Episode #172: Liberal Christianity | Backpack Radio Reflection

I used to tell people—back in the roaring nineties—that I was a liberal with conservative values. I mainly said this because I was a card-carrying member of a bunch of hippie-esque/pre-vegan (we really weren’t talking gluten or green smoothies just yet)/human rights-promoting/vigil-holding organizations, AND I didn’t want anyone to think I was a racist or uncool. Plus, I lived in New York. Being a Christian? Uncool.  Being a conservative Christian? Really uncool.

Even though it’s painful to say it, I think Pastor Vermon said it right when he noted the cultural trend is to be embarrassed by the Bible. I’ll just be honest: I was embarrassed by the Bible. I’m sure I’d couch it in pretty ways: “It’s not Christianity that I have a problem with; it’s Christians.”

Excuses, excuses. (Though sometimes Christians still freak me out.)

The problem has more to do with the authority of Scripture, something this radio show did a good job of affirming. While I think other shows have dealt with similar themes, it warrants repetition. Much depends on how one views the Bible. Is it the inspired Word of God, or is it of human inspiration? Is it inspiring, but not inspired? Basically, when one is thinking of liberal Christianity versus orthodox Christianity, one is identifying a position on the Bible: it is either a human testament or it is divine revelation.

So what about this embarrassment issue? I guess it has to be identified for what it was: cowardly. In essence, I think, we are ultimately called to define our worldviews, to come clean with our convictions, to take a stand. It might have been Vermon again, but one of the Backpack guys pointed out that Liberal Christianity offers something “culturally palpable” at the expense of something intellectually substantive. Do I have this right? I think that’s true. We choose between the culturally palpable or the intellectually substantive. Say it one more time.

In other words, there comes this time—it’s not always an easy time—when you’ve gotta let your yes be yes, and your no be no. It sounds harsh, but liberal Christianity may allow “embarrassed” types to have their cake and eat it too, so to speak, by allowing for a flimsy or wishy-washy intellectual life. One doesn’t have to think too hard. One doesn’t need to really bother with thinking about creationism or gender roles or other tough subjects. One gets to say things like, “There is a God, but he doesn’t really . . .” Get involved in our day-to-day lives, interfere in our sex lives, etc. Noah’s Ark? How fun was that? What a great idea for decorating our baby nurseries: animals with a little catastrophic flooding that wiped out mankind! Good times! Liberal Christianity is more culturally palpable, indeed. It is not, however, intellectually demanding. It does not require much consistency.

Speaking for myself, it did come down to the rigor thing. Liberal Christianity, it seemed, gave me a flimsy God. He wasn’t really omnipotent or omnipresent. He didn’t really know what was going on. Yet he was called God. The intellectual dissonance was unsettling.  I found it tough to live with the theological dissonance. I had to give up the “I’m a liberal with conservative values” routine. I’d rather have to work on how God views gender, how we should think about origins, etc.

It isn’t easy, I admit it. I struggle with some of this stuff. I’m pretty good on creationism. And I don’t really want the God of Deism. But what’s this headship business? What does the Bible say about gender? Are you kidding me?

The bottom line is that we’re rational beings. We just can’t live any other way.

Jennifer Bell is mostly a writer, but she's also an English teacher. The author of two books of fiction, she lives with her husband and two kids in Phoenix.

Alcohol and Christian Liberty, or What Price Freedom? | Backpack Radio Reflection Episode #146

Episode #146: Alcohol and Christian Liberty, or What Price Freedom?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have much trouble with trying to figure out whether or not I should eat food sacrificed to idols. On the other hand, I’ve been known to “graciously” flip out when alcohol is served. Once I brought a room of people to tears with my broken speech on the plight of the alcoholic.

Let’s get started by looking at this episode of Backpack Radio, which centered around First Corinthians 8. Very basically, there is such a thing as Christian Liberty. In other words, there are certain behaviors—such as drinking alcohol or going to see “R”-rated movies—that aren’t necessarily wrong, and Christians are at liberty to wisely discern whether or not they should participate. How the behavior affects other is one of the determining factors in making a decision. Pastor Bob was careful to note that we’re talking about things about which the Scriptures are indifferent, like drinking alcohol. We are not talking about sin, which is sin no matter how you cut it. This sounds pretty easy, especially since the big Biblical example is the “food sacrificed to idols” business. I haven’t seen any recent steak offerings to Mammon.

But it’s not so easy. First, there’s the intrusion, if you will, of love. Christian liberty is ultimately about how Christians relate to others. For what purpose do you abstain from or participate in certain indifferent activities? Second, we may need to think about specifics. When do you personally say no? I’ll be honest: I like my movies and books.

Taking my cue from the show, let’s look at some specific areas.

Alcohol: I didn’t actually bring the room to tears by myself. They were a weepy bunch anyways, so it was bound to happen. I was at a church women’s retreat, and some of the nice Christian women decided to daintily serve wine (and probably cheese). I was the one who got bent out of shape, I admit it.

Hmm. How to proceed? I’m close with some alcoholics. In a show of solidarity with one of them, I gave up alcohol in 2004. Frankly, it wasn’t tough. But I have some insider-info on the alcoholic’s mighty battle—which is hellish. So, when the nice women folk thought they’d just have a glass while away for the weekend from the kids and men, I freaked—and said it shouldn’t be served at a church retreat. Besides my vested interest, there were recovering alcoholics among us. They piped in. The room lapsed into quiet girly bawling, and there was no more wine among us. Thank you very much?

Did I go too far?  

Not sure. May I get super, super personal? You know the sacrament? You know how most churches tend to serve both wine and grape juice? May I just tell you that I kinda get very uncomfortable and anxious and I lose focus when I see those little, tiny drops of wine coming around, and I’m not even the alcoholic? I don’t know how it is to be an alcoholic in the church setting, but I wonder. Do they try to focus on the meaning of the Lord’s table, but end up thinking about the wine—how they’re going to avoid it, noticing who’s taking it and who’s going for grape juice, counting cups? I know this for sure: in other settings, alcoholics are acutely aware of the presence of alcohol in the room: they do count cups; they do monitor its location; they do think an awful lot about it.

I would imagine that Christian alcoholics are spending at least some of the sacrament time thinking about not thinking about alcohol.

So get rid of it? Is this a matter of Christian liberty? I’m asking you.

Entertainment choices: And as conservative as I am on alcohol, I’m pretty sure I sound like a raging liberal on this one. I see everything (well, everything that’s “good”). Am I a stumbling block? I’m totally into controversial books. Though I’m not a Harry Potter fan, I think it’s okay if you are. It might be easy to draw the line on something like movies, but what about TV and its gospel of secular humanism? What about our latest habit—“30 Rock”? Tina’s a great big secular humanist. What about rock concerts? What about wearing concert t-shirts? I know I’ve really been unwilling to give up my music. Not good?

Attending other worship services: What do you think about joining your Catholic or Mormon friend on a Sunday morning at his or her worship service? I have anecdotes on this too, but I’ll hold back—though we have major Catholics in the family. Are we free here?

Consumer Choices: The guys at Backpack Radio did pose this interesting example. Is it okay to buy goods from countries who are engaged in something like child labor? Is it okay to buy stuff made in China? What do you think?

My husband brought up an example after a recent event. We watched this no-doubt biased documentary called Blackfish—which pretty much slams SeaWorld for having killer whales in captivity. I was totally convinced that we need to immediately boycott SeaWorld. For me, it’s a moral issue. It isn’t a matter of Christian liberty. What do you think? Are Christians free to go to SeaWorld or are we morally obligated to stop?

Then Disneyland came up. How about that one? I freakin’ love Disneyland, just so you know. (Why might this be wrong? Conspicuous consumption? Anthropomorphizing animals? Walt Worship?)

I’m just posing questions here. The issue is pretty complex. What are you willing to give up?

Jennifer Bell is mostly a writer, but she's also an English teacher. The author of two books of fiction, she lives with her husband and two kids in Phoenix.