Timothy’s Burden a “Progressive Christian Blog”?

To my surprise, the Jesus was a Liberal blog now displays a link to Timothy’s Burden in the sidebar under the header “Progressive Christian Blogs.” I am guessing that label comes from the few comments I have made at that blog in agreement with what the commentary said.

But is this a “Progressive Christian Blog”?

The Wikipedia would seem to indicate that to be a progressive Christian is to be one who promotes social justice and other political (specifically left-wing, apparently) ideals.

If anyone could provide me with a bit more, I’d be interested in whether or not I really fit that mold. Your comments are welcome.

(Though it would seem that since I oppose the mixture of church and state and believe in the uninvolvement of the Church from state affairs, I wouldn’t be able to do much on the “social justice” front…)

24 thoughts on “Timothy’s Burden a “Progressive Christian Blog”?”

  1. Funny thing about words like progressive and conservative and liberal, etc.

    Much of their meaning is drawn from the context of the time. Today’s political progressive might espouse fiscal responsibility while today’s conservatives are spending your future tax dollars. Once upon a time it was the reverse.

    In a sense you are progressive because you advocate beliefs that are not all that widely held (at least, not in the details).

    My Merriam-Webster says of the adjective: “making use of or interested in new ideas, findings or opportunites”

    The Bible isn’t new, but you do bring to it a rare (new) perspective.

    Senior

  2. Novelty might be one definition, but it’s difficult to dissociate “liberal Christianity” from “progressive Christianity.”

    I can say with certainty I do not fit the “Liberal Christian” mold.

  3. Not too often I am said to have a “fair and open attitude,” Rick. Thank you for that. And thank you for the link. It is appreciated.

    Three years ago, I would have read my own blog (as it is today) and scoffed at it because of how much of a change I’ve made since then. I was very much the militant fundamentalist in my attitude.

  4. The Bible for me is perhaps the most progressive book of all in that the vision of justice is truly Divine. I included you among my links to progressive sites not so much because of any dogma or political ideology on your part as much as your fair and open attitude in approaching issues. To me, there are people who identify themselves as conservatives who are really far more liberal than they realize. Likewise, there are many so-called liberals who are not that openminded.

  5. Sirs,

    Jesus Christ was not political – period, nor did He come to bring social justice (whatever that is) to this world.

    He came to bring Salvation to carnally minded men and women who were in a state of rebellion towards their Creator.

    If you can show me in Scripture where He commanded believers to change this world presumably via your ‘social justice’ I will be most interested to read it.

    y2t

  6. y2t, I’m going to assume that you aren’t talking to me (the author of this blog); I’ve made my opinion very known here and elsewhere that this world is not our home as Christians so we shouldn’t even vote, let alone otherwise get involved in politics.

    By the way, your website sets off Google Toolbar’s phishing sensor. You might consider getting a real webhost. :)

  7. Rick,

    Thank you for the clarification but with so many ‘Christians’ embroiled and deceived by politics and politicians, let alone the nonsense they get from pulpits, I do use provocative language to find out what their true colours are, so to speak. Something I have done on “Jesus is a liberal” blog

    As for web sites and design I always take the route of least resistance i.e. easy to use and free. Freeservers do provide these features; the advertising is a pain, but I am not sure it is right that we should pay to spread The Word. Your advice will be appreciated as I am web hosting ignorant.

    What is phishing?

    y2t

  8. If you want to know what phishing is, check out the Wikipedia. I have no idea why your site would be recognized as such, though.

    Also, as for spreading the gospel… The only way it’s free is if it’s verbal (the most effective means); any other way, and you get what you pay for. Money must be spent to publish Bibles, print tracts, provide electricity (and bandwidth, and storage, and the computers themselves) for web sites, etc.

    And technically, Jesus could be considered liberal–He taught many new political ideas that people hadn’t heard during His time. Keep in mind that most of His preaching was concerning the Kingdom and not the Church.

  9. All men (even Christians) are liars and therefore servants of the Devil for he is the father of lies.

    Sorry, but that is the logic you use.

    Also being liberal doesn’t necessarily mean being political. Jesus could have espoused a liberal worldview without messing with politics. However, to say He is above a political process is ignorant at best. He is a King, He has a Kingdom, there are rulers in this Kingdom, there are Laws, etc.

  10. There is no way Jesus was a liberal nor was He political, technically or otherwise.

    Jesus Christ is The Truth and The Truth is not politics for all politicians are liars and therefore servants of the Devil for he is the father of lies. John 8.

    Jesus Christ is as far above politics, as we are above pond life.

    y2t

  11. All unsaved men are liars especially politicians, and liberals can add cowardice to their ‘attributes’ as well. That’s why they sit on the fence, they haven’t the guts to make decisions. Christians are none of these things.

    Christians if they are real Christians are not liars as they are perfect in His sight. Real Christians are not sinners either, even though they may sin. Now either we are perfect or we are imperfect, there is no in between, if we are Born Again.

    1 John 3:3, He who keeps his hope in Him, purifies himself even as He (Jesus Christ) is pure.

    1 John 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

    1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

    Now Rick are you Born of God or not, for if you see yourself as a liar and thereby a servant of the Devil there is no way that you are Born Again. It’s God or mammon there is nothing else.

    “Also being liberal doesn’t necessarily mean being political.”

    You’re right, it’s worse because liberal in terms of Christianity means ‘spew’ neither hot nor cold – Revelation 3.

    “However, to say He is above a political process is ignorant at best. He is a King, He has a Kingdom, there are rulers in this Kingdom, there are Laws, etc.”

    Here, you are thinking like a man, not a Son of God. Grace abounds in The Lord’s Kingdom, not rules. Furthermore, all powerful kings do not need politics as they rule in totallity and there is no one who can question their decisions. A king or queen who cannot rule (like our queen) is sadly, worse than useless.

    In The Lord’s Kingdom, those who are His will not need rules for His Law is written on their hearts.

  12. So the Law written on our hearts doesn’t constitute rules? “Love your neighbor” isn’t a rule? What about the epistle to the church? There are hundreds of rules in them, despite the emphasis on grace.

    When Christ rules, it will be a rule of righteousness. Righteousness requires obedience. Obedience requires something to be obedient to. Again, Laws. God has always given Laws to man. Adam was given one. The patriarchs had theirs. Moses had ’em. The Apostles had them, and we have them.

    Oh, and y2t, if we say we have no sin, we are lying. So if what you say is true and it is possible to live a sinless life, you are a liar. And again, according to your logic, you must be a servant of the Devil. For your sake, I hope you’re wrong. :)

    We still have a sin nature. We still sin. The only difference is we will not be held accountable for it in the same way as a lost person will be. Our “inner man,” or spirit, is born again and cannot sin, but our “outer man” certainly still can. And all our days we war against the flesh, as even the apostle Paul did. We will only be free from that battle when our bodies are born again in resurrection.

    Also, liberal doesn’t mean “wishy washy” (neither hot or cold). It may not be what you agree with, but it doesn’t mean “on the fence” either.

    I appreciate the comments, and I encourage you to continue to read the Word of God and grow therein. But if you’re only going to reply hatefully here, you’re really wasting your time.

  13. Now, what you have written here is Biblical and Spiritual ignorance on a grand scale and requires your repentance.

    The Law written on our hearts is love – for your information. For he who loves his brother hath fulfilled the law. This means we are perfect in God’s sight and anyone who fulfills the law is perfect. This also means there is no further rule keeping or obedience for those who are Born Again and brothers of The Lord.

    Righteousness does not require obedience. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes us righteous, nothing else.

    I suggest you read properly the Scriptures I quoted for they say the opposite of what you’re saying. Which I notice you completely ignored.

    In Romans 7 Paul tells us TWICE that it is no longer HIM who sins but his body. This is telling us that it is no longer US the new man who sins but our bodies, which are waiting for death. Now, are you the new man or are you your body!!??

    Here is a question for you. If born again, we are now Friends and Brothers of Jesus Christ; what kind of friend or brother has to be obeyed?

    As for hateful I’m sorry to have to say it but your legalism and rule keeping is what is hateful, so hateful, it’s a blasphemy!

    y2t

  14. Legalism? Ha. Funny. Thanks for the laugh.

    Is it obedient to not present our bodies a living sacrifice?

    Is it obedient to not be honest and trustoworthy?

    Is it obedient to not do any of the things Christ told us to do?

    Rememeber, He may be Friend and Brother, but He is also Lord, and we are His servants (just as Paul was).

    I am not saying we must do anything to be righteous before God. You take me out of context. During the Millennium, however, the rule will be righteousness. The Law will be His, and everyone will live accordingly or suffer punishment, as He will rule with a rod of iron.

    This isn’t legalism; it’s Bible. I’m sorry that you seem so adverse to submitting to Christ as Lord and King Eternal. But keep in mind I am not saying obedience is required for salvation. Please don’t accuse me of that.

  15. You are now mocking and laughing – why? I will tell you why, because you cannot accept that The Lord Jesus Christ did everything for you at the cross and in His Resurrection. The Pharisees, who were kings of legalism, also mocked and laughed at The Lord Jesus Christ.

    Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” Notice, even the faith is not of ourselves which is where you people all go wrong because you think it is your faith that saves you and it is not, it is The Lord’s faith that saves us.

    Eventually you will run out of badly translated scriptures to support your man made doctrine.

    We are ‘servants’ willingly and maturely, not obediently. When Born Again, love is the issue, not obedience. If you are in a Spiritual relationship, obedience is unnecessary. Whatever way you cut it, obedience is Old Covenant. Abraham obeyed because he was under the Old Covenant and because he obeyed it was credited to him as righteousness. It does not work like that under the New Covenant.

    I notice you did not answer my question honestly but tried to explain it away in support of your erroneous view of Salvation and Grace. So here is another question or two: when a good wife is washing, cooking, making the bed, raising her children and ironing etc. etc., is she obeying her husband or loving him. What is her motivation for all this hard work and effort!!??

    I have not taken you out of context because you are still telling me that Born Again believers must obey. They do not need to obey because they love The Lord and desire to do his will in a state of willingness out of love for Him. This is not obedience, it is love for Him in action. Wanting to do something is the complete opposite of having to do something. This is living under Grace and not under the Law.

    The only time we obey is when we are commanded to repent, be baptised and confess our sins. At this point in time we are coming out of the world from our unsaved condition. This is a one off and takes place when we called by the Father to His Son, repetitive confession of sins is not Biblical.

    To be honest the whole of your last post was total confusion and self contradictory.

    y2t

  16. Let me get this straight… I believe wholeheartedly in a sola fide and sola gratia salvation–one which stands apart from any works that I could possibly do–, I spread that same gospel and I have even told you I believe in it… And then you come here and try to claim I am teaching some kind of salvation by works?

    Thanks but no thanks. If you want to falsely accuse me (by the way, that is an activity of Satan, the accuser of the brethren, NOT of someone who loves Christ), then just leave. Stop trying to put division between us because in so doing you are mocking Christ. You have clearly shown that you have no idea what I believe so please stop acting like you do.

    Thanks, and bye.

  17. As you wish to end this dialogue, then so be it, but not without me stating that by using latin terms you immediately tell me that you are of Rome – The Whore of Babylon. These terms are counterfeit religious terms used by people (Bible intellectuals) who are deceived and deceive others with their non-gospel. This is how they turn The Truth into religion and make it meaningless, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments (traditions) of men.”

    You have to repent of this nonsense or you will be counted amongst those who come to The Lord when they are resurrected and say to Him “Lord we did this and that in your name and all manner of wonderful works and He will say: go away from me for I never knew you” These people are not the unsaved, they are supposed Christians, mostly Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, but there are many in Protestant (offshoots of Rome) Demon-inations (divisions) that fit their description too.

    Now Rick, are going to remain one of them or repent? You have had now had your witness and your warning.

    If you continue to reject it, consider it done that I am dusting off my shoes.

    y2t

  18. Sola Scriptura — I believe in the sufficiency of Scripture for all doctrinal and spiritual teaching, that it alone can make me wise unto salvation.

    Sola Fide — I believe that salvation is by faith alone, not of works lest any man should boast.

    Sola Gratia — I believe that it is solely by God’s grace that we are saved, and that from His wrath.

    Solo Christo — Salvation through Jesus Christ alone.

    Soli Deo Gloria — For the glory of God alone.

    You must have a hidden knowledge that I don’t have, but the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t adhere to those. I don’t know how you can honestly say that simply by using Latin that I am somehow in league with the Roman Catholic Church.

    All I ask is that you stop falsely accusing me. I don’t need to repent of believing in Scripture alone or Christ alone or faith alone or grace alone or the glory of God alone. If you think I do, fine, but I’m never going to.

    Also, the Roman Catholic Church cannot be the Whore of Babylon; the Whore is responsible for all false religions throughout history, but the Roman Catholic Church hasn’t existed for all of history. It may be a part of the whole, but it isn’t the whole Whore itself.

    God bless.

  19. I don’t have hidden knowledge, The Father hides nothing from those He calls to His Son. The only people to have hidden the Truth, through the ages, are papists. They hid the Truth in very language you have used.

    Why are you using it? Put yourself in the listeners shoes, all those millions of uneducated people out there who speak only their native tongue. By using it, all you are doing is showing me you know some of the most useless language that has be created by man. A language for vain intellectuals and deluded monks living in isolation. Are you one of them or not?

    If you understood Daniel 2 you would know that Rome is part of the Whore of Babylon and will be swept away like chaff when Jesus Christ returns. Read it and learn!

    y2t

  20. Ah, so now Rome is only part of the Whore? See, ’cause earlier you said it was the Whore. Which is it?

    And why should I be concerned that people in their native tongues cannot read a few Latin phrases on my blog? Chances are, they can’t read the English part either. Also, English is a language developed by man as well, not just Latin; but I see you use English as well, so stop judging me.

    I don’t know why you have a vendetta against Rome that you want to take out on me when I have never even attended a Roman Catholic service. I don’t know why you care to crticize everything I say when on your site you state that Paul very plainly disliked debate. And I don’t know why you continue to act the way you do knowing that I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

  21. I am not attacking you, I am attacking what you are saying. I came here to correct your blasphemy of calling Jesus Christ a liberal. In doing that I have rocked your boat of worldliness and religion. Now instead of accepting the teaching I have given you, you have continued to defend the indefensible. This is not debating.

    I will use your use of Latin terms as an example. Their use is just religious vanity and it is probably not your fault that you use them because you have probably been taught by another blasphemer who thinks Jesus Christ is a liberal.

    If you knew your Church history you would know that good men suffered death and persecution for translating The Bible out of the Devil’s language (Latin) and into English. Now, you stop and think about that the next time you use it. Your argument against what I said, is fallacious, as English is a native tongue and Latin is not. English is also the language of the ‘global village’ as it is now called, but then you knew that much.

    I explained what or who the Whore of Babylon is: it is Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and all the other off-shoots including Protestantism, for Protestantism is just that, a Protest and a weak protest at that. Many Protestants now actively seek unity with their whoring mother in Rome.

    The Lord says in Revelation 18:4-5 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

    y2t

    y2t

  22. I will ask you to please not use the word “religious” and many other words here, for English borrowed such words from Latin and therefore you are “talking the Devil’s language” in using them. Thanks.

    However, Jesus was a liberal–He loved everyone and died for everyone (“the world”) so that “whosoever will” may be reconciled to God. He treated the sick and the poor with dignity and compassion, which is a very liberal thing to do, especially when the conservative norm of His day would have ignored such people. That is what I mean by “liberal.” There is nothing political about, nor does the term require a rejection of fundamental Bible truths.

    And yes, I realize that the Catholic Church did terrible things while speaking Latin. You know what? The Greeks did terrible things speaking Greek, and God chose that for the New Testament. The Hebrews also–from whom we get the Old Testament language–are guilty of repeatedly rejecting God and eventually rejecting and crucifying their Messiah. Why pick just on Latin?

    I agree that the Whore is any religion which fits the description given in Revelation, and I fully agree that we be not partakers of her sins. But a language is no more sinful than a sword or a pencil; the sin is in how they are used. I could use a pencil to praise God, while another pencils a pornographic comic book. Does that make me wrong for using “the devil’s pencil”? No.

    And I am happily a Protestant. I protest the teachings of the Catholic Church and many other Protestant Churches as well. Just because the Reformation didn’t go as far as you would have liked, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great help, nor should the original event be judged by how Protestants are acting nowadays in going back to that which they were separated from.

  23. Here again you persist in your Spiritual and Biblical ignorance.

    Jesus Christ loved – He did not do liberal acts. Love is not liberalism. Liberalism is of man and you are contaminating Jesus’ name with your vile reasoning.

    I will tell you something, your last reply arrived in my junk mail box. I think The Lord is telling me to stop wasting time on you. So I will, for what you say is junk.

    I will bin, with all my other junk mail, any further communication from you without opening.

  24. I will bin, with all my other junk mail, any further communication from you without opening.

    Hmm, then I’m probably wasting my time…

    Here again you persist in your Spiritual and Biblical ignorance.

    Let me get this out of the way: I love you. I love you because even at my worst God loved me enough to die for me and He calls me to love my neighbors with that selfsame love.

    If you get this reply, then I humbly ask that you show me the chapter and verse that I appear to be ignorant of. Disagreeing with your opinion makes no difference to me, to be honest; but if I am disagreeing in even the smallest point with the Bible, I will readily change for the Lord’s sake.

    I will tell you something, your last reply arrived in my junk mail box. I think The Lord is telling me to stop wasting time on you. So I will, for what you say is junk.

    Visiting your website sets off Google Toolbar’s “Web Forgery: Get Me Out of Here!” warning; if you want to play spiritual games with technology, you might give your site some attention before worrying about what gets thrown in your junk mail box.

    Jesus Christ loved – He did not do liberal acts. Love is not liberalism. Liberalism is of man and you are contaminating Jesus’ name with your vile reasoning.

    I’m not sure you quite understand what being a liberal means. I’m not talking about “liberal” theology, I’m talking about being a truly liberal person… It means to be generous, to be open-hearted, bountiful, abounding in blessings toward others, full of love and graciousness.

    I’m anticipating you calling me biblically ignorant, so I come prepared with verses:

    “The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” — Proverbs 11:25. The generous soul will be blessed; he that gives water to the thirsty will himself be given water.

    “The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.” — Isaiah 32:5. Here liberal is contrasted with vile; so, despite what you are implying, they are not the same thing. God said so.

    “The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.” — Isaiah 32:7,8. Here again the liberal person is contrasted with those who are wicked and would “destroy the poor with lying words.”

    “Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men.” — 2 Corinthians 9:13. The Corinthian church was liberal with its giving and generosity unto “all men,” and God was glorified for it!

    If I am to be a Bible-believing Christian, I am to be a liberal. It is as simple as that.

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