Something really struck a chord with me in bible study the other day – we were talking about women in ministry and why we don’t allow women elders or pastors – at one point the bible study leader said “we tend to be more conservative in that we hold to biblical teaching…” and I inwardly chuckled. Although he did not at all mean to be sarcastic, it could have been taken as a jab to some modern-day churches.
(For a second I’d like to ask my readers to forget the connotations attached to “liberal” and “conservative”. Pretend the only meaning attached to those words is their meaning, nothing else. AKA no donkeys or elephants!)
There is only one truth, and that truth cannot be twisted to mean either liberal or conservative. Truth is truth is truth. You cannot have something be true to you and something else be true to me. It is or it isn’t. And to me it was like saying, “I tend to care about my safety, in that I wear a seat belt in the car.” Well yeah, you should. Hold to biblical teaching, conservative? It’s not conservative or liberal, it is what it is!
Of course, the real question at hand here is how shall we interpret? How much liberty can we take to stretch the bible to fit with our standards of “fair” and “equal”? I don’t think this is something that will be completely answered before the End and I don’t pretend to be a know-it-all, obviously the answer requires God’s full revealed truth.
In the end, the heart of the issue is, indeed, the heart. If you have an open heart to god, he will show you. If not, you will be leaning on your own understanding. Is God good? Is your heart humbly desiring him?
tea & testimony 
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