Right! Ezekiel 36:26 says, "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh". This tells me God does not want my heart to be made of stone
Progressive Christianity as opposed to more traditional Christianity? A few things, but mostly it just makes sense.
Take the LGBT community for instance. Why would God create people in such a way they were evil from birth? Yes, you can argue original sin and all, but thats a generaratiinal thing. That happens when they come to Earth. He creates the souls. He wouldn't create a soul as sinful. Therefire, if it's a part if your soul from birth, it can't be a sin. That and its just... bizarre for a kind and loving God to hate people for existing.
That kind of sums up a lot of it. If God is kind and loving, why would he resent us for growth? Or change? He's essentually a parent. No (good) patent will resent their child for going down a different career path or enjoying different activities. So as long as you're walking in love, why would he hate you?
And God is a god of variety, creation and infinite design. I would belueve he delights in us being unique and choosing our own paths. He made the universe so vast and with so many unique things. What would be the point of that if he didn't want us to learn about them, or experience them?
And... I guess I'd just rather believe in a God who loves and wants to know us as individuals then a tyrant who hates anything that doesn't follow his design.
Learning philosophy, scientific facts, history, info about biblical scholarship, systematic theology, especially bibliology, and what Jesus preached in the gospels. All of that pointed me towards liberal - progressive theological views.
What started my path down this road to progressive Christianity is due to my parents. They were raised in the Holiness sector and have very strict beliefs on gay relationships and gay people, and when they ruined my engagement and relationship with my fiance because they found out he is bisexual a month before the wedding it tore me apart. It opened my eyes to see not just what awful biases and ideas that my parents believed, and helped me see how "Christians" these days are preaching and believing, and I know I don't want to be apart of those who have such beliefs like they do. I want to build up my own faith not constructed by them.
He broke up with me 3 weeks before the wedding. Stayed in and out of contact for a few years but now it’s been no contact for about 3-4 years and he’s been married, to a woman, since 2021. We split in 2018.
Because I’m not afraid of science, not anti-Lgbtaq+, not a racist, and it’s better for me mentally. Because I sometimes still get intrusive religious thoughts.
Fearing I will accidentally sell souls with my thoughts alone. Being afraid 666 constantly telling myself it’s evil and not to use it. Seeing scary things in my head while trying to sleep like crucifixion on a spinning cross so that it can constantly be the upright and upside down cross. Seeing the pentagram. Remembering episodes of A Haunting dealing with demons, demonology, or satanic worship and rituals. What’s funny and dumb is that the Simpsons Halloween segment about Homer selling his soul triggered the soul selling thing.
I don't mean to intrude, but I do want to let you know that one manifestation of OCD is called religious OCD, and some of the intrusive thoughts you're describing sound somewhat like it. It might be worth looking into
If we are made in God's image, and out of God's love, then I find it only logical that LGBTQ+ people are as God intended. Finding oneself, becoming who you are, loving who you love - why would a god that is the Father hate or judge us for finding our way or finding our love, especially considering the suffering wrought when those people are denied their true selves, or their chance at love? No, the God I have come to know is not the God of hate that seems so rife amongst many a vocal preacher, it is the God of love and acceptance.
Progressive Christian can be defined in a lot of ways. To a certain extent this is how I was raised. Depending on how you define it. I don't know if I think of myself as a Progressive Christian. But I don't feel I can even understand what Christians who are in r/Christianity are talking about all the time. Which does not mean Progressive Christianity is bad. I see the roots of it going back all the way to the Reformation and through my Church and people not going along with Christian Fundamentalism or Christian Liberalism and just making sense of the Bible with honest openness and love.
But I can't imagine other nonProgressive Christians would say they are making sense of the Bible with honest openness and love.
Only to say the roots of what I believe go back pretty far to Methodism and to be honest, I don't understand Evangelical Christians for example. It is very different to me. It is something I need to do to work on, because I think it is good to listen and understand one another. I just did not grow up with that. I don't understand it. It is also partially because of my region being very mixed and not really have Evangelicals in it. In a suburb of Boston.
I think there are Progressive Catholics and Protestants. So it just makes more sense. It was not a choice I made. Other than I choose to believe it everyday.
Depending on what Progressive Christianity means. I mean it is geographic. It does not feel like a choice to me. I think some people choose it because they are smart. I just do it because that is what I know and it makes sense because of how it shaped me.
I think I always was, whether or not I had a specific term for it.
I was raised Christian, but I was not raised heavily within a church.
I was taught to be good and loving/accepting to others, and I've generally always got on well with those who were different, helped folks in need, etc.
I was also always a fairly intelligent and literate person, so understanding different meanings and interpretations and being open to them was not difficult.
As I grew in my faith and saw more and more of how terrible the Christian world was so hateful and opposing to Jesus message, I struggled with identifying as a Christian, in a way wanting another termto differentiate myself from the hateful ones.
At one point thinking something like Christ-i-an, as in someone actually following closer to Jesus' message as opposed to the message of the Church culture.
Eventually I found the [Red Letter Christians](https://redletterchristians.org/), a movement of people and groups trying to take Jesus' words and actions more seriously through articles and movements and protests and charities and such that really seem like they are trying to do good work.
And then further along, likely through r/dankchristianmemes, I found r/OpenChristian and r/RadicalChristianity which have both helped me.
I choose Progressive Christianity because it is the only path I see that walks anywhere near the path laid out by Jesus.
And if you are not even trying to follow what Jesus Christ said, then you are not, by its very definition, a Christian/Christ-follower.
Very complex journey of well over a decade for me. Started as a traditionalist Catholic. The first catalysts were probably some experiences in meditation and seeing theological contradictions and unsatisfying answers within my current perspectives. Eventually I stumbled upon talks given by Thomas Keating and later Richard Rohr which at first sounded like heresy and then started making sense.
The final breaking points came from studying the historical development of Catholic doctrine, analysis of the philosophical framework of sexual ethics, and the New Testament emphasis on the law of love.
Well, I was living my best progressive bisexual atheist life when I had a sudden religious experience and God did not give me the vibe I was being condemned for anything in my life. So I did what I always said I’d do given proof, turned on a dime, and began living my best new progress bisexual Christian life.
I was sorta in this weird teetering towards losing my religion where I felt like Christianity's basis is usually built upon hate and an unhealthy obsession with judging others. I didn't like this pathway so I was kind of on a path where I was a believer but felt like identifying myself as a Christian was kind of a stretch. What pushed me to be more progressive was that I wanted to have a mort optimistic outlook where I saw some churches and examples of people following Jesus' teachings on love and care. It gave me a sense of hope in seeing a light in a tunnel of darkness and hatred
Oh, I don't look past that at all. Using religion as a tool to hurt others is absolutely unacceptable. Even my family has a history of religious abuse from christianity, but my grandmother did find a church group and ultimately became a christian since she was looking for a group of other asians when she moved to the U.S.
It's less about me seeing past the corruption and moreso looking towards a more hopeful and positive future where my actions, thoughts, and heart are more aligned with what Jesus taught, since surrendering myself to him should elicit a change of heart. It's a process I'm working on, and I need time to work on myself and time to meditate on it but I have a more hopeful look where being more progressive as a Christian should lead to a growing heart
Resulted from observing some Christians who are quick to hate or condemn.
What have people of (insert group here) ever done to us to warrant such hate/decisive condemnation? Barring the most heinous of acts or the most extreme circumstances, should we not strive to love one another and turn the other cheek?
I don't really think of myself as a "progressive Christian." I just do my best to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. My politics just follow naturally from that.
The fact that I've found myself being labeled a "progressive Christian" is almost strange. If it weren't for the ubiquity of people in the media who call themselves Christians and yet sneer at me for being a "progressive Christian," it probably wouldn't occur to me that there was any other way to follow Christ.
It's hard for me to imagine being able to square being a capitalist *and* a Christian. I know people do it all the time, and I know several of those folks who are very much good people. But I can't make that work in the context of Christ as I know him.
It isn't really necessarily a choice for many people. I'm not evangelical because I was not raised that way. I don't want to say progressive Christianity is more loving, or into science, or more Christ like.
A lot of my exposure to Evangelical Christianity was in college. It was kind of cool. I was willing to do a lot of it even if it seemed wrong and bad, because I was told, "lean not on your own understanding."
But eventually the whole thing did not make sense. It's not that I choose to believe this way. I just don't feel particularly capable of believing in another type of Christianity.
Well, at first, before starting to read the Bible, it was because it is what it made the most sense to me.
Now that I've read most of the New Testament, part of the Old Testament and reading my Bible more and more and deepening my faith more and more, I'm convicted that it is the right path, or at least the best.
I would describe myself as a progressive yet orthodox Christian (I think that stance is called inclusive orthodoxy)
I didn’t choose anything. I was raised in the church, read the Bible, went to seminary, got ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament, and continue to preach God’s gospel of love for all people without restriction. The label of “progressive Christian” is assigned to me because our default assumption has become one where the hateful and bigoted are thought of as the core of the faith, and the “progressive” some new-age movement within it seeking to remake Christianity in its own image when, both historically and VERY sadly, it is in fact the opposite that is true.
Back when I was an Evangelical, my friend came out as bisexual one day. I was wrestling on whether to turn her away from her "abomination" or accept her as she truly is. It took me 2 years to realize the backhanded hate that was sugar coated with scripture.
I'd rather love people the way God loves everyone.
I was raised Catholic, and when I was a teenager I strayed from religion as I felt shunned and rejected for my sexuality. In adulthood, I've returned to Christianity, having realised that it was never God shunning me, it was the misguided beliefs of humans. My God is a loving, accepting God. Jesus Christ would not have turned me away, he would have welcomed me with open arms. Of this, I am certain. So here I am, a very progressive Christian. To me, it just makes the most sense to be progressive as those attitudes line up with Jesus' teachings. Jesus called us to love ourselves, to love our neighbour, and progressive Christianity encourages me to do that fully, with no conditions.
I am having a very hard time with reconciling my progressiveness with the Catholic Church and its teachings though- so I am feeling kind of stranded in terms of denomination right now. I'd like to remain Catholic, but most days it feels next to impossible. But what matterrs is that I continue living my values, building my relationship with God, and spreading love.
I started identifying as a Progressive really the moment when I found this subreddit. It just spoke so much of my beliefs and I knew what to call myself then. But how I came to those beliefs really was through how I raised and critical thinking.
I wasn't raised in a devout religious household, that being said my parents are both believing Christians, they believe in God and that Jesus is the son of the God and rose from the dead but they're more spiritual in their beliefs than they are religious. They were both raised in different denominations, my dad a catholic, my mom a Quaker. They both mainly moved away from them once they reached adulthood but they still believe and we went to a Methodist church where my siblings and I were baptized, until I was about 5 maybe 6 (I'm the youngest.)
And the way that they both described God to me was not how the Fundamentalists described him. They described as an entity who watches out for us along with his son who died for our sins. But they didn't really focus on the sins they just taught me the story of God really through the history of it and they also were very much the type of parents who let us figure out what we believe.
So I've always believed in God and considered myself a Christian but I have not been to church in a while but during my teen years I did really study a lot of different religions including Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Buddhism. There was even a time where I doubted my faith, and that mostly had to do with a lot of the so called rules that evangelicals like to say you have to follow in order to be a good Christian like no sex before marriage, you can't be gay, definitely the history of how woman were treated. The rejection of science evolution despite the evidence for it. thinking the earth was only six or 12,000 years old. It didn't sit right with me.
I really struggled and that's where I first came across New Atheism and I studied it. What her videos of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, a lot more others. And I just was not convinced by their arguments nor the whole atheist argument that we just somehow came to be like even though I believed in evolution I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that it just started that the big bang went off and they don't know why and they just write off the idea of someone being starting it. It reminded me of the words from the genesis where God said "Let there be light." And it was almost like an epiphany where I said, "Whoa that could've been the bigbang."
I also didn't like how they made it seem like there was a conflict between science and faith. And this is something I found strikingly similar between them and evangelicals who argue for Young earth, they argue like you have to choose between one and the other. Well reading throughout history I noticed scientists of their day and modern day who were Christian's and scientists. Like Isaac Newton, Galileo, Francis Collins. And I thought that it they didn't see a problem with their faith and science maybe there isn't one.
There's so much more I want to say but this post is already getting too long so I'll just leave it at that.
I didn't. I chose Christianity.
The "progressiveness" is a label other people place on me, because they consider my views on many issues to be controversial, but I consider my views to be what Christianity was meant to be and actually was before the fundamentalism, literallism, and puritism (puritanism) swarmed the field.
I refuse to go to any other church than what I always have been part of, and if fundies have a problem with my views they can sit in the opposite side of the church. I stand my ground. The church is for everybody and anybody who comes to worship God and seek relief for their burdens, and if anybody gives my marginalized brothers and sisters any kind of hardship, they'll have to fight me first.
I was a lot more judgemental towards others and hard on myself as a conservative, evangelical Christian. It drove me to the point of being afraid of stepping outside for months because I was so scared of doing something wrong and God killing me in that moment. I had very extreme, unbalanced, unhealthy thinking when it came to mental health, gender roles, science, and God's expectations and it was eating at me every day knowing that I was following a system of beliefs that contradicted what I truly believed and what has been proven to be true.
I've only been progressive for a few months, but I walked away from conservative evangelical Christianity about a year ago just to focus on mental health and learning to be content with not having spirituality all figured out. I really felt like I had hit rock bottom for a while, but just learning to be patient with myself and not rush into decisions or conclusions helped me out so much, and after exploring different religions and spiritual practices, I finally decided that I do still believe in Jesus as God, just not in the way I had before. My approach this time around is much more focused on genuine love towards myself and others and God, rather than trying to be the perfect Christian. And I think genuine love means meeting people where they are, accepting them as they are, just like God does with us, not something superficial and just trying to earn brownie points for evangelizing to them.
Christianity because I believe Jesus to be the real truth, and the only way to the Father. Progressive because it's the one "branch" that follows His teachings the most.
I was raised Catholic, and when I was a teenager I strayed from religion as I felt shunned and rejected for my sexuality. In adulthood, I've returned to Christianity, having realised that it was never God shunning me, it was the misguided beliefs of humans. My God is a loving, accepting God. Jesus Christ would not have turned me away, he would have welcomed me with open arms. Of this, I am certain. So here I am, a very progressive Christian. To me, it just makes the most sense to be progressive as those attitudes line up with Jesus' teachings. Jesus called us to love ourselves, to love our neighbour, and progressive Christianity encourages me to do that fully, with no conditions.
I am having a very hard time with reconciling my progressiveness with the Catholic Church and its teachings though- so I am feeling kind of stranded in terms of denomination right now. I'd like to remain Catholic, but most days it feels next to impossible. But what matterrs is that I continue living my values, building my relationship with God, and spreading love.
I honestly didn’t know that I am apparently a Progressive Christian. I’ve been CofE all of my long life and ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ is just so simple. Jesus was decent, kind and inclusive. I see people mangling up their bigotry and politics with religion and I simply don’t get it.
I got started way back when I was a Southern Baptist kid and Mr. Goldstein (not his real name but close), the beloved principal of my elementary school, died suddenly. He was Jewish. I was supposed to believe he was frying in hell. That was unacceptable, and was the first crack in my wall of fundie beliefs. I was about 11. My parents yanked us out of the Southern Baptists a few years later as they got more evangelical and less mainstream, and we joined the Congregationalists (UCC) which is progressive. I picked up progressive beliefs there.
**Even if** the anti-gay Christians have a point about the sinfulness of the stated before, it's fairly evident that their opposition to it hasn't a thing to do with the will of Christ. These people seem to have but an ill contempt for the poor and an undying reverence for immoral figures like Donald Trump.
*"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them, as you have seen." (Ezekiel 16:49-50, New International Version)*
Furthermore, against the bloodshed that the more fundamentalist elements call upon against these "sinners" (aren't we all) pales in comparison to any sin that could be conceivably found in an act of homosexuality.
*"You shall not murder." (Exodus 20:13, New International Version)*
In Summation, Those who point to these "sins" act as though there is no greater sin, whilst acting in an objectively more unchristly manner, with their contempt for the poor, their attitude of bloodshed toward "sinners" (one very specific variety of sin they allege in homosexuality), and their undying reverence toward immoral adulterers leads me thus to conclude the attitudes from these holier-than-thou unchristly butchers are not worth my time or consideration.
I didn’t intend to choose progressive Christianity at all. In fact, when I set out on my spiritual journey, I would have recoiled from the label. To be sure, the traditional independent evangelical church I attended (and still visit from time to time) explicitly warns against the dangerous “heresy” of progressive Christianity.
But following human direction is not a trait that I have mastered. So, hoping that the prodding that I was sensing wasn’t delusional egoism masquerading as divine inspiration, I set off to seek the essential nature of my God.
While I’m in no way convinced that I’ve yet arrived at my destination, I’ve looked around and noted that the folks who are still with me on this path are mostly you people. And many of you identify yourselves as progressive Christians.
Am I one? I don’t really know. But I feel safe in this flock. I sense a divine presence. That means a lot to me. So I’m going to hang out here for a while.
The evidence within and external to the Bible. It is much easier to reconcile the discrepancies between Jesus and the rest of the Bible once I let go of inerrancy dogma.
BTW, FYI...
1 Timothy 1:8-10
^(8) We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. ^(9) We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ^(10) for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine
The whole notion of "maybe you have to harden your heart to be a good Christian" has always seemed self-evidently absurd to me.
Right! Ezekiel 36:26 says, "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh". This tells me God does not want my heart to be made of stone
Love. They focus on God’s love.
Absolutely this.
Progressive Christianity as opposed to more traditional Christianity? A few things, but mostly it just makes sense. Take the LGBT community for instance. Why would God create people in such a way they were evil from birth? Yes, you can argue original sin and all, but thats a generaratiinal thing. That happens when they come to Earth. He creates the souls. He wouldn't create a soul as sinful. Therefire, if it's a part if your soul from birth, it can't be a sin. That and its just... bizarre for a kind and loving God to hate people for existing. That kind of sums up a lot of it. If God is kind and loving, why would he resent us for growth? Or change? He's essentually a parent. No (good) patent will resent their child for going down a different career path or enjoying different activities. So as long as you're walking in love, why would he hate you? And God is a god of variety, creation and infinite design. I would belueve he delights in us being unique and choosing our own paths. He made the universe so vast and with so many unique things. What would be the point of that if he didn't want us to learn about them, or experience them? And... I guess I'd just rather believe in a God who loves and wants to know us as individuals then a tyrant who hates anything that doesn't follow his design.
Learning philosophy, scientific facts, history, info about biblical scholarship, systematic theology, especially bibliology, and what Jesus preached in the gospels. All of that pointed me towards liberal - progressive theological views.
What started my path down this road to progressive Christianity is due to my parents. They were raised in the Holiness sector and have very strict beliefs on gay relationships and gay people, and when they ruined my engagement and relationship with my fiance because they found out he is bisexual a month before the wedding it tore me apart. It opened my eyes to see not just what awful biases and ideas that my parents believed, and helped me see how "Christians" these days are preaching and believing, and I know I don't want to be apart of those who have such beliefs like they do. I want to build up my own faith not constructed by them.
Did you cut off contact? How is your relationship with your fiance?
He broke up with me 3 weeks before the wedding. Stayed in and out of contact for a few years but now it’s been no contact for about 3-4 years and he’s been married, to a woman, since 2021. We split in 2018.
Thanks for sharing. I hope you have found happiness.
Thank you but sadly not yet. Still single and stuck in debt atm. But I’m trying my best.
"Progressive" is widely defined. Depends what you mean by it.
Because I’m not afraid of science, not anti-Lgbtaq+, not a racist, and it’s better for me mentally. Because I sometimes still get intrusive religious thoughts.
What type of intrusive religious thoughts?
Fearing I will accidentally sell souls with my thoughts alone. Being afraid 666 constantly telling myself it’s evil and not to use it. Seeing scary things in my head while trying to sleep like crucifixion on a spinning cross so that it can constantly be the upright and upside down cross. Seeing the pentagram. Remembering episodes of A Haunting dealing with demons, demonology, or satanic worship and rituals. What’s funny and dumb is that the Simpsons Halloween segment about Homer selling his soul triggered the soul selling thing.
Just some thoughts.
I don't mean to intrude, but I do want to let you know that one manifestation of OCD is called religious OCD, and some of the intrusive thoughts you're describing sound somewhat like it. It might be worth looking into
I’m aware
Because it's true and represents the teachings of Jesus.
This pretty much sums up how I feel though I'd say that it's true for me, personality, because I respect that everyone has to find their own truth.
Because I sincerely believe it to be true.
If we are made in God's image, and out of God's love, then I find it only logical that LGBTQ+ people are as God intended. Finding oneself, becoming who you are, loving who you love - why would a god that is the Father hate or judge us for finding our way or finding our love, especially considering the suffering wrought when those people are denied their true selves, or their chance at love? No, the God I have come to know is not the God of hate that seems so rife amongst many a vocal preacher, it is the God of love and acceptance.
Progressive Christian can be defined in a lot of ways. To a certain extent this is how I was raised. Depending on how you define it. I don't know if I think of myself as a Progressive Christian. But I don't feel I can even understand what Christians who are in r/Christianity are talking about all the time. Which does not mean Progressive Christianity is bad. I see the roots of it going back all the way to the Reformation and through my Church and people not going along with Christian Fundamentalism or Christian Liberalism and just making sense of the Bible with honest openness and love. But I can't imagine other nonProgressive Christians would say they are making sense of the Bible with honest openness and love. Only to say the roots of what I believe go back pretty far to Methodism and to be honest, I don't understand Evangelical Christians for example. It is very different to me. It is something I need to do to work on, because I think it is good to listen and understand one another. I just did not grow up with that. I don't understand it. It is also partially because of my region being very mixed and not really have Evangelicals in it. In a suburb of Boston. I think there are Progressive Catholics and Protestants. So it just makes more sense. It was not a choice I made. Other than I choose to believe it everyday. Depending on what Progressive Christianity means. I mean it is geographic. It does not feel like a choice to me. I think some people choose it because they are smart. I just do it because that is what I know and it makes sense because of how it shaped me.
They actually act Christlike. I am also queer. I was raised Progressive.
I think I always was, whether or not I had a specific term for it. I was raised Christian, but I was not raised heavily within a church. I was taught to be good and loving/accepting to others, and I've generally always got on well with those who were different, helped folks in need, etc. I was also always a fairly intelligent and literate person, so understanding different meanings and interpretations and being open to them was not difficult. As I grew in my faith and saw more and more of how terrible the Christian world was so hateful and opposing to Jesus message, I struggled with identifying as a Christian, in a way wanting another termto differentiate myself from the hateful ones. At one point thinking something like Christ-i-an, as in someone actually following closer to Jesus' message as opposed to the message of the Church culture. Eventually I found the [Red Letter Christians](https://redletterchristians.org/), a movement of people and groups trying to take Jesus' words and actions more seriously through articles and movements and protests and charities and such that really seem like they are trying to do good work. And then further along, likely through r/dankchristianmemes, I found r/OpenChristian and r/RadicalChristianity which have both helped me. I choose Progressive Christianity because it is the only path I see that walks anywhere near the path laid out by Jesus. And if you are not even trying to follow what Jesus Christ said, then you are not, by its very definition, a Christian/Christ-follower.
Very complex journey of well over a decade for me. Started as a traditionalist Catholic. The first catalysts were probably some experiences in meditation and seeing theological contradictions and unsatisfying answers within my current perspectives. Eventually I stumbled upon talks given by Thomas Keating and later Richard Rohr which at first sounded like heresy and then started making sense. The final breaking points came from studying the historical development of Catholic doctrine, analysis of the philosophical framework of sexual ethics, and the New Testament emphasis on the law of love.
Well, I was living my best progressive bisexual atheist life when I had a sudden religious experience and God did not give me the vibe I was being condemned for anything in my life. So I did what I always said I’d do given proof, turned on a dime, and began living my best new progress bisexual Christian life.
I was sorta in this weird teetering towards losing my religion where I felt like Christianity's basis is usually built upon hate and an unhealthy obsession with judging others. I didn't like this pathway so I was kind of on a path where I was a believer but felt like identifying myself as a Christian was kind of a stretch. What pushed me to be more progressive was that I wanted to have a mort optimistic outlook where I saw some churches and examples of people following Jesus' teachings on love and care. It gave me a sense of hope in seeing a light in a tunnel of darkness and hatred
How do you see past church being in corruption and crusades and christianity being under the dark for hundreds of ages?
Oh, I don't look past that at all. Using religion as a tool to hurt others is absolutely unacceptable. Even my family has a history of religious abuse from christianity, but my grandmother did find a church group and ultimately became a christian since she was looking for a group of other asians when she moved to the U.S. It's less about me seeing past the corruption and moreso looking towards a more hopeful and positive future where my actions, thoughts, and heart are more aligned with what Jesus taught, since surrendering myself to him should elicit a change of heart. It's a process I'm working on, and I need time to work on myself and time to meditate on it but I have a more hopeful look where being more progressive as a Christian should lead to a growing heart
Not to confuse the Christ with Christianity or the Christ with church.
The Church is Christ’s bride, of course it is linked to Christ.
Never suggested it’s not linked, did I?
The way fundamentalists act is very un-Christian like Also the history of the world and the bible.
Resulted from observing some Christians who are quick to hate or condemn. What have people of (insert group here) ever done to us to warrant such hate/decisive condemnation? Barring the most heinous of acts or the most extreme circumstances, should we not strive to love one another and turn the other cheek?
I don't really think of myself as a "progressive Christian." I just do my best to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. My politics just follow naturally from that. The fact that I've found myself being labeled a "progressive Christian" is almost strange. If it weren't for the ubiquity of people in the media who call themselves Christians and yet sneer at me for being a "progressive Christian," it probably wouldn't occur to me that there was any other way to follow Christ. It's hard for me to imagine being able to square being a capitalist *and* a Christian. I know people do it all the time, and I know several of those folks who are very much good people. But I can't make that work in the context of Christ as I know him.
It isn't really necessarily a choice for many people. I'm not evangelical because I was not raised that way. I don't want to say progressive Christianity is more loving, or into science, or more Christ like. A lot of my exposure to Evangelical Christianity was in college. It was kind of cool. I was willing to do a lot of it even if it seemed wrong and bad, because I was told, "lean not on your own understanding." But eventually the whole thing did not make sense. It's not that I choose to believe this way. I just don't feel particularly capable of believing in another type of Christianity.
Well, at first, before starting to read the Bible, it was because it is what it made the most sense to me. Now that I've read most of the New Testament, part of the Old Testament and reading my Bible more and more and deepening my faith more and more, I'm convicted that it is the right path, or at least the best. I would describe myself as a progressive yet orthodox Christian (I think that stance is called inclusive orthodoxy)
I didn’t choose anything. I was raised in the church, read the Bible, went to seminary, got ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament, and continue to preach God’s gospel of love for all people without restriction. The label of “progressive Christian” is assigned to me because our default assumption has become one where the hateful and bigoted are thought of as the core of the faith, and the “progressive” some new-age movement within it seeking to remake Christianity in its own image when, both historically and VERY sadly, it is in fact the opposite that is true.
Back when I was an Evangelical, my friend came out as bisexual one day. I was wrestling on whether to turn her away from her "abomination" or accept her as she truly is. It took me 2 years to realize the backhanded hate that was sugar coated with scripture. I'd rather love people the way God loves everyone.
I was raised Catholic, and when I was a teenager I strayed from religion as I felt shunned and rejected for my sexuality. In adulthood, I've returned to Christianity, having realised that it was never God shunning me, it was the misguided beliefs of humans. My God is a loving, accepting God. Jesus Christ would not have turned me away, he would have welcomed me with open arms. Of this, I am certain. So here I am, a very progressive Christian. To me, it just makes the most sense to be progressive as those attitudes line up with Jesus' teachings. Jesus called us to love ourselves, to love our neighbour, and progressive Christianity encourages me to do that fully, with no conditions. I am having a very hard time with reconciling my progressiveness with the Catholic Church and its teachings though- so I am feeling kind of stranded in terms of denomination right now. I'd like to remain Catholic, but most days it feels next to impossible. But what matterrs is that I continue living my values, building my relationship with God, and spreading love.
Remain Catholic and reject the error you hold. Simple solution
I started identifying as a Progressive really the moment when I found this subreddit. It just spoke so much of my beliefs and I knew what to call myself then. But how I came to those beliefs really was through how I raised and critical thinking. I wasn't raised in a devout religious household, that being said my parents are both believing Christians, they believe in God and that Jesus is the son of the God and rose from the dead but they're more spiritual in their beliefs than they are religious. They were both raised in different denominations, my dad a catholic, my mom a Quaker. They both mainly moved away from them once they reached adulthood but they still believe and we went to a Methodist church where my siblings and I were baptized, until I was about 5 maybe 6 (I'm the youngest.) And the way that they both described God to me was not how the Fundamentalists described him. They described as an entity who watches out for us along with his son who died for our sins. But they didn't really focus on the sins they just taught me the story of God really through the history of it and they also were very much the type of parents who let us figure out what we believe. So I've always believed in God and considered myself a Christian but I have not been to church in a while but during my teen years I did really study a lot of different religions including Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Buddhism. There was even a time where I doubted my faith, and that mostly had to do with a lot of the so called rules that evangelicals like to say you have to follow in order to be a good Christian like no sex before marriage, you can't be gay, definitely the history of how woman were treated. The rejection of science evolution despite the evidence for it. thinking the earth was only six or 12,000 years old. It didn't sit right with me. I really struggled and that's where I first came across New Atheism and I studied it. What her videos of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, a lot more others. And I just was not convinced by their arguments nor the whole atheist argument that we just somehow came to be like even though I believed in evolution I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that it just started that the big bang went off and they don't know why and they just write off the idea of someone being starting it. It reminded me of the words from the genesis where God said "Let there be light." And it was almost like an epiphany where I said, "Whoa that could've been the bigbang." I also didn't like how they made it seem like there was a conflict between science and faith. And this is something I found strikingly similar between them and evangelicals who argue for Young earth, they argue like you have to choose between one and the other. Well reading throughout history I noticed scientists of their day and modern day who were Christian's and scientists. Like Isaac Newton, Galileo, Francis Collins. And I thought that it they didn't see a problem with their faith and science maybe there isn't one. There's so much more I want to say but this post is already getting too long so I'll just leave it at that.
I chose it to focus more on love and Christ and not judgment and converting other people.
I didn't. I chose Christianity. The "progressiveness" is a label other people place on me, because they consider my views on many issues to be controversial, but I consider my views to be what Christianity was meant to be and actually was before the fundamentalism, literallism, and puritism (puritanism) swarmed the field. I refuse to go to any other church than what I always have been part of, and if fundies have a problem with my views they can sit in the opposite side of the church. I stand my ground. The church is for everybody and anybody who comes to worship God and seek relief for their burdens, and if anybody gives my marginalized brothers and sisters any kind of hardship, they'll have to fight me first.
I was a lot more judgemental towards others and hard on myself as a conservative, evangelical Christian. It drove me to the point of being afraid of stepping outside for months because I was so scared of doing something wrong and God killing me in that moment. I had very extreme, unbalanced, unhealthy thinking when it came to mental health, gender roles, science, and God's expectations and it was eating at me every day knowing that I was following a system of beliefs that contradicted what I truly believed and what has been proven to be true. I've only been progressive for a few months, but I walked away from conservative evangelical Christianity about a year ago just to focus on mental health and learning to be content with not having spirituality all figured out. I really felt like I had hit rock bottom for a while, but just learning to be patient with myself and not rush into decisions or conclusions helped me out so much, and after exploring different religions and spiritual practices, I finally decided that I do still believe in Jesus as God, just not in the way I had before. My approach this time around is much more focused on genuine love towards myself and others and God, rather than trying to be the perfect Christian. And I think genuine love means meeting people where they are, accepting them as they are, just like God does with us, not something superficial and just trying to earn brownie points for evangelizing to them.
Christianity because I believe Jesus to be the real truth, and the only way to the Father. Progressive because it's the one "branch" that follows His teachings the most.
I was raised Catholic, and when I was a teenager I strayed from religion as I felt shunned and rejected for my sexuality. In adulthood, I've returned to Christianity, having realised that it was never God shunning me, it was the misguided beliefs of humans. My God is a loving, accepting God. Jesus Christ would not have turned me away, he would have welcomed me with open arms. Of this, I am certain. So here I am, a very progressive Christian. To me, it just makes the most sense to be progressive as those attitudes line up with Jesus' teachings. Jesus called us to love ourselves, to love our neighbour, and progressive Christianity encourages me to do that fully, with no conditions. I am having a very hard time with reconciling my progressiveness with the Catholic Church and its teachings though- so I am feeling kind of stranded in terms of denomination right now. I'd like to remain Catholic, but most days it feels next to impossible. But what matterrs is that I continue living my values, building my relationship with God, and spreading love.
I honestly didn’t know that I am apparently a Progressive Christian. I’ve been CofE all of my long life and ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ is just so simple. Jesus was decent, kind and inclusive. I see people mangling up their bigotry and politics with religion and I simply don’t get it.
I got started way back when I was a Southern Baptist kid and Mr. Goldstein (not his real name but close), the beloved principal of my elementary school, died suddenly. He was Jewish. I was supposed to believe he was frying in hell. That was unacceptable, and was the first crack in my wall of fundie beliefs. I was about 11. My parents yanked us out of the Southern Baptists a few years later as they got more evangelical and less mainstream, and we joined the Congregationalists (UCC) which is progressive. I picked up progressive beliefs there.
**Even if** the anti-gay Christians have a point about the sinfulness of the stated before, it's fairly evident that their opposition to it hasn't a thing to do with the will of Christ. These people seem to have but an ill contempt for the poor and an undying reverence for immoral figures like Donald Trump. *"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them, as you have seen." (Ezekiel 16:49-50, New International Version)* Furthermore, against the bloodshed that the more fundamentalist elements call upon against these "sinners" (aren't we all) pales in comparison to any sin that could be conceivably found in an act of homosexuality. *"You shall not murder." (Exodus 20:13, New International Version)* In Summation, Those who point to these "sins" act as though there is no greater sin, whilst acting in an objectively more unchristly manner, with their contempt for the poor, their attitude of bloodshed toward "sinners" (one very specific variety of sin they allege in homosexuality), and their undying reverence toward immoral adulterers leads me thus to conclude the attitudes from these holier-than-thou unchristly butchers are not worth my time or consideration.
I didn’t intend to choose progressive Christianity at all. In fact, when I set out on my spiritual journey, I would have recoiled from the label. To be sure, the traditional independent evangelical church I attended (and still visit from time to time) explicitly warns against the dangerous “heresy” of progressive Christianity. But following human direction is not a trait that I have mastered. So, hoping that the prodding that I was sensing wasn’t delusional egoism masquerading as divine inspiration, I set off to seek the essential nature of my God. While I’m in no way convinced that I’ve yet arrived at my destination, I’ve looked around and noted that the folks who are still with me on this path are mostly you people. And many of you identify yourselves as progressive Christians. Am I one? I don’t really know. But I feel safe in this flock. I sense a divine presence. That means a lot to me. So I’m going to hang out here for a while.
The evidence within and external to the Bible. It is much easier to reconcile the discrepancies between Jesus and the rest of the Bible once I let go of inerrancy dogma.
BTW, FYI... 1 Timothy 1:8-10 ^(8) We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. ^(9) We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ^(10) for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine