A Personal Conviction
By Edward A. Johnson
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A conviction which has grown upon me through the years needs to be forcefully, and I trust, clearly articulated in this brief article. It is this:
The moth-eaten pastime of labeling and pigeonholing one another as conservatives, liberals, modernists, fundamentalists, radicals, restorationists, or what-have-you, ought to be quietly but quickly laid to rest. Both the liberal and conservative temperaments are needed, and both need to resolve to work together actively in the service of our common Lord.
Whether the issue is theological trends, Bible interpretation, school redistricting, politics, or some other pet subject, men freely divide themselves into warring camps in the typical American community. What the liberals or progressives consider to be invigorating new breezes of fresh air, the conservatives denounce as a cold, raw wind, chilling hides already rubbed raw with dissension and dispute. Liberals say: "You conservatives are too slow to recognize that the rapid changes of our world demand fresh new approaches and ideas." Conservatives retort: "You liberals have sold out the faith once delivered to the saints."
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I am painfully aware that our churches today suffer from doctrinal laxity and a lack of discipline in many areas. I am just as painfully aware that we shall not win many souls today for Christ by drumming our same old refrains left over from controversies of the past. The words of a Quaker grandmother to her overly zealous grandson, a fledgling minister, are appropriate: "I know thee has the gospel, but anyone seeing thy face this moment wouldn't know what thee has!"
Have you pinned a label on me? You've told me nothing about myself. You only inform me that I am not as conservative as you, or that I am more fundamental in my beliefs than you are. On what basis do you judge? Ideas can be categorized, but not most individuals who hold them. I am actually both conservative and liberal, and despite the tensions I sometimes feel because of this, I would not have it any other way; for both elements must be present if I am to enjoy balanced, wholesome growth, both emotionally and spiritually.
Some of us are very conservative in one area, like doctrine, but liberal in another, such as political or social views. I know a pastor in my denomination who readily accepted the latest views in Biblical criticism and supported Senator Goldwater right down to the bitter end. I know many fine conservative brethren who are ardent Democrats. What of it? Must I judge their effectiveness, or their lack of it, by the ideas they hold?
In my automobile I have both brakes and an accelerator. I need my brakes when roads are icy or traffic is heavy. They've saved my life many times. But when I need to drive to the next town as quickly as possible I want my accelerator. I use brakes and accelerator, or low and second and drive on my automatic shift, interchangeably according to the various circumstances I must confront. Similarly, I must be conservative on some phases of an issue and liberal on other phases of the same issue. When I chaired a study committee to investigate the need for a public health nurse in our county, I had to be both liberal (doing something that had never been done before), and conservative (insisting that we must not seek federal aid until we had tried all other alternatives). There was no essential conflict here; we needed to operate on both planes if our study was to be factual and relevant to our situation.
Neither my Lord nor the scriptures nor life itself will allow me to be unbendingly one or the other: conservative or liberal, radical or doctrinaire. I am not fully at home in either camp, yet I find in each camp elements which make me feel at home. Life is full of such paradoxes, if only we think about them a while.
Jesus had disciples who tried to polarize their relationships with others. They boasted of putting a stop to the ministry of a man who was driving out demons in Christ's name without being one of the chosen Twelve. Jesus told them: "Do not stop him, for he who is not against you is on your side" (Luke 9:49, 50. NEB). Later these same disciples, James and John, wanted to call down fire from heaven upon a Samaritan village which had shown their group and their Master none of the customary Eastern hospitality as they passed through town. "But he turned and rebuked them: 'You do not know,' he said, 'to what spirit you belong; for the Son of man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them!'"
We need conservatives and liberals together in Christ. Conservatives can remind us how precious our heritage is,
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What matters is not your label or mine, but whether we know Jesus Christ as our Redeemer and Lord, and what difference it has made in our lives. As the Danish theologian, K. E. Skydsgaard, expressed it in an audience with the new pope, Paul VI, on October 17, 1963: "No divisions can keep us from loving each other, because Christ's love knows no limits."
In case you're wondering, we decided we did not need the county health nurse. But even this "secular" or "unspiritual" project taught us that if we can accept Christ as our Savior we can always work together, not as conservatives or liberals or members of a denomination, or even as "church people" on "non-spiritual" issues but as brothers and sisters together in Christ.
Edward A. Johnson is the minister of a Lutheran Church in Nebraska. He is a former preacher of the Church of Christ, and may be addressed at Box 188, Ohiowa, Nebraska 68416. He is a regular reader of my feeble journalistic efforts and a source of real encouragement to me.