Theological Challenges (3)

Are You Liberal or Conservative?

One day I took a phone call from a lady who lived in a distant state.  She said that her husband was retiring from his job and they were thinking about moving to Cedar Rapids, but before making that decision they wanted to know something about the church.  She asked me, “Are you liberal or conservative?”

I hate questions like that because I’m extremely distrustful of labels.  Words like “liberal,” “conservative,” “progressive,” and “legalist” mean different things to different people.   I would simply like to be known as a Christian.   I don’t like it when you attach an adjective to that noun.

There are probably some legitimate ways of using those words, but they require so much qualification that I’m not sure they communicate very much.   I’ve always thought people ought to be pretty liberal when they’re putting their offerings in the contribution plate.  If liberal means you give the other guy the benefit of the doubt, I guess I’m a liberal.  If “conservative” means conserving the values of the Bible, then by all means I’m a conservative.  I think it is conservatism that has directed me down the path in which I have come to believe that the most important concern for the church is what we believe about the cross.  

I think most people in the Churches of Christ are conservative because they respect the Bible.  Those who don’t aren’t apt to remain in that faith community.   I think we could stand becoming even more conservative because the cross doesn’t mean as much to us as it should.  If “progressive” means you don’t think you have everything completely figured out, and you want to grow to be more Christ-like, then I would hope that we are all progressive.   “Legalist” can also be pejorative term.  Like “liberal” it’s a word that we often use to describe those who disagree with us.  Critics of legalism often think those to the right of them are lacking in compassion.   While that may be sometimes true, it is not universally true.  

Instinctively we know that we can’t justify rejecting other Christians, but if we can attach some other label on that person, then we don’t think we have to view them respectfully.

As I’ve said before the Churches of Christ are not monolithic.  They never have been, and they never will be.   In places like Iowa, we don’t have great numerical strength, so you don’t often have the luxury of switching congregations if you want to remain in that faith community.   My answer to the lady on the phone was, “We have people who have all sorts of different views, and we get along with each another despite our differences.”  She said, “Oh, it’s one of those kinds of churches.”   Apparently, I gave her the wrong answer.  She never came.