Liberal Christians: How do you make it work?

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I don’t want this thread to be about bashing people’s beliefs. Being raised as a very conservative Christian (I'm an atheist now), I have trouble understanding a liberal, Biblical point of view.

Having read the Bible multiple times, it is very clearly misogynistic and homophobic. If you’d like me to reference scriptures, I can put them in a post later, but it’s probably unnecessary.

Anyway, how do you make it work? I was raised to view the Bible as God’s Word. Do you (liberal Christians) feel the same? If so, how do you justify not following some of the less enlightened parts of the Bible? Or how do you decide which parts to follow and which parts not to?

Do you experience any discomfort when it comes to reading the Bible and choosing your personal beliefs that don’t always coincide with God’s apparent standards?

That was a lot of questions. Sorry! Just answer the ones you feel like answering. Once again, I’m not trying to insult your beliefs but to understand them better.

The more 'Liberal' Christians tend to view the Bible as a largely metaphorical work, and not necessarily literal or historical in every verse and chapter.

Even some 'Conservative' Christians consider only the words of Jesus to be relevant to Christian beliefs -- all else being mere preamble or commentary.

Christianity is not monolithic (Thanks be to God!), what with over 14,000 Christian sects all over the world.

I know that there are countless interpretations. So much of the Bible is figurative and can be interpreted in various ways.

I guess I was wondering about the more straightforward parts of the Bible.

For instance, how can there be female preachers when scriptures like 1 Corinthians 14:34 say: “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says” (NIV)? Wouldn’t female ministers feel at least some internal discomfort for not following God’s Word? Some scriptures are pretty straightforward and not much poetic license can be taken.

I’m a queer Jesuit and I agree with a local pastor who said that those who use the bible to “qualify” their vile bigotry are instead worshipping a form of satanism (basically inverting the bible).

Last edited by Spooky_Mulder on 14 Aug 2018, 10:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

I would say many non-Catholic denominations do not take the Corinthians quote to heart, and realize that ideas do evolve away from what was current at the time the Bible was written.

Could you tell me how he justifies this belief biblically?

People who quote the Bible (often verbatim) aren’t really “inverting the Bible.”

A lot of denominations in the US do tend to follow stuff in the Bible that is this seemingly black and white.

The quotes in the Bible were probably reflective of the opinions the writers of them held at the time they were written.

it was probably thought, at the time the Corinthian quote was written, that women should be "seen and not heard." And, perhaps, many women at that time agreed with this (for whatever reason).

However, most people do have a sense of historical progression and evolution, and therefore do not take the Corinthian quote as being relevant to the 21st century.

Maybe, due to my upbringing, it’s just beyond my comprehension.

If they were able to, I think my church would’ve brought back stoning, and then they’d talk about how it’s loving to do so.

Most religious Christians consider the Bible God’s Word. So how does that work?

One of the top commandments is to love thy neighbor.

Using the bible to harass, threaten, beat, maim, and kill flies blatantly in the face of it.

I frequently heard “love the person but hate what they do.” In practice, it didn’t seem to work out very well.

People would be extremely judgmental and make nasty comments about the “sinners.”

Like others have said, most denominations take a figurative view of the Bible. This includes treating the Bible as an historical work. The writers' interpretation of the intentions of God's Word.

English translations of the original Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek Bible vary. Sometimes, they vary according to the fancy of the various translators.

That does make it hard and Christians overall are definitely bigoted against me. Many aren’t, but many are.

Just hope one day we were born this way and they’re blatantly attacking God’s creation.

Christian private high school was a living hell - I was a lot like the Danny in ‘Lady Bird,’ but there was a lot they left out.

I’m not sure what the point of following any of it is if it’s just a writer’s interpretation. I think it’d be easier to just be a decent person.

Some translations are better than others. It’s best to get as unbiased a translation as possible. Bibles that have been translated by specific religions are often molded to match those belief systems.

Of course, if Bibles were translated by atheists, God’s evilness in specific Bible passages might be exaggerated.

That must’ve been tough.

I can sort of relate because I was treated as a second class citizen for being a woman.

We are who we are.