Where Liberal Christianity Leads

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anything unfamiliar to us can make us uncomfortable. If you’re out of shape, exercising is an unfamiliar discomfort. If you’re ignorant, education can be an unfamiliar discomfort – you get the idea.

Growing in your understanding of the truth necessarily means being introduced to the unfamiliar and because it’s unfamiliar, it will be difficult to navigate and negotiate which will feel like a struggle. Take going to a new place, like a new school or a new office building and trying to find your way around. That can expose you, make you vulnerable, and strip you of your self-sufficiency.

And if Christianity is true, which if you’re a Christian I assume we can find some agreement there, and if you and I still need to grow in the truth – as in we haven’t learned everything there is to learn yet, then, by definition, the Christian creed and disciplines should make us uncomfortable.
As we learn about it and as we practice it, it should follow that same pattern of resistance towards something good that will make us better as we push back against it.

So we shouldn’t be surprised if, as we study and practice the faith, we encounter teachings and practices that make us uncomfortable. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be true because this is what the truth does to those who are not fully conformed to it.

So to be a Christian means to persist, always, in that discomfort. As soon as you’ve adapted to some teaching or practice, you should move on to applying the next one that remains unfamiliar to you. It’s a constant exercise of discipleship in the new and unfamiliar.

But in realizing this, we might arrive at a temptation which promises all that we want in pursuit of the truth, but with none of the adversity. We might call this liberal Christianity.

Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com

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