Liberalism and Conservatism

I am never sure how to answer someone when I am asked if I am liberal or conservative since the definition of these terms, like many things in our lives, is not so easily accepted by all. In my thinking, I want to say "I am probably one of the most conservative people you will ever meet" and when I do, the expression on faces will often being saying "what planet are you from." Given a chance in the right circumstances, people discover I want the rules and if rules exist then I want no deviation from the rules. This is so bad, I find it difficult to find members of my family who will play Monopoly with me. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, this past year, the family did play Monopoly and as expected we got into a discussion over being sent to "GO", collecting $200 and then passing "GO" and collecting $200 more! Take a look at the rules to Monopoly and you will see how easy it is to get into an argument over this detail.

The church congregations of my youth viewed worship time in much the same light as I view the game Monopoly. Those who taught me the bible were concerned with my spiritual awakening to the need of Jesus for salvation and they poured over the scriptures daily trying to make sure every detail was in place for my walk down the narrow path. I was instructed on how many would walk this path and yet few of those setting out would actually be received into Heaven on judgment day. I was led to believe the path was so narrow only a few would get it right and the rest of civilization, even those with a heart close to God like King David, would burn in the fires of hell. I have even been told by members of my own fellowship, how David, the man after God's own heart, will also perish in the fires of hell for not being right! The seemingly obvious question coming to my mind when hearing this is "where do these people get this view?"

The reason it is hard for me to get family members to play Monopoly is because I have a terrible time trying to control my temper when rules are adjusted by those playing to accommodate their likes and dislikes. In much the same way, I have heard of those who are hurt, upset, frustrated, etc., with me writing about my past and current spiritual growth. While I do not believe our walk with Christ can be compared to a game of Monopoly, the illustration shows (in my mind) the reality of what has taken place in our lives. I was taught from the earliest of age how we are to be a people of the bible and how we only speak where the bible speaks. I was taught how we need to be able to provide BCV (book, chapter and verse) for everything we do or we are wrong like the rest of those who are simply chasing after their own desires and participating in sinful things. While I don't view the bible as a "rule book," I do understand the view of the bible in this manner since it is what I was taught and my shame was in being caught teaching rules which did not exist. Place two "by the rules" people together and it will not be long before one challenges the other to support the rule with the rule book.

I used to keep Hoyle close by to reference when playing various other games and when a rule is challenged, I go to the book for proof. When discovering the correction, the godly thing to do is apologize for not understanding and then get on with the game. Changing games, I have played Spades for several years and it has become common to start the game with, "what rules do you play by." Those playing understand the basic rules of the game and yet many people have altered the game so much from what is written in Hoyle it becomes necessary to establish the "tradition" of the group up front. Coming into a game like this, I would understand the group does not play by Hoyle and therefore not challenge an action with the rule book. I either choose to play with the group or decline.

Being trained in such conservative thought, my early years as a Christian simply accepted the bible as the rule book and I repeated the rules I had been taught from the beginning. Similar to those playing card and board games not desiring to read the rules for themselves, most of us just would rather not take time and read the bible for ourselves. Often when I would read the bible, I would read with the "rule-master" (commentary) sitting beside my bible to explain those things not saying what I think they should be saying. I would even go to others and ask them to explain it to me since we do have an example of "how can I understand if it is not explained to me."

It took many years to discover many of the things I have believed from youth were simply not found in the bible and nothing hurts more or is more shameful than to discover the truth of teaching rules not supported by the book. Having been wrong (will be again), I am now in the process of apologizing for the error I promoted in my youth. My apology in some circles is seen as liberalism of doctrine and yet it is a product of ultra-conservative thinking since the conservative will go to the book and check for himself.

I often have more than one title going around in my mind for a post and this one was almost titled "Bigger Than One Congregation" because the problems I/we face specific to doctrine are not simply a local issue but one plaguing the church all over our country and possibly world. I fully expect we will see those congregations of saints in other parts of the world develop traditions in their locations and eventually argue over "holding to the truth." In many places, we can now see this issue has been settled, evidenced by the acknowledgment of a traditional service and a contemporary service. These groups have gotten past the "wrong way, right way" syndrome where you are not of my fellowship and now have, in my thinking, appropriately designated "the things I like, the things you like" method of coming together as brothers and sisters. Some would consider this very liberal and yet it is very conservative in nature since what is not defined in the bible is not used to divide.

The song "Bind Us Together" just ran through my mind and so I will end this post with thoughts from the song. The verse is sung "bind us together with cords that cannot be broken" and finishes with "bind us together with love." The problem of my past is the binding cords not described in this song. The cords of a rule book can and have been broken time and time again and this is especially true when the book has the additions of our tradition. I/we are all failures and yet, we can be bound in love for each other. If we truly bind ourselves in love, nothing will have the power to divide. How awesome I think it would be if the "game" we played was not church but rather the "love game" where the only rules were to love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. In this game, we would see everyone diligently striving to demonstrate more love in his/her life than the next person and when the game is over, JESUS won and we all had the joy of the game!