Liberal Christianity

Lesson 5: Personal Spirituality and Practice

Judgmental Thinking

The original Christianity is that which came to flower in the beginning before the confusion of men led to misconceptions about church and belonging; before priests and popes took it upon themselves to tell God what to do and the people how to behave; before preachers built churches after the fashion of courthouses where they could throw the book at the congregation.

There is sadness in the idea that Christian goodness brings to pass the will of God primarily through group action, political advocacy and judgmental separation of one soul from another for perceived circumstances of sin.

An image of a resurrected Jesus as a judgmental God honoring and endorsing the actions of those who condemn and separate is one difficult to reconcile to the life portrayed in scripture of He who preached a God of Compassion.

What needs to be asked instead is "Why did Jesus do what He did and how can I relate that to choices I must make now?"

Christian goodness brings to pass the will of God when it is individually infectious, passing from one soul to the next spontaneously. An epidemic of this sort will more thoroughly impact our people than all that crusades, revivals and political legislation have accomplished in the two centuries of our nation and two millenniums of regulated orthodox enforcement.

The world needs both – not to be saved by the ultimate religion of the greatest truth, but to be enhanced by an exemplar of organized social achievement on the one hand and by personal spiritual invigoration, experience and inspiration on the other.

Exercises:

1. The power behind our beliefs is not our ability to become educated in what the Bible SAYS, thereby permitting us opportunities to publicly display how well we can read or memorize famous verses. Power lies in what scripture, prayer, tradition and reason prompt within and I’m not talking about being prompted to obey, conform and donate.

The non-verbal experience of the divine lies within the potential of every Christian congregation but remains somewhat elusive – even perhaps hidden - while the emphasis is more on social behavior and an effort to cause or resist change by religious rhetoric.

a. Why do you think that Bible-based anti-abortion and anti-homosexual religious rhetoric does not cause pro-choicers and homosexuals to change their minds and ways?

b. Is judgment and condemnation in a religion-driven moral context justified? Why or why not?

c. Is it truly possible to “love the sinner and hate the sin” without being judgmental and condemning?

d. What does the word “condescension” mean to you?

e. Is there a difference between the “condescension of God” and a human who is condescending?

f. “What would Jesus Do?” has been used to encourage young people to think before they act – something wise to do. Do the behaviors described or implied in the above questions reflect the idea that Jesus would approve and condone those actions? Elaborate.

2. Liberals frequently encounter value judgments from fundamentalists in which they are considered to be denying the faith when they question Bible inerrancy and the supernatural aspects of God and Jesus. It's part of the sense of the absolute that supposedly reduces and simplifies spiritual living to formula.

In reality what happens is that the formula basically proposes obedience and conformity as the prime essences of spirituality – portraying God and Jesus then as desiring mostly those to attributes as humans grow spiritually.

Elements such as spiritual guidance, prompting, genuine spontaneous acts of compassion and doing good for the sake of goodness are relegated to a secondary status.

a. How would you respond if, having heard what you really believe, someone limited their response to “That’s not Biblical?”

b. How important should it be that what you believe must harmonize with as many fellow Christians as possible in order to work toward global harmony?

c. Explain why you agree or disagree with the idea that if all true Christians were “born again” or “accepted Jesus as their Savior” we would all be better off?

d. Rephrase the following statement in your own words: "Many Christians unconsciously emphasize the form of their religious practice over substance."

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