I am currently working on my masters at a local seminary here in Arizona.
This is where I sit.
I love sitting in the back, right-hand corner in my classes. I don’t like having people sitting behind me. All my classes are either 2 or 4 hour in length, and I can’t possibly sit down the whole time…often I will stand up in the back. I also drink a lot of tea during my class…and if you are a tea drinker, you know that you have to pee quite a bit…so sitting in the back is very helpful for those with an active batter (I just sounded like one of those commercials…do you go often? ha ha). I also like the back, right-hand corner because I can see everything that goes on. And let’s be honest, I love the window seat because it gives me the best view in the house to zone out and watch the sunset.
So, not too long ago I was studying for an exam…I don’t know how you study, but I like to make note cards. One of the note cards that I had made was about divorce. On the back of this note card was the ‘Liberal View’…and as I was walking around my house memorizing this card, it hit me.
I’m being brainwashed.
I was being forced to memorize that if you believe it is okay to get a divorce under certain circumstances, you were a Liberal.
I share this with you because this has been just one of my experiences, thus far, in seminary…
I am aware that some of you will know which seminary I attend, but my hope isn’t/wasn’t to point out just one seminary. Before I sat down to write this blog entry, I asked some friends (some new, and some old) what they thought of their seminary experience…it was encouraging to know just how similar our thoughts were.
I am wondering though (and this is the point of the blog entry) if these feelings that I am experiencing, encircle or embrace you at all at your core as a Christian???…not just seminary students.
My feeling is that I am too liberal for the church and, yet, too conservative for the world…and I’m not quite sure where I fit.
It seems like if you drink wine or beer in public places, say bad words (shit, damn, ass, etc), support/love homosexuals (notice I didn’t say condone), vote according to propositions and not according to who is the Republican or Democrat, or believe that divorce is okay, etc, that you can’t be a Christian without being labeled a ‘Liberal Christian.’ I remember in class not too long after my brainwashing experience we were talking about ‘those liberals,’ and it made me think about what the word liberal even means.
I looked it up …
liberal |ˈlib(ə)rəl| |ˌlɪb(ə)rəl| |ˌlɪb(ə)r(ə)l|
adjective
1 open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values : they have more liberal views toward marriage and divorce than some people.
2 [ attrib. ] (of education) concerned mainly with broadening a person's general knowledge and experience, rather than with technical or professional training.
3 (esp. of an interpretation of a law) broadly construed or understood; not strictly literal or exact: they could have given the 1968 Act a more liberal interpretation.
4 given, used, or occurring in generous amounts: liberal amounts of wine had been consumed.
• (of a person) giving generously : Sam was too liberal with the wine.
The first two definitions sum up every person who is actively learning, not just paying seminary students but all people who ask questions…it almost has a universal sense...
But it seems as though while Christians would like for the world to believe that they are open-minded and that they are open to expanding their knowledge, they do not consider themselves liberal thinkers…yet, according to the definitions above, if one is open to learning new ideas, then he is in fact a liberal-minded person.
How does that make you feel? Are you okay with that?
And yet the world sees me as being too conservative…mainly because of the fact that I carry the title Christian. I guess what I am trying to say is that this ‘too conservative’ mentality isn’t necessarily because of my Christ-likeness, but rather, it is because I am called a Christian. Isn’t that sad?
So where do I belong? I feel as though many think and feel like me. But we are hidden because we are too scared to speak aloud because we don’t know how people might think of us. And what is funny is that many of us who feel this way end up building great relationships with the other people who have been rejected by Christians.
Honestly, it doesn’t surprise me that those people who are not Christians always complain about how Christians are closed-minded…we are, even by definition, we are. But we (Christians) aren’t stupid either…we know the right things to say and that is why we will often tell people that we love to study or to read about the religions of other people or that we are open to the beliefs of others…we even say that it makes us stronger…Haven’t you heard this before? My fear is that if we don’t begin to develop a liberal theology (yes, I said liberal)…a liberal way of life…we will only separate ourselves even more from the world to which we are seeking to show Christ. By the definition above…I think that Jesus was Liberal.
I am wondering though (and this is the point of the blog entry) if these feelings that I am experiencing, encircles or embraces you at all at your core as a Christian???…not just seminary students
heart.soul.mind.
kyle diroberts
