Christian Theology in a box or as a road sign?

Christian Theology, Liberal or Conservative?

How do I define Conservative Christian Theology? Since Theology is a system of interconnected beliefs, I will begin my discussion of Christian Theology by examining a single point. The Christian’s view of the bible. From my point of view as a Conservative Christian (from the last several days of studying both Liberal and Conservative Christianity, there is little doubt that I would be classified as conservative), I will focus on one of its pillars. The Conservative Christian’s high regard of Biblical Authority over all areas of one’s Christian experience. Experience in salvation by each individual. Experience in the expression of the gospel through effort after salvation. All Christian experience should lead to the glorification of God.

If a religious or spiritual experience does not lead to the glorification of God, It is worthless. The underlying foundation of Biblical Authority is the belief that the words of scripture originate and are sustained by Almighty God (Inerrant, Infallible, & Sufficient). And finally, the emphasis of Jesus Christ, as the risen Messiah (the Only One).

In looking at the difference between Liberal and Conservative Christian Theology over the past several days one thing really stands out. The way a person answers, how do I view the bible? This single question divides people. It marks them as either Liberal or Conservative.

My working definition of liberal Christian Theology follows. A Liberal view of the bible leads to liberal Theology. A Liberal Christian will see the Bible as God’s word in function, but crave new and fresh ways to look at its pages. This same individual sees the bible as a series of narratives that explain or symbolize Christian understanding of reality.

The Liberal continues with the view of the bible as being composed of a collection of many human authors and its words describe their beliefs and feelings about God while they were writing them. All their writings should be looked at within the historical and cultural context as a point of view or perception of man. It is not a collection of factual statements or history.

According to them one does not discover truth from reading the bible, but one can create models or processes based on the concepts presented within the bible which can then be used to find truth which will be of great benefit in understanding one’s self, relating to others, and in knowledge of God. Love the Lord. Love your neighbor. Feed the hungry. Visit the sick. A collection of warm and fuzzy notions to add to one’s personal treasure box of wisdom.

An image that I would use to describe a Liberal Christians view of scripture would be that of a box. The Liberal Christian sees the bible as putting an infinite God into a box, and therefore more can be learned about God from outside the box or words of the Bible than from continuous examination of the box.

The bible to many of them is nothing more than a pamphlet, God for dummies. There are other more enlightened and sophisticated ways to discover more about God and even about ourselves. Fixation on the box, the bible, limits the ways one can experience God.

This contrasts to the Conservative Christians view of the bible which I will describe as a road sign. They see the Bible as the infinite God using words to point to the narrow way which is more than a journey of discovery, learning more about God and ourselves, but also leads them to the most desirable destination. The place where God is.

Next I will continue with discussing my view of the Bible in greater detail. A view that most would consider an important element of Conservative Christian Theology.

Next Step

In search of my promised land

Why did I interrupt my discussion of Theology to insert a post about politicians and the lies they tell. Trust or lack of trust are connected to my “conservative” theology (Perhaps a future discussion of how I define conservative theology is coming soon). At the intersection of my life right now both are woven or knitted together. Without theology or truth about God and His revelation, where can anyone stand that is not sand? and standing on the rock alone is without gain absent from relationship or trust in God and others?

I find myself at a rest stop in my journey of discovery. And the next step, in my journey is still a mystery. I have not put that next foot forward yet, because the next destination on my journey is unknown. But there is value in the preparations, I make before taking that next step.

Father Abraham packed his possession and traveled to his promised land. It was not only a journey of distance but also of time. Did he know the final destination or even any of the intermediate stops before he left? No. Yet he stepped out by faith setting each foot in front of the other until he arrived at his destination. For as believers we walk by faith, not by sight.

Did he know that his journey would take him through Egypt beyond his final stopping place? Or that it would include breaking fellowship with his nephew? or in giving away the fertile valley of easy living in exchange for the rugged life upon the hill tops of the Land of Canaan? Or in the waiting of his heir to be miraculously born when he was nearly a century old? Faith is sometimes not even knowing the questions beforehand, that is not saying anything at all about the answers.

Near the end, he stood on the mountain top with his son of promise tied and ready to offer him as a sacrifice in obedience upon an altar. A picture of our Heavenly Father offering His Beloved Son on top of that same hill centuries later. Abraham did not have to kill his son, because God would kill His Only Begotten. A death to appease His wrath against sin. A suffering by our Redeemer, so we could live in the everlasting presence of our Creator.

The journey for Abraham was long and many times he wandered from the path the Lord had set before him. Yet it was accounted righteousness to Abraham because of his faith. For the just walk by faith. May I also walk by the same faith that led Father Abraham to his promise land, So I can take those steps into my promised land.

What lesson is there in this narrative for me? I have all ready taken the first steps in my life’s journey. But the next one is difficult to find. I ask myself, why? So I listen to words of my Lord, once again. “Strength will rise with those who wait upon the Lord.” The next step must require much or why would so much waiting and strength be needed in my reservoir for it?

Yet I remain in my spiritual discipline of reading the bible and praying. I trust God that the answer will come. The question is where is my promised land, the place called home. Where, is it exactly? I know it is in or near Cache Valley, but exactly where within this narrow twenty mile valley it is–I do not know. God willing, spring will bring an answer.

As important as the place is, what of ministry? Part of that promise land is ministry to others? The obvious ministry to my wife and children remains no matter where home is. But beyond that God given ministry to family, what works should flow from my faith? God willing, I hope it would be bible teaching in some form.

Presidential Lies

President Bush was called a liar for most of his presidency by many Democratic politicians some Senators and Representatives. How is that when one Republican politician calls President Obama a liar, he is disciplined by a vote in the house after apologizing to the President, and now there is the charge of racism being added by another former Democratic President. It is not race, it is ideology. It is not the color of skin, It is the political position that President Obama has. A position that government needs to have more control over its people and not be limited in what it has the power to do. Health care is a great symbol of this divide.

Obama believes government should guarantee health care insurance for everyone, I and many others do not believe that government should guarantee health care insurance for everyone. Yes, the government should make sure that everyone has emergency health care and they all ready do that, but to force everyone to have health care insurance is not a function government should be involved in. Believe it or not, not everyone needs to have health care insurance. If you are young, single, and healthy why should you spend hundreds of dollars a month for health insurance you don’t really need?

And why should I help pay the insurance premiums for Mr. Smith in Kansas or Mrs. Jones in California that has smoked two packs of cigarettes or is an alcoholic both with failing health because of bad choices they have made. Why should I pay extra for their health care? Money I view as being stolen from me by government that I could use for my own family. I sure that is what many other Americans are thinking, as well. And when you add in government funding abortions, why should I allow government to extort my money to pay for the murder of innocent life?

In my view the pursuit of universal health care by government is one of the final straws of Secular Government’s attempt to replace God, and to become god for the people. It is essentially saying, that government will heal you of all your health problems trust in government they will take care of you. It is road I believe America should not take.

Back to the current issue of trust. What about forgiveness by the other Democrats, the ones in the House and Senate, the ones this Representative works with? Why do the Democrats need their pound of flesh? Is there no trust between the two sides any more? I think there is no trust left between the two sides. I would say that the last time America was so divided was in the years before the Civil War.

Unity? One nation under God? That is the problem, under God. When one side the Democrats has waged a campaign to remove the under God from America, and the other side the Republicans let them without a fight. Where does that leave me? Someone who only believes in America when it is under God. Without God, why would I want to be part of America, the giant secular state? It does not matter who is in charge, Democrats or Republicans, it does not matter without God. By God I mean the Christian God revealed to us in the Bible.

This is why I am no longer either Republican or Democrat. I have been convinced by the Democrats that all Republicans are liars after seven years of relentless attacks against the Republicans while George Bush was president. And now the Republicans have convinced me that Barrack Obama is a liar, not too hard after Obama’s presidential campaign and all the promises he has all ready broken. This distrust of the words spoken extends to other Democratic politicians.

That is why, I have aligned with The Constitution Party. A truly conservative party with strong Christian values.

Light and Dark Theology

I do not believe in gray, either you are in the light or in the dark. There is nothing that is gray. If you are in the dark, there is no light. If you are in the light there is no darkness. How do you draw a boundary between the darkness and the light? Is it a fine line? Or a spectrum? Well for light there is the rainbow spectrum of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo, Blue, and Violet. Yet each of these colors are all light.

There is also a matter of measuring the intensity of the light usually in watts. Does a 40 watt bulb light bring light into a room just like a 150 watt bulb? Once the light is on, is the room then light and no longer dark regardless of the intensity of light?

That is how I look at the room, light and dark do not coexist, you are either in a room that is in the light or in a room that is not in light, which is the dark.

As it relates to Theology, the study of God, which yields knowledge about God that should spur one toward wisdom, the application of that knowledge. Either the bible is in the light and teaches about God or in the dark and distorts God? It is either inerrant and infallible in all its content or it is not? Either the bible is true or it is not true? It can not be halfway true. Every half truth is a lie. So why trust any of it? Or which part do I trust?

The Liberty Christians have in Christ, is living in the light. There is no darkness in the liberty Christ gives. Christ liberates from sin and death, the expressions of darkness. So Christian Liberty is not living in gray areas and light areas. It is only living in the light.

If it is gray, that is darkness. My paraphrase of James 2:10 “If you break even one point of the law, you are guilty of all.” For me, the Bible is teaching that gray is a rational way to ignore a little darkness or sin, and gray is darkness and not light.