I
recommend the good work that Koranteng Pipim has been inspired to wrote indeed
in true that the church I being faced by these groups which both of them seem
to pull either side to role this theological ball to their side the
conservatives as the writer calls them independents which are on the right and
the liberals on the left, these two groups are critical as far as the business
of interpretation and biblical hermeneutics is concerned less we find a lasting
solution there is no progress if there will always endeavor to be two groups
one on this side and the other on the other hand.
The
church is caught in the middle without knowing which side to follow if the
church will fully support the liberals the conservatives will pull out claiming
the church has dropped its doctrine and adopted to other doctrines, on the
other had if it will stand with the conservatives it will loss the liberals
which they are quite a number.
I
am in support of a theory which explains the true position of viewing these two
sides as follows:[1]
Open Liberals: these are church members who are in
the church but another leg is outside or the still struggling to put away their
former behaviors which are still troubling them.
Close liberals: these are members of the church
who have succeeded in winning the battle about the world pleasures, but they do
not despise other church members who are still struggling with worldly pleasures
they accommodate them as church members.
Open conservatives: these are more the same as the open liberals
but they have a regular stand in the church; but they are accommodating each
other as the church members and help them who are on the other hand of liberals
to realize their calling and have a regular stand as them.
Close conservative: these are the fundamentalist they have a
regular stand in the church but they count liberals as unbelievers.[2]
One
can choose one of these sides thinking where he is better suited, but one thing
that we should understand is that a good Christian will not take side instead
follow the example of Christ being the center of our faith. Christ didn’t take
a side of either open or closed liberal or conservative but he applied all
these aspects in his ministry and if we will understand this theory well the
problem, the crisis, the quarrel over the word will end as the writer has
unearthed so well the conflict that the liberals have caused which the conservatives
are not ready to take it.
At
one point Jesus took a Close
Conservative approach when he found people (preists) in the temple who
turned it to be a market place, and this he threw them out living the temple to
be a place for worship, and also with the Canaanites woman (mark 11:15; 7:28). In
matters concerning life and death, on matters of our salvation, on the matters
of the eternal life we should and it is a must that we take a conservative stand
and of a close one, for how crucial they are. Matters of the kingdom we are not
to take a light decision because what shall we benefit if we get the whole
world and loose the eternal life.
Christ
sat down with tax collectors who were counted as social out casts in the Jewish
community and helped them to be good people in the community these was an act
of open conservative. In the maters
of relating we should not despise those who are yet to decide but we have to
view all of them as candidates of the kingdom and do anything to help them achieve
their spiritual goals.
Christ
stood next to a woman who was dirty after she was caught committing adultery he
took a close liberal stand on this
issue because he never condemned her but Jesus gave the woman a second chance
to make her ways write, even us we should not condemn our fellow members who
are still struggling to abandon the worldly behaviors which seem to be heavy on
them, but instead we should help them achieve their spiritual goal of growing
in Christ because no one will easily do away with his or her weakness without
help from the fellow believes support.
Christ
sat down with a Samaritan woman on the wale only to win her soul and of her
community an action which a Jew could not have done, this was an open liberal deed.
Therefore
a true Christian will not take sides of either liberal or conservative but will
have the whole circle of this theory all these aspects should be found to a
Christian this will not mean that at some extent your will be required to drop
the doctrines but hold all the doctrines tightly but accept others and help the
achieve the Christian goals because most conservatives to a close look they
have their own righteousness not the righteousness of Jesus or God. And the
liberals they have dropped their Christian values claiming to live by faith
while perishing.
CONCLUSION
Theology, discipline that attempts
to express the content of a religious faith as a coherent body of propositions.
Theology is narrower in scope than faith, for whereas faith is a total attitude
of the individual, including will and feeling, theology attempts to bring to
expression in words the elements of belief that are explicitly or implicitly
contained in faith.
However
the first theologian was the serpent at the garden of Eden when it tried to theologize
the instruction that the lord gave Adam and Eve, therefore as the writer has
clearly shown the dangers of slant faith and misinterpretation of the scripture
we have to be cautioned never to put aside the word of god because it is the
sole authority we have in our relationship with God.
No comments:
Post a Comment