Progressive Christianity and its difference with liberalism

[Lothar's son]

Hi folks, it seems to be a nice forum, I'm glad to have discovered it!

 

 

Here, I want to go into the differences between progressive and conservative Christianity (and why that matter).

 

 

I hope to convey the feeling that you don't have to make a choice between fundamentalism and liberalism (or atheism for that matter).

 

 

Comments and critiques are more than welcome :=)

 

 

Lovely greetings from Lorraine (France).

[George]

Hi folks, it seems to be a nice forum, I'm glad to have discovered it!

 

 

Here, I want to go into the differences between progressive and conservative Christianity (and why that matter).

 

 

 

I hope to convey the feeling that you don't have to make a choice between fundamentalism and liberalism (or atheism for that matter).

 

 

Comments and critiques are more than welcome :=)

 

 

Lovely greetings from Lorraine (France).

Shalom Lorraine,

 

First of all, welcome to the boards.     I read your blog post, and my one question would be simply this.  If the Bible declares, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) it appears that God does not change (I could post bunch of passages but you get my drift.  )  Wouldn't it seem that a "changing" Christianity -- is resulting more in what the Bible says will take place in the last days, that a "falling away (2 Thes 2:3, 1 Tim 4:1, Matthew 24:12-13) is taking place as the Bible says is to happen?

 

In a "progressive" Christianity, is there a deeper sense of seeking holiness, righteousness, and purity?  Or simply a means to try and fit "their view" of Christianity in their current worldview?

 

Just some food for thought,

 

Your brother in the Lord with much agape love,

 

George

[~candice~]

Hi Lorraine,

 

I think you will find that this will be a very hot topic around here.

 

Can you please explain how we don't need to choose between fundamentalism and atheism? How can you be a fundamentalist Christian and atheist at the same time?

 

I personally don't share the same kind of approach to faith that you do - I believe the bible, and in miracles, a real physical resurrection from the dead, the afterlife, in inerrancy etc. I guess I would admit to a large degree of concern over the progressive approach.

 

I am curious to know how you can have any certainty that you have truth when Christianity "evolves"?

 

Will be interesting to see how this pans out .

[MorningGlory]

Hi folks, it seems to be a nice forum, I'm glad to have discovered it!

 

 

Here, I want to go into the differences between progressive and conservative Christianity (and why that matter).

 

 

 

I hope to convey the feeling that you don't have to make a choice between fundamentalism and liberalism (or atheism for that matter).

 

 

Comments and critiques are more than welcome :=)

 

 

Lovely greetings from Lorraine (France).

 

 

Hi, Lothar's Son, and welcome to Worthy.     I read your thoughts on changing Christianity and, with all due respect, I totally disagree.  God is eternal, His word is eternal and the Bible is inerrant.  One CANNOT be a believer unless he/she accepts God as unchanging and His word  as the blueprint to follow.  It really IS that simple. 

[Guest]

Welcome~!

 

~

 

Here, I want to go into the differences between progressive and conservative Christianity (and why that matter).

 

~

 

Christianity

 

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Mark 8:34

 

Or The Rest

 

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 John 2:15-17

 

~

 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

[Sevenseas]

Hi there Lothar's Son...funny you posted this.  Yesterday I came across a website/blog that made for some interesting reading.

 

I was actually looking for something else, but this caught my eye.  "The Christian Left"  Didn't know there was one.  Might quote from that site depending on how this thread develops.

 

I hope to convey the feeling that you don't have to make a choice between fundamentalism and liberalism (or atheism for that matter).

 

 

May I ask why you believe someone might have to make a choice with regards to your definitions above please?  and why atheism is included?

 

You have defined what some call the 'emergent church' as progressive.  I'm including a defintion of the word progressive as it really can be a very 'activist' type of word.

 

I'm using the word 'activist' in the sense of ongoing change and not in a political sense

 

pro·gres·sive   [pruh-gres-iv]  Show IPA

adjective

1.favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintainthings as they are, especially in political matters: a progressive mayor.

2.making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas,new or experimental methods, etc.: a progressive community.

3.characterized by such progress, or by continuous improvement.

4.( initial capital letter ) of or pertaining to any of the Progressive parties in politics.

5.going forward or onward; passing successively from one member of a series to the next; proceedingstep by step.

Edited August 3, 2013 by GoldenEagle
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[JDavis]

Welcome aboard Lothar's Son, I hope you are made to feel welcome.

 

You blog post is filled with so many interesting ideas that you might get hit from all sides with people asking for clarification of ideas.

 

Liberals believe  that miracles are impossible (or at the very least extremely unlikely) and that we should interpret the resurrection as a psychological experience of the first disciples

 

 

This is the first thing that caught my eye.  Why do people have such a hard time with miracles?  

Edited August 3, 2013 by GoldenEagle
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[Lothar's son]

Hi thank you very much for your answers :=)

 

 

As a progressive Christian, I don't base my faith on an allegedly inerrant Bible, which I view as a human document about God like the writings of the early church father or C.S. Lewis. 

 

There are things which unchangeably define Christianity: God exists, He is perfectly good, he left us free choice and we turned away from Him. He invites us to repent and to follow Him. Through the life, death and ressurection of Jesus he showed us ultimately His true nature. 

 

I know it is quite challenging to defend one's faith in general, I know there are many possible objections, which I'm going to go into on my blog in the future. 

 

 

I don't identify myself as "emergent" because I'm no postmodern by anystretch and do believe in objective truth. 

 

 

It's certainly true God is always the same, but did he revealed Himself perfectly in a written manner?

 

 

For evangelicals, it might seem obvious, but other Christians find that much more dubious. 

 

Progressive means getting closer to God's perfection, which means for instance, recognizing that the killing of babies through soldiers (like in the book of Joshua) is ungodly. 

 

 

[Sevenseas]

Well hi again Lothar....

 

I had some questions...I find that helps to understand what someone is saying....

 

Do you suppose you might answer them please?  

 

I also posted the meaning of the word 'progressive'

 

If I may, it seems to me that the very word when applied to scripture, seeks to define God by human understanding...what do you make of that?  Another question...well, it would help

if you would answer...thanks

 

Oh no...another question....how do you define a Christian?  What is YOUR definition and I would like to know as evangelicals and other mainstream Christians find themselves defined

by progressives and or liberals...so, it would be interesting to try and understand what you define as a Christian....and here's another thought....are you not using the definition at all?

[nebula]

Here, I want to go into the differences between progressive and conservative Christianity (and why that matter).

 

 

I am puzzled by this question you have raised -

 

"But they generally beg the question: if we found out that the God of an inerrant Bible is not only not superior to our greatest, most beautiful ethical ideas, but infinitely inferior to them and (grating for the sake of the argument) that this being is real, why should we worship him? And why should we call him God anyway?"

 

How can we short-lived mortal humans ever claim to have achieved superior ethical ideas to our eternal Maker?