Sorry about the glitch…
July 3, 2006
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Announcements, Technical Feedback : add a comment
For some of you attempting to read Cerulean Sanctum earlier today, you got a few weird errors.
Sorry about that. My host upgraded part of their service and I attempted to change the .htaccess file for the blog to take advantage of the changes, but something went wrong. Worse still, when I attempted to reload the page to see if the new file was working, Firefox must've pulled up a cached version, so I had no idea the site was down.
Things are back to normal now.
Just Plain Christian?
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Apologetics, Christianity in North America, Church Issues, God the Father, Godhead, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit Feedback : 14 comments
Last week at the Boar's Head Tavern, Josh Strodtbeck noted how easily we refer to any ideology as "liberal" or "conservative," and how those ideologies, even when theological, mirror those of the Democrats and Republicans.
The problem with those labels, however, is the same pothole I discussed in my post "Either Faithfulness or Relevance?" We're perpetually forcing dichotomies where none should exist. Instead, we cling to one ideological side or the other without ever asking if the truth can be found somewhere in-between.
I'm sure that most of you readers would self-label as conservative Christians if forced to choose between that and being a liberal Christian. But I wonder if a more "radical middle" exists that blurs the stereotypes we commonly attach to both of those theological ideologies.
Consider the liberal/conservative Christian trait emphasis table below:
|
Liberal Christian |
Conservative Christian |
|
Mainline |
Evangelical |
|
God is Love |
God is Holy |
|
Jesus the Servant |
Jesus the Savior |
|
The Holy Spirit quickens |
The Holy Spirit convicts |
|
The Bible is the story of salvation |
The Bible is the Word of God |
|
The authority of the believer |
The authority of Scripture |
|
The Gospel is for Man |
The Gospel is for God |
|
Christ in community |
Christ in the individual |
|
Praxis |
Doctrine |
|
Mystery |
Certainty |
|
The least of these |
The saints |
|
Justice |
Judgment |
|
The stewardship of Creation |
The New Heaven and New Earth |
|
The poor in spirit |
The rich in Christ |
|
The imaginative |
The concrete |
|
Salvation is a process |
Salvation is a singular event |
|
Meditation |
Study |
|
Horizontal relationship |
Vertical relationship |
|
Freedom |
Discipline |
|
Corporate sin |
Personal sin |
|
Doubt is healthy |
Doubt is crippling |
|
Immanence |
Transcendence |
|
Feeling |
Thinking |
|
Sacramental |
Authoritative |
|
For the one who is not against us is for us. (Mark 9:40 ESV) |
Whoever is not with me is against me…. (Matthew 12:30a ESV) |
Is it possible that the boundaries defined by these oft-used traits are false? If so, why do we cling so readily to arguments that reinforce one side over the other?
What would a Christianity look like in 21st century America that sees no paradox in combining mystery and certainty? Or uniformly emphasizes both Christ in community and Christ in the individual?
Is it possible to be neither a conservative Christian nor a liberal one, but something altogether better than either? And if so, why is it so hard for us to live that out?
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