Friday, August 22, 2008

Progressive Deism vs. Progressive Christianity

I have some links to Progressive Christian sites here on my blog. I do this because I am a Deist that is married to a Christian and sometimes I attend and I am active in a Christian church. This for many Deists would be unbearable but I have found some enjoyment in the process.

However, I don't walk in and stop being a Deist.

My beliefs are important to me and I don't mind expressing them when the time is right. This can be rough in a Christian setting depending on the Christians involved and the beliefs that they have. Luckily for me, the church I attend is diverse with everything from the traditionalist to the Progressive.

Which leads to the point of this post.

My goal here to show that Progressive Deism and Progressive Christianity share many beliefs regarding God and other theological aspects. Many PCs don't believe in an intervening God. Many PCs don't believe that God performs miracles. Many PCs believe that God does not human like nature.

There are many others beyond these.

The difference really comes down to focus. PDs focus on reason and nature while PCs focus on Jesus and the Bible.

So, when I enter the church I am a PD who allows himself to shift my focus to Jesus and the Bible but I use reason as my yardstick for evaluating what is being stated. Overall, this has worked well for me with only a few complications along the way.

To be fair, Progressive Christianity is very broad in nature and there are those PCs that would not agree with my list and some would even argue there is not God but overall we have many similarities and those are more important than the differences especially when engaging in community.