why do liberal Christians pick and choose which parts of the bible they believe?

Question

I know of a Christian who posts on this site who is a liberal and she unequally yokes herself with atheists this is all clearly wrong yet she still says shes a Christian how can this be???

Answer 1

*Everybody* picks which parts of the Bible to believe! And many don't read the Bible at all. Isn't it wonderful that we are so varied? Continue being curious and open-minded. You will be enriched by the experiences and perspectives of others.

Answer 2

I'm a liberal Christian.

And here's why I'm liberal: the Bible is a support to my faith. It is not my faith. My faith is based on the movement of the Living God in my life. Its about me and God and how he wants me to go. The Bible is an excellent support and I would not want to be without it. But, to me, faith, based on the Bible alone, is hollow.

Additionally, and more to your question: I don't pick and choose. I've studied it for many years and have learned what is history, what is moral metaphor, and what is spiritual metaphor (often in relation to events that would otherwise be described by science). Yes, there are parts that are literal. But there are large parts that are not.

And this isn't me just pull this out of my behind. This is all the result of years and years of biblical scholarship.

I would further challenge you to stop thinking of atheists as "unequal" in any regard. I would remind you, sister, that to think of any human as "unequal" in any regard is not Christ-like.

peace

Answer 3

Hi, Liberal Christian here.

If you don't "pick and choose" then you support slavery (Colossians 3:22). I'd like you to confirm for me in a follow up detail that you do, in fact, believe that it was morally wrong to free the slaves.

Also, I'd like to know whether you believe deuteronomy and Proverbs when it says God rewards and punishes us all in this life (for examplle, good people get rich, bad people become poor) or Ecclesiastes and Job, which say that there is no link between benig good and bad and reward and punishment in this life, that time and chance happeneth to them all? You can only choose one because they directly contradict one another. Once you've made your choice, I'd like to find out what criteria you've used?

Mine are Love and Reason. If I read something in the Bible that doesn't seem like love I follow the decision rule set out by St. Augustine and interpret it as a metaphor. And if I read something that is demonstrably false, like the idea that slaves should obey their masters, I follow the decision rule set out by Origen in de Principis and view it as a metaphor.

The view that casts the Bible as equally error-free and internally consistent from beginning to end and all of it as literal and dictated by God is only 300 years old. I do not think Christians were wrong for 1700 years only to have Calvin's followers to discover the truth. It's your right to believw this, of course, but you wanted to know why liberal Christians pick and choose and the answer is that I find any other way of reading the Bible to be a modernist folly.

Answer 4

I %. & come to a decision from the Bible, by means of fact a minimum of 1300 years in the past, some human beings wrote down a Christian oral history, & picked & chosen which books to flow away in, & which to flow away out. i've got study the hot testomony of the Bible, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene (ignored), the Gospel of Thomas (ignored), and that i am going away out quite often the Gospels of Paul. I pay particular interest to the words of Jesus, as he's my in demand prophet.

Answer 5

Have you ever tried to link EVERY thing that's in the Bible with what you know from a good education....You'll go mad trying. You can't take the Bible literally, it was written by many, many people all with an incomplete knowledge of the world and with a different slant on God. At least Mohammed wrote the Koran himself.

Answer 6

To be a Christian, you only need to accept Christ as your savior. Everything else is your personal interpretation of what you think God wants from you, and you will find most Christians disagree on many things, especially when it comes to interpretation of scripture. Christ never said that the New Testament was written by God or udner God's inspiration. Christ didn't teach it, so you don't have to believe it.

Answer 7

Because the bible is a "guide" book, that basically means they can pick and choose the rules they want, I mean it's only the good rules anyway, Jesus is real, Jesus is my savior, nothing about murdering, having slaves, no nothing like that. Or giving up worldly possessions no thats silly.

Answer 8

Cause they're still confused and unsure about what's real. When and if they come around they'll finally decide to stop being indecisive and realize it's all a bunch of fairy tails told by old bigots and hypocrites in order to boss everyone else around.

You should all decide what's real by studying facts and history. Never by using someone else's opinion.

Answer 9

To me this question is proof that the Bible is FAR from perfect. There are so many discrepancies and contradictions in this book that it is impossible to follow all of its' precepts. Therefore, Christians are all "cafeteria-style" believers, choosing which parts the believe to best suit their own agendas.

Answer 10

I've never met a Christian that didn't pick and choose from the bible. (The Westboro folks are the only ones I've seen that actually follow it, and we all know how great they are)

You'd be a lunatic, otherwise. Sorry, don't mean to call you a lunatic. I'm sure you pick and choose, too.