getting beyond the "liberal" and "conservative" labels

Okay, this is a long entry, but I think it's worth it...

I'm in the best place and the worst place for a guy who follows Christ to be. What's that place? Well, I describe it like this... I'm constantly thinking about and through what I believe, trying [with God's help] to bring all that I am into conformity to the biblical witness. That is, I want my faith to be consistent with Scripture. Here's the rub. It's hard.

One of the most ironic dynamics to come out of the Church [and culture, for that matter] in the modern age was taking the use of labels to a new high. The modern age didn't invent labels. They're probably as old as prostitution. But it seemingly perfected them. I mean, in fact, the use of such terms as "liberal" and "conservative". I believe it was men such as Hobbes and Locke who really got them going in the political jingo of their times. "Liberal" was good - represented a thinking person who was not going to be kept under the boot of the "conservative" - bad, and often representative of either the status quo, if not monarchy outright. Today, in the good ole U.S. of A., the terms have both narrowed and broadened. They have become derisive and polemical. Ironically, each side is proud to wear the label each owns, and is equally proud not be of the other, all of this inspite of the polemics involved.

Unfortunately, somewhere in the 19th century, it seems these labels started making their way into the Church, at least the Protestant wing. "Liberal" meant anyone who sought to examine the depths of the biblical witness to the point of what was popularly known as demythologizing the Bible, so as to find the so-called "historical Jesus." "Conservative" on the other hand came to be known as the defender of the authoratative witness of Scripture. Early on in the 20th century, as "liberals" began to dominate the old, main line denominations, "conservatives" reacted and responded in various ways, much of which might be described as the "fundamentalist" movement, which came up with a spiritual litmus test of sorts to determine who was a Christian and who was a liberal. Answering yes to a variety of questions such as believing in the virgin birth of Jesus, and believing that Scripture is inerrant and inspired meant that you were a true believer. Answering no meant that you were one of them, a liberal, and of questionable spirituality. Sadly, "liberals" because of their fear of bible as myth, they reduced Christianity to what came to be known as the social gospel - Jesus as the good, moral example who reached out and helped people. Even more sadly, "conservatives/fundamentalists" reacted by seeing the social gospel as suspect, a watering down of the Truth, and merely concentrated their interpretation of the bible as mere assent to the propositions of truth and a number of external behaviors toward a unified conformity. Ironically, both sides were rooted in the modernist problem of thinking that as people, we could understand the mysteries of the universe [and of God], and that which we could not understand, or scientifically explain, was just myth. True Christianity was reduced to either social outreach or propositional truth. You either agreed with it, or you rejected it. There was no room in the middle for the tension of mystery.

Today, the Church still bandies such labels around. Here's my problem. I'm tired of the labels, "liberal" and "conservative". I think they are misleading and lead us away from the point of our faith engaging the world. I wish we would just do away with them. But here's the otherside of my problem. I still believe in labels, of sorts. My labels have to do with inside the Church. You're either a "believer" or a "follower" of Christ, or you're a "heretic." I want to get away from labels. But I can't. I think moving to this new set of labels is at least more honest. I know a lot of "conservatives" who think "liberals" are really just "heretics."

What I don't understand is why we just don't come out and say what we think. I mean really. There are people in the Church who struggle to believe all of the stuff about miracles. Does that put them outside of Christian fellowship? I guess if they can't accept the ultimate miracle, that Jesus was the God incarnate, and was crucified, died, buried, and raised from the dead by the power of God, there's a rub. If any church is teaching that you can be a "Christian" and not believe in that, well, shame on you. But can we not teach that God is bigger than our doubts or our confusion for that matter? We have to get over the hang ups of forcing people to not wrestle with their confusion or get over their doubts and just believe. Jesus didn't beat Thomas upside the head and call him, "liberal" because Thomas said he wouldn't believe Jesus had really been resurrected unless he saw the wounds for himself and touched them with his own hands. Jesus just showed up and called him on it. Okay, you say, Jesus isn't just going to materialize in our churches on Sundays and challenge the unbelieving among us to raise their hands and reach out and touch Him. But maybe, for those of us who are "believers" and "followers", we should concentrate on being the body, carrying those wounds on ourselves, showing to everyone within and outside of the Church that Christ did die, and was raised to new life through the power of God.

I guess the labels are helpful. They certainly help us demarcate politics and religion. They help us assign positions to people. They help us know who's "in" and who's "out." I'm being sarcastic, at least about their ultimately being helpful. In the end, labels take our focus off God, as the center of our faith, and as the center of our life. Labels, whether they be "liberal" or "conservative" end up putting us in an untenable position where we're stuck in the game of comparisons with others. Jesus clearly said this is foolish and ridiculous [see the parable of the tax collector and the pharisee - Luke 18:9-14]. I can always find others who are far more "liberal" than I; by the same token, there's most assuredly someone out there who is more "conservative" that I am, and who could (and proudly would) point the finger at me and decry me as "liberal"!

Reality is, I don't know what I am any more, except to say, I am a "believer" and "follower" of Jesus Christ, as best I can, and with God's help. These are the labels I am most comfortable with wearing; at least trying to fit into.

How about you???