hall" meetings could be possible as long as any liberal or conservative ideas outside of authentic Church teaching is defined as such and that an opportunity for someone to give the authentic teaching who is qualified to do so is given. I am disgusted when liberal groups give a talk and they try to persuade people that their point of view is authentic teaching without any regards to giving the other side of the discussion. Liberals should not be afraid to tell the current teaching to people in a dignified respectful manner. I would think people would be much more willing and impressed to hear a liberal idea that states why it is better than authentic teaching - when the authentic teaching is given in respect but then the new change is shown to make the teaching better.
10. What do you have to say that you think I should hear and listen to?
The Church's teachings are hundreds of years old, the Church does not hate liberals and their ideas, it only seeks the truth (and both liberals and conservatives have the truth, truth is a difficult concept for people but not for God). Also, the Body of Christ is comprised of sinners, both conservative sinners and liberal sinners, and therefore, feelings are going to be hurt, statements are going to be made and things are going to be done that will be sinful and hurtful and forgiveness is something we all need to strive for.
posted by Eric Bateman @ 12:29 PM
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