Re: Any progressive Christians in BK, or I'm alone?
heilokmama,
I kind of understand what is in your mind. My parents started to go to church when I was 17, and we immigrated to Canada. They soon accepted Jesus as their Savior, and all kids were forced to go to church with them every Sunday. We were asked to go not only to sermons, but also to Sunday Schools. You can image how much a teenage girl can hate it when there was something new in her life, and she couldn't sleep in on Sundays, had to wear “proper” clothes, and met only nerdy people and worse of all, parents insisted that following God is the only way for everyone in the family. I had to find excuses to avoid going to church, and having exams was not accepted. Sick was one, but couldn't use too much.
I sat there every Sunday, listening to teachings that I couldn't rationalize at all. For 4 years, I finished all elementary Sunday school classes. I took some classes a couple of times, but still got so many questions in my mind. The Bible seemed so old fashioned and contradictory to our modern day valuse. I thought why can't they just modernize it a bit to suit our needs after so many years? For example, there seemed to be no equality between men and women. Why do men get to be the head of the family and women gotta submit? How can those Christians be so un-accepting? Why is Jesus the only way to eternal life? What about those who don't believe? What about those people, who never heard about Jesus, like all those ancient Chinese people? Why can't everybody just live happily ever after in Heaven. These questions really bothered me, but it doesn't anymore. The whole point of calling us Christians is to develop a personal relationship with Christ, follow Him, and seek His way. Understanding the truth follows after building the relationship.
Now that I have accepted Christ as my personal Savior, I appreciate my parents' attitude towards God so much. They insisted something really good for their kids. It is just so very important to know Him and follow Him. No matter how much I hated church, God is merciful. He let me experience his love. After I develop a relationship with Christ myself, I appreciate His love, and all He has done for me. I just really want to follow him closely even when those questions that bothered me are unanswered. I still don't understand the Bible completely, but it is an important book that we have to study. It is His words, His instruction, and His manual for us to live.
I will summarize your concerns in two areas:
1. The Absolute Truth of the Bilbe
As mothers, we all have the experience that our children don't know what is the best for them. We know better, so we all teach our children to follow our instructions even though they don't understand. We are not perfect, but God is. His instruction does not have any flaws.
Yes, men write the Bible, but it doesn't make it less true. You also agree that the ultimate author of the Bible is God. Do you think that Almighty God will allow something wrong or contradictory in the Bible? How can He created something as complex as human body, and universe, but leave as a "manual" with error. How will He allows the authors to write something wrong, irrelevant, or contradictory? He loves us so much that he leaves us His words, the Bible, so we know how to follow Him. Our prayer and personal experience with God is important, but the Bible is more important. The fact that we don't understand the Bible doesn’t make it less true. It just means that with our wisdom, we can't understand.
Without the Bible, it is really hard to tell what God likes or dislikes. We live in a fallen world. We sin all the time. Greed and selfishness are in everyone's heart. Without the Bible as the golden rule, how can one tell whether we are pleasing God or simply pleasing us? Our experience is not as clear cut, but the word of God is. It is just so much easier to be lovers of ourselves, followers of ourselves. If we do that, where are we putting God in our life? God has a really high standard of sin. Sin separates us from God, and blinds us. It is really dangerous to rely on our feelings, life experience without going back to the Bible.
As with science, it can never be given the same value as the Bible. God is the creator. He creates this universe. We live in a world that is created by Him. Science is a study in this world that tries to find out a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws. If God is the creator of the law, and science tries to find out the law, science can never proof that the creator is wrong. There are limitations in science, but not in our Almighty God.
We don’t take the Bible literally, word by word. I don’t literally carry a cross on my back everyday like carrying a backpack. Bible is not to be taken literally, like what the Pharisees did in the past. We have to read the Bible carefully and understand the spiritual value. As Christ’s follower, we owe our life to Him. We have to live a life pleasing God, making him happy. My little boy makes me very happy whenever he follows the right path. Same thing with God, I can imagine God smiling when we try to please him. Let’s all try to make God happy and smiling in the Heaven.
Truth can be repeatedly tested overtime. I was so wrong when I thought the Bible was too old fashioned. Worldly value is changing all the time because they are not the truth. It is only after you follow the Bible teaching even if you don't understand completely, you start to feel how good they are. Take sex as an example. Bible clearly states that it is only for marriage while the world thinks that is old fashioned and too conservative. Anyone who follows will find the satisfaction. When my husband and I try to run our family, raise our kid according to the Bible (what I once thought was old fashioned), we thank God because He is wisdom. Men and women just can’t be equal. We have different responsibility in the house, and that is what makes family complete. Please try to follow what the Bible says even if you don’t understand it completely.
I like to summarize this point with 2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2. Acceptance
Jesus ate with tax collectors and outcasts when He was on the world. There is no doubt that He accepts them and loves them, but He pointed out that He is the only way to eternal life.
John 3:16-21
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
Being accepting is very different from being right. I do accept the gays and lesbian. I don’t hate them, but if I have a chance to develop friendship with them, I think I have a responsibility to tell them that they are doing something really unpleasing to God. It is really up to them to accept God's grace, and then lead a life that pleases God.
God's grace is free for us, but cost Jesus' life. We really have to love Him back. Christians are very accepting, but we simply cannot accept wrong as right, as God is righteous. For those people who don't accept Christ, their life is condemned. God does not condemn them, but they are already condemned themselves. For those who never get a chance to accept God, I don't know what will happened to them, and I don't want to draw a conclusion out of guesses. I simply trust that our God is loving and righteous. He will have His plans. Throwing people to hell is Satan's work, not God's.
I wrote a very long message not to accuse or attack, or trying to talk you into following “our” way, but I really want to ponder these issues, which is very important to all Christ followers. I don't want to cross my boundary any further, and stick my nose into your business. As fellow Christ's follower, I think I have the responsibility to point out what is correct. Same as you, I never force people to accept what I believe. If we all pray and study the Bible, God will work on us individually.
耶和華是我的牧者．我必不至缺乏。Thanks God for my lovely family.
rogressive Christianity"? Therefore, I do not really know what is it is (不知如何理解). However, I got some idea of what you want to say. 
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