The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission | Death of Liberalism? | Comments http://erlc.com/ This feed provides all comments on "Death of Liberalism?." en web-master@erlc.com ℗ & © 2009 ERLC Comment 1 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment1 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment1 I would like to encourage Christians to unite and fight this spiritual culture war for our country before it is too late.  Let’s really give them something to be offended about by erecting crosses all across the USA!!

They attack the foundation that has held this country together. To them, God, family, and decency are the enemy.

We can’t ignore it any longer. We must take action now. Like the song “Onward Christian Soldiers”, we must march into this war - with the cross of Jesus going on before.

I challenge all Christians to display a
large cross on their property so that everywhere our enemies look they will see a cross.

The cause of Christ must not be defeated. Jesus must be glorified.

Wanda Henry
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]]> Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:26:42 CST Comment 2 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment2 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment2 Conservative Christians play a valuable role in the church as the guardians of orthodoxy. Without orthodoxy, the church would lose its way.

However, liberal Christians—better thought of as progressives—play an equally valuable role in keeping the church current and relevant. Without liberal reforms, the church would become irrelevant in a modern society.

That’s why liberals are needed to save the Church. Especially now. The biggest current threat to Christianity is not lack of orthodoxy but lack of relevancy.

]]> Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:24:51 CST Comment 3 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment3 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment3 “God is sovereign. God has more authority to do whatsoever he pleases. I have the power and ability and the freedom to do those things that I can do, but my freedom can never override the power or the authority of God. My freedom is always limited by the higher freedom of God. What is a contradiction is God’s sovereignty and human autonomy. Autonomy means that man can do whatever he wants without being worried about judgment from on high. Obviously those two are incompatible, and we do not believe that man is autonomous. We say that he is free, but his freedom is within limits, and those limits are defined by the sovereignty of God.” R.C. Sproul

We must seek to serve our Sovereign God and to allow Him to work through us to whatever objective lies within His will. This may be accomplished only through His children who deeply desire to follow Him passionately.

]]> Fri, 12 Jan 2007 23:33:35 CST Comment 4 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment4 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment4 Richard,

When you say that “we much seek to serve our Sovereign God and allow him to work through us.” I agree with that so much.

Is it too much to as Conservative Christians to trust that our Sovereign Lord might be working through us liberals, too?

As a liberal Christian, I find it VERY discouraging when I’m belittled, as a class of people, by conservatives. How does this honor God, which I honestly believe that conservative Christians want to do?

]]> Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:36:36 CST Comment 5 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment5 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment5 I am not saying no liberal can be a Christian,
but I am saying, with due respect, that I do not understand this concept. Christian, means to be an imitator of Christ. As I study the Bible I see the Christian lifestyle to be very conservative; evidenced by the valuing of life, by humility, and by living out the moral teachings of God’s word. It seems to me a liberal lifestyle is not only tolerant of, but condones values not consistant with those teachings. ‘Liberal and conservative’, these terms
seem like the terms ‘daylight and darkness’, or ‘summer and winter’; direct opposites.

]]> Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:45:00 CST Comment 6 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment6 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment6 What you’ve done is mis-defined liberals and dismissed us.

I’m a liberal and I dare say, I’ve lived a more moral lifestyle than most of my conservative Christian friends. Never done drugs. Never cheated on taxes. Was celibate before marriage and monogamous after. (How many conservatives can honestly make that last claim?) Don’t get drunk. Don’t curse. Don’t gamble.

My wife is quite a bit more liberal than me and all the above is true for her too!

To say liberals are less moral than conservatives is bearing false witness—which was one of the big-10 sins, last I checked!

Do you believe in that teaching of Jesus that you should do unto others as you would have others do to you? Then please tell the truth about us—don’t just make stuff up.

]]> Thu, 08 Feb 2007 07:01:17 CST Comment 7 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment7 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment7 Low birth rate impacts all of Americans. We so devalue children in our culture. We must be ready to witness and live out our faith to those not of the Christian faith, who are being blessed by children.

]]> Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:37:30 CST Comment 8 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment8 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment8 Conservatives, liberals, society needs all of them. America is a great nation and it became great with both of these groups of people. Liberalism brought civil rights, social security, and expanded the right to vote. Conservatives protected the economy from over-regulation that would have hampered growth and prevented us from being competitive in a global world. Extreme liberalism gives you communism, but extreme conservatism gives you modern day Iran or the Nazi regime and holocaust. Both extremes are bad. I am a liberal for sure. However, I consider both viewpoints and come up with my own opinion. I don’t agree with something because it is simply the liberal way to think. I make up my own mind and I am not ignorant about it. I think going too much one way or the other is a detriment to society. Both sides almost always have a point. A good solution to any problem is a solution found through compromise.

]]> Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:55:00 CST Comment 9 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment9 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment9 Although I am a liberal I hate conservative bashing as much as I hate liberal bashing. Aren’t we more mature than that?

]]> Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:01:40 CST Comment 10 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment10 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment10 Willis: Low birth rates? You think 300 million Americans isn’t enough? Seems like more than enough to me! 

Greg Z: I generally agree with your macro view about extremes of liberalism and conservatism.

However, I will quibble with your admiration of conservative de-regulation.

It’s obvious to me that Reagan-style conservative deregulation has led to the _increase_ of effective monopolies which _decrease_ competition and free markets.

Joy:

The Pharisees were clearly the CONSERVATIVES of their day, not the liberals. And these Pharisaic conservatives were the main opposition to the liberal grace that Jesus offered.

I like to believe that Jesus transcended the categories of “liberal vs. conservative” but it’s pretty clear in the gospels that religions conservatives were not natural allies of Jesus, if not just plain enemies.

]]> Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:15:30 CST Comment 11 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment11 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment11 Grace I agree with what you said. As a said I am a progressive liberal, so I am just trying to be fair. My family and I think Reagan was one of the worst President’s in history. But many people love and I mean LOVE Reagan. But I do believe that conservativism has its place.

If I always got my way there would be a lot of regulation of the economy and a lot of ‘red tape’ and political correctness to ensure equality and coexistence. And thats not always a good thing. For example, ensuring equality, although a good thing, slows government actions waaay down. Sometimes a quick response is needed.

I am pretty extreme, but I realize that and try to temper it. My belief is that I don’t know everything, so consider what other people say, they may have thought of something that you haven’t. And thats how liberals and conservatives balance each other.

]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:38:42 CST Comment 12 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment12 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment12 The rather cruel attempts by some conservatives to exclude liberals from the Body of Christ is most unfortunate.

]]> Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:06:11 CST Comment 13 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment13 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment13 I’m Singaporean.
I don’t understand the ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ divide which seems highly linked to American politics - Con GOP supporters vs liberal ‘crats?
Seems to me that the only useful distinction is ‘saved’ and ‘unsaved.’
Nothing else matters.

]]> Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:29:50 CST Comment 14 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment14 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment14 Dear “Puzzled”

Don’t feel bad for not understanding… the “liberal vs conservative” divide is a non-biblical theological distinction that comes from our American two-party political system.

I expect that future theologians will likely conclude that this “liberal vs conservative” divide is the great heresy of the American church.

As you insinuate, our Christian responsibility is to be unified in the Lord and most of we Americans totally disobey that.

Sadly, our American “liberal vs conservative”  heresy is being exporting by our missionaries and Christian media to the world.

PTL it doesn’t seem to have fully made it all the way over to Singapore yet!

Truly yours,
Liberal Grace

]]> Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:11:12 CST Comment 15 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment15 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment15 I think my above post needs to be clarified—please forgive the second post:

Please don’t misunderstand me: I don’t think liberals or conservatives are bad. It’s dividing the church along those lines that’s the heresy.

Using me as an example: I’m a proud liberal but I eagerly accept my conservative brothers/sisters as good and honest Christians. In obedience to Christ, my conservative brothers/sisters should accept me, likewise.

When that doesn’t happen, that’s where the heresy happens.

]]> Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:31:40 CST Comment 16 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment16 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment16 The Bible has never ceased to be relevant, and it is neither “conservative or liberal” but is in fact the word of God. Wherever God’s word is taught in truth, people will find it is still the answer, nay, they will find that He, God, is still the answer to all that man needs. Human labels…God does not need them.

]]> Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:45:22 CST Comment 17 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment17 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment17 Dear William,

I agree with your sentiment but ask:

Where do humans play a role in God’s word?

The answer, of course, is at every level:

* God chose to speak through human prophets.
* God chose humans to collect and preserve those writings.
* Even God’s son was fully human (as well as fully God.)
* God’s word is “preached and teached” today by humans.
* God’s word is applied by humans—by pastors and elders in churches and individuals before the Lord.

So, while it sounds resolute to talk about God’s word solely in terms of God and God alone, he clearly did not chose to work that way.

So, I accept that current human issues are going to creep into our churches but I draw the line at dividing the church over them.

To me, it is a heresy to divide the church along liberal-conservative lines, since we are clearly disobeying biblical teachings commanding church unity. 
Craig

]]> Sat, 08 Nov 2008 10:31:17 CST Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:25:27 CST Comment 18 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment18 http://erlc.com/article/death-of-liberalism#comment18 How can you be “Liberal” and call yourself a christian?

Socialism is nothing but government mandated stealing, taking from the rich by force to give to the poor IS a sin (I am relatively poor and DO NOT CONDONE STEALING UNDER ANY NAME).

How about abortion? How can you reconcile that with your faith?  How about all the Anti-Faith Secular progressive agendas fomented by the liberals can you possibly agree with if you are a christian? 

How can you pray to god to help people who seek to destroy him and his followers on a daily basis? 

Do you realize that in California, you can be taken to jail for mentioning Christ on the public streets these days (assuming your not being beaten by a violent gay activist)?

Seriously, how do you condone what “Liberals” do if you are christian, you can’t.

Let the intellectual backflips begin.

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:25:27 CST