liberal agendas vs. gospel truth.

Its hard being conservative in this conservative hating world.

On New Year's Eve I posted about a UMAction Briefing I got in the mail. My anger...the frustration is evident. Guess what came yesterday! Yep! Another UMAction. (Please remember, my anger comes from the intense feeling of bias and propaganda, not the intent behind the words.)

This time its more of the same. And you know what I realized? Conservatives must have it rough. I read this UMAction and I shouldn't hear "Oh, poo poo your social justice issues" but I think I should hear, "I'm a cornered animal and I'm getting aggressive"

Think about it - conservatives really do get the short end of the stick! Observe my bullet points:

• Conservatives are stupid. This is the whole reason liberals are so cool and becoming more popular. Winning the argument for the political and theological minds of the nation is so much easier when you simply undercut the opposing arguers. Its like in high school when the jocks and the nerds got in an argument. Eventually it boiled down to the jocks saying "We are more popular than you, HA!" and the nerds responding, "We will always make more money than you, HA!" And nobody wins!!! Liberals, at the end of an argument, basically say "Ya'll are stupid, racist, homophobic, and bigots" and everyone nods - even the conservatives!.
  
• Christians are liberal too. Ah...remember the glory days? Back when Christians had a united front of conservatism to promote the agenda of a few conservative Christians? Those days are gone. In today's world (Thanks to Jim Wallis, Obama, Don Miller, and the internet to name a few) you simply don't have to be conservative to love Jesus anymore. Now there are neo-conservatives, neo-liberals, neo-neo's, and emergents (who still don't know what they are) And with this amazing diversity of Christian understandings of the Gospel, when you say (as a conservative)
  

Its hard being conservative when the world is stacked against you. I wish I *could* be more conservative! Despite all the grief conservatives get, they have some great issues are heart. Who doesn't want more Christians in the world? Who doesn't want a set of beliefs that outline who is "in" and who is "out". Holiness and purity are important!!! But thanks to the UMAction Briefing, I'd feel like too much of a prick calling myself conservative. If I called myself conservative, I'd simply affirm the fact that I do a lot of talking and very little action.

But with General Conference coming up, I went to the IRD (Institute on Religion and Democracy) and decided to see what the IRD proposes for General Conference...

Look here and then observe some more bullet points:

• typical conservative stances. I don't know what I was expecting.
• Oh! One surprise - in the 100 resolutions offered, one has something to do with poverty. Good job guys.
• Methodist unity is important, but not extended to persons who love Jesus and think differently - just those who love Jesus and think like the UMAction folks - which would be Africa.

I want to call myself conservative but I just can't. But then again, I remember how hard it must be to look at the Gospel of Jesus Christ and somehow weasel out the radical/liberal attitudes of Jesus and still uphold the Gospel. Its hard being conservative, after all. And I don't want them to leave my church. I don't want them to disappear or quit whining. Instead, I want hope conservatives out there will hear me say with all honesty: I love you. Hang in there.

Down with liberal agendas! Up with the Gospel truth!

Next up...why I can't call myself liberal.