Subject:  Confession of Faith of a Liberal Christian |
Author:
Liberal
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Date Posted: 23:54:28 11/13/04 Sat
In reply to:
Liberal
's message, "Introduction to Liberal Christianity" on 11:12:10 04/22/04 Thu
This is a typical confession of faith of a Liberal Christian---preserving traditional God-Jesus-Salvation language, yet radically re-interpreting their meanings.
I'm an existentialist and an agnostic in most things. However, I believe that in human history, we discovered as much as the 'puzzle' as we can actually know. And we discovered what we can only call 'truth' in and through Jesus of Nazareth. The way of Jesus is the only way because the way that he loved people and accepted them is what works. If another religion teaches this way, they are really teaching Jesus. All of our supernatural/divine language about Jesus is necessarily metaphorical and eschatological. By metaphorical, I mean, it comes about as our best attempt to capture what Jesus means for us and this world. 'Jesus is God'. Absolutely. In a world that highlights sex and greed and wealth and power---as well as pop stars---as 'God'. It is entirely reasonable to say 'Jesus is God'. Only Jesus saves us, even if Jesus is found anonymously in other religions. I.e. a person is 'saved' from his/her 'sin' of living life selfishly only by transformation and being 'born again' by the Spirit of God into a life of selflessness. It isn't that we are all humans and Jesus is a super human, it is Jesus who is human. His humanity and divinity are really two sides of the same coin. To be a 'Christian' is to become Christ-like, it is to become fully humanised. Language about Jesus is also eschatological. I use that word to mean 'climactic' and 'final' and not in any way in pertinence to end of the world scenarios. This is what justifies the metaphorical language. Jesus is the climax of human history, and the fullest image of God that we have. In short, for a Christian, Jesus has become a person's ultimate personal concern (to sound blatantly Tillich-ish).
http://www.beliefnet.com/boards/message_list.asp?pageID=2&discussionID=381836&messages_per_page=16
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