http://www.cerm.info/bible_studies/Topical/liberal_christianity.htm

1 Corinthians 9:¹⁹ Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹ To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Come Over Here and Let me Label You:

Are you a Liberal? Recently I was told by someone that some people call me a Liberal. I must admit I have never seen myself this way, and certainly do not find myself agreeing with most friends I have known who would call themselves Liberal. But it certainly caused me to wonder, to take note, and to ask myself: “Self, are you a Liberal?” (If you are curious as to whether or not you are a Liberal, you might want to check out the website above that does a good job of answering this question for you.)

Let me begin by saying that labels are easy for many of us. If we can attach a label to a person, define this person with a label, then it is much easier for us to justify our acceptance or rejection of this person based on this label. For instance, “our president is a Socialist”. Whether True or false, I now have a label which works to justify my opinions and actions when it comes to the president. “So and so is pro-life”. This label gets me a free pass into all things anti-abortion, for it is a label most often connected to this debate. “Legalist” – throw out this label and people are running for cover if they truly do belong to the religiously liberal community, for they know there are some tidy labels about to be thrown in their direction, like: “Gay sympathizer, mother earth lover, universalist, democrat”. We use labels to define people, and more often than not we use them to define others rather than to define ourselves. My Dad used to categorize anyone who chose the NIV over the King James translation of Scripture as a Liberal. The truth being, there was very little difference in the theological views held by myself and my Dad (if you don’t count eschatology, which we learned not to discuss). Orthodoxy was as much a part of my thinking as it was my Dad’s. The only difference is that I would teach about my theology by saying “The Lord is saying to us” rather than “Thus sayeth the Lord”.

The reality is, labels are convenient. If we don’t want to take the time to really get to know a person, or take the time to discover what they actually believe, we can just throw out a label and justify our rejection. Most of us are not comfortable being exposed to ideas that differ from our own. I am not sure if this is a sign of our never having learned to expose ourselves to opposing views; or whether or not we are so insecure in ourselves that having our beliefs challenged throws us into confusion and turmoil; or we have come to believe that real Christians are by nature people who never expose themselves to “darkness” (as defined by our labels); or we just do not know how to have meaningful conversations with people who do not see things the way we see things. I have a sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with the competitive nature of people in our society. We find it easy to take sides, to join groups, and to define ourselves by the company we keep. (This is our post modern rediscovery of community, albeit community defined by "me, myself and I".) We have a strong desire to be on the “winning team”, the group that is edging out the others when it comes to the way human beings keep score. We are not NFL fans, we are Browns fans or Eagles fans or Patriot fans. Within the NFL community we wear labels, and in extreme cases we are risking our health and safety if we are not wearing the right label (ever seen this happen in America?). We have not learned to ask the question: “Why is it that the types of people who flocked to Jesus choose not to flock to us?” Could it have anything to do with the way we tend to use labels? Could it be connected to the fact that Jesus seemed to prefer only one label, opening himself to hordes of people who never felt “labeled” when they approached him. One who chooses not to label seems very approachable to those who have been labeled by label makers their entire label infested lives? Sinner, Gentile, Pagan, Tax Collector, Prostitute, Prodigal, Leper, and the like, are just a few of the “labeled” that flocked to Jesus, and avoid us. By the way, The label Jesus used? “A Person loved by My Father”.