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Can a person be a liberal and...........

Judith

Judith

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I found these definitions on the net of a liberal;
adjective
1.open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.
2.(of education) concerned mainly with broadening a person's general knowledge and experience, rather than with technical or professional training.
3.(especially of an interpretation of a law) broadly construed or understood; not strictly literal or exact.

Is it possible to hold the beliefs of liberalism and be in harmony with Biblical teachings at the same time?
So my question is can a person be a liberal and be a Christian? Is a person who claims to be a Christian and a liberal claiming to be lost?
 
G

go2church

Active Member
Site Supporter
Yes, of course. Nothing in the definition is contrary to scripture. If you wanted, you could make the case, very easily, that according to your post criteria, Jesus was a liberal.
 
Salty

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
Another definition of liberal is "to give freely"

From a political point of view Liberals love to freely give away MY money.
 
P

PreachTony

Active Member
go2church said:
Yes, of course. Nothing in the definition is contrary to scripture. If you wanted, you could make the case, very easily, that according to your post criteria, Jesus was a liberal.
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I had friends and even professors in college tell me that Jesus would be a Democrat if He were in the US in this modern age. I don't see how He would support a party that openly supports killing babies in the womb or using the power of the government to take from one person and give to another.
 
G

gigabyte71

Member
Sure, why not? Would there have been a reformation if there hadn't been some who were will to throw aside traditional values? No one would ever change denominations if they weren't willing to throw away the traditional values of their denomination?
 
Judith

Judith

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
You all have confused this with politics. This is not about politics. This is about theology. Can a person hold to liberal views in theology and be a Christian? I say NO!
 
G

gigabyte71

Member
Judith said:
You all have confused this with politics. This is not about politics. This is about theology. Can a person hold to liberal views in theology and be a Christian? I say NO!
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You are letting the common usage of the word liberal in regards to Christianity with what the word liberal actually means. And my answer was NOT based on politics.
 
Zaac

Zaac

Well-Known Member
Judith said:
I found these definitions on the net of a liberal;
adjective
1.open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.
Click to expand...

Jesus.

2.(of education) concerned mainly with broadening a person's general knowledge and experience, rather than with technical or professional training.
Click to expand...

Would a good follower of Christ need technical or professional training?

3.(especially of an interpretation of a law) broadly construed or understood; not strictly literal or exact.
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I believe a good follower of Christ should be very conservative in dealing with what the words on the page say. Will save you a lot of trouble and confusion.

Is it possible to hold the beliefs of liberalism and be in harmony with Biblical teachings at the same time?
Click to expand...

Liberalism in comparison to what? There are a lot of folks on here who are politically conservative, but spiritually very liberal.

So my question is can a person be a liberal and be a Christian?
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A liberal when dealing with what?

Is a person who claims to be a Christian and a liberal claiming to be lost?
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Liberal in terms of WHAT?

Again, there are plenty of folks on here who are politically conservative but about as liberal as you can get when it comes to being aligned with the love of Christ.
 
R

Revmitchell

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Jesus was not a liberal. The pharisees were the liberals in Jesus day. They changed what God had always set as the standard. They were lost as the day is long.

You can be a liberal and be a Christian. It depends on how far one takes their liberalism.
 
G

go2church

Active Member
Site Supporter
I wasn't thinking in terms of politics only.

IF we are looking in terms of politics, it seems Jesus would have problems with both sides of the political spectrum.

I think of the Pharisees as the fundamentalists of the day.
 
V

Van

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
From my conservative side of the street, I find that liberals (because the label carries baggage) deny they are liberals. For example folks that advocate for fast and loose translations (NIV for example) deny it is a more liberal translation than say the NASB. As a class, liberals attack the meanings of words to rewrite what was into what suits their fancy.

A liberal would say homosexual activity is a natural right, and therefore any interpretation of scripture that says homosexual activity is sinful is mistaken. Now could a born anew believer hold such a view? Yes, because we disagree on all sorts of doctrine, so holding to the correct biblical doctrine in all cases seems to be beyond our ability.

But we are to defend our understanding within our local assembly and not tolerate those teaching what we believe is be destructive mistaken views. So I belong to a church that does not allow women to exercise spiritual authority over adult men. On the other hand, I belong to a Sunday School class comprised mostly of ladies, and often they share views that are enlightening to me, lighting my path to improved maturity.
 
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D

DHK

<b>Moderator</b>
go2church said:
I wasn't thinking in terms of politics only.

IF we are looking in terms of politics, it seems Jesus would have problems with both sides of the political spectrum.

I think of the Pharisees as the fundamentalists of the day.
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The liberals of today are those that deny the fundamentals of the faith.
Jesus condemned the Pharisees for the same thing that the liberals of today do.

[FONT=&quot]Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.[/FONT]
--They take away the knowledge that gives entrance to the kingdom of heaven. Neither will they enter in, nor will their followers. The key to entering in is the gospel that they deny.

The Pharisees were conservative, not fundamental. They were righteous, but it was a self-righteousness. They adhered to rites and ceremonies more than the matters of the heart.
You might consider them more like high Anglican or devout traditional Catholic.
 
righteousdude2

righteousdude2

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Judith said:
I found these definitions on the net of a liberal;
adjective
1.open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.
2.(of education) concerned mainly with broadening a person's general knowledge and experience, rather than with technical or professional training.
3.(especially of an interpretation of a law) broadly construed or understood; not strictly literal or exact.

Is it possible to hold the beliefs of liberalism and be in harmony with Biblical teachings at the same time?
So my question is can a person be a liberal and be a Christian? Is a person who claims to be a Christian and a liberal claiming to be lost?
Click to expand...


Not in my church :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
 
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