Progressive Christianity..or whatever it's called today..

I have been watching with interest and sometimes disgust, at the new Christian movement today called Progressive, Emergent, a dozen different names. I've been standing outside the circle for the entire summer, interacting with some of the Outlaw Preachers and people associated with it and I have some observations.

I was interested in this "movement" because after decades of Wicca, I wanted to see if I could find my place back in Christianity after being beaten to death with guilt and fear from the Southern Baptist church as a child and teen. I heard "grace" and "inclusiveness" and was fascinated...could this be?

Let me say I am quite knowledgeable of the Bible and quite accustomed to spiritual jargon. So, i am no stranger to the issues and arguments of religion, both spiritually and politically. I am a liberal, feminist and an artist so i am quite open to other min-sets.

This is what I have observed. This group is certainly not friendly to opposing views. I have posted on the "OP" (Outlaw Preachers) facebook and quite quickly drew sarcasm, after being totally ignored. In fairness, there were a FEW that were cordial, but for the most part I was treated like an ignorant child and not in the "click". So I have hovered outside the perimeters on Twitter and gleaned information from time to time from participants who looked friendly. I have asked specific, foundational, boiler-plate questions about how to be saved, did the church still do altar calls, questions about specific scripture and have been told a myriad of things. mainly that the group as a whole has no one view. Each person has their own idea and perspectives on all of these things and much more. There has been ONE person who has been kind enough to address my earnest questions (you know who you are) and others that have thrown out remarks such as "Does the church still do altar calls? That's so 90's!". Having come from an abusive religious background, these remarks and others, and the total absence of comment make me withdraw. And I am a strong, belligerent personality. I can imagine what it would do to a more timid character.

I have listened to pod-casts til my ears bleed, read blogs and articles, andcontributed both opinion and money to this group and frankly I feel fucked. After spending hours of my time trying to see what this group believes in, I have come away with the information of "Love everyone as yourself" and accept everyone on their own terms. which is fine but it does nothing to answer questions of people actively seeking and needing answers.

Look, I have no horse in this race; I'm just an observer who wants to know things. And I will give a bit of advice, unsolicited as it may be, to this group that is relevant and needs to be considered. As a group with differing beliefs, I can relate to that. The pagan church I belonged to had the same theory, to have an open theology to invite everyone who walked different paths. No basic boiler-plate except there is Deity, love, acceptance and learning. sound familiar?

This did not work. I'm talking about the principle, not the religion. When people ask questions, they got ten opposing answers. This is great for debate but not for leadership. In my opinion, especially when trying to achieve new objectives, there has to be some sort of consensus for how to answer questions by people who want to be involved. This is especially true for people who know little or nothing about Christianity or what the new "labels" mean.

Granted, Twitter and Facebook are not the best method for relating such sensitive ideas, but being that the OP's have selected these sites, and pod-casts, etc., for relaying their ideas, there has to be some basic idea of structure for a jumping off point. It doesn't make sense without it to someone who is a lay-person. Most people will just turn away and shake their heads. Being the persistant hard-head I am, I didn't. Hence this blog.

When a person gets ignored or belittled, that person will no longer seek help from that group who has treated them that way. I have seen argument, squabbles, name-calling, screaming in text, and general confusion in this group that would make the main-stream churches sit back and smile. Inclusive? No. Grace to everyone? As long as you have elephant hide as skin. The OP's had their yearly gathering this week, and while the individual' sermons were good, some out-standing, it all comes back to the same thing. there is no basic premise to spring from. Example. jay Bakker said on his T.V. interview there were several ways to be saved. He said Jesus spoke of various ways for the person involved with the conversation. ???? Anyone having even basic church training would want an explanation, not to stir trouble but to be able to grasp the new idea. I have YET to get even a one-sentence explanation for this. Universalism definition I receieved (at least I received an answer) is that either you're already saved because of the resurrection, or you'll be saved in a timely manner or what???? WHAT?? Then the kicker was that it didn't really matter. Well, it matters to me. And I would imagine it matters to alot of other people.

If all of this has MY head spinning, as one with years of biblical force-feeding under my belt, how do you think other people feel? The haggling after the cuum-by-yah conference has commenced. As I thought it would. If your not willing to sift thru all the bull-shit, youre not going to find what you need.

I admire the pure idea of this group. I would not have spent as much time trying to learn about it as I have if I didn't. But you people nedd to step back and take some deep breaths. Seriously. Get your shit together. It's lost it's purity. You want the world to see you as love and grace. Then act like it. You are being watched by people who want to know, people who WANT and LONG to be in the grace of God, all coming from their different experiences. you need to get some basic answers. I KNOW the beauty is the diversity, and I admire that. But I think you get my drift. Don't ignore serious questions. You have become what looks comparatively a high-school click. I don't think that was the intent.

I wanted to know. I wanted to learn. i wanted to be answered. And I'm not the only one. what happened?