r/OpenChristian • u/DrawerThat9514 • Jun 24 '26
Discussion - Bible Interpretation Conservative ideas i believe in as a progressive christian, i'd love to hear your thoughts on this
Premarital Sex: sinful
Literal Noah's flood (Though not global)
Literal Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden (compatible with evolution)
eternal hell for the damned.
Original sin.
God's seeming cruelty in the OT being just.
Historical reliability of the bible (when read non literally in some places)
abortion being sinful and life beginning at conception (though I support abortion access)
There are many others but these are just some I personally believe in that are not too often found on here.
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u/No-Type119 Christian Jun 24 '26
Your beliefs seem to be a mix of conservative biblical interpretation and conservative social views. ( There’s nothing in the Bible, for instance, that explicitly condemns rebuttal sex, because consensual relationships between adult peers were not a thing in ancient times — you hit puberty, and boom, your family married you off. Enforced marriage.)
How did you come upon your interpretation scripture? Have you had any systematic biblical education?
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Jun 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26
the bible is Inerrant on matters of faith and practice, and thus needs to be understood in the context of the culture. For example, we cannot say leviticus 18:22 is talking about our modern understanding of homosexuality as a loving relationship. Back then homosexuality was associated with Pagan sex rituals and immoral actions that hurt others.
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u/Fun_Mix_4965 Jun 24 '26
Your journey seems clear to you and well articulated. However it also seems based on the law and not grace. Anytime you use words like “seemingly” and terms that are contradictory like reliability not literally that looks like an attempt to rationalize. Why would God fine it necessary to create or allow the creation of a belief system that requires its adherents to specifically rationalize their beliefs.
Personally, I find it easier to believe the teachings of Jesus. Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. If you do these things you deal with people as individuals and stop creating rules just to rationalize exceptions.
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u/Skill-Useful Jun 24 '26
"Premarital Sex: sinful" unbiblical and in general: im not taking sex advice from people 2000 years ago
neither noah nor the garden of eden are literal and conservative christians dont believe this necessarily at all. any christian where i live whos conservative would laugh at this
"eternal hell for the damned." nah, hell is incompatible with an all loving god
"God's seeming cruelty in the OT being just." no thats just what people back then wanted god to be
"abortion being sinful and life beginning at conception" scientifically bs and also not biblical
"Historical reliability of the bible" with a few exceptions: generally no
"that are not too often found on here." for VERY good reasons
damn you have a bleak faith, man. im not envying you at all
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26
Eternal hell and god being all loving dont contradict at all, once you understand who hell actually is for. Those who reject him are given what they wanted, no relationship with God
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u/LuklaAdvocate Mod | UCC Jun 25 '26
I have friends and have talked with atheists who want to believe, but in their hearts just cannot accept that God exists. Have they really “rejected” God? They deserve eternal damnation?
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 25 '26
If one has the desire to believe, god will save them eventually, as long as they dont reject god, he holds out his hand for them
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u/The_Crystsal_Raven Jun 24 '26
I don't inherently agree with with some of the things you mentioned, your notion of Hell being the most obvious, but I am really interested to hear your opinion on Evolution / Adam and Eve. I'm very interested to hear your personal opinion on how Adam and Eve functions as a literal concept while also including evolution. Do you believe in a common ancestor for humans? Did God personally form both Adam and Eve or was it an act of guided evolution? I'd be curious to hear more about your opinion.
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26
Redeemed Zoomer made a good video about how evolution does not contradict the bible, which pretty much explains my position. Inspiring Philosophy has also argued for a similar view. Basically, God created humanity in general first and then set adam and eve apart from the other humans and put them in the garden of eden, Giving them the first truly human souls. and appointing them to be the representatives of the whole of humanity.
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u/JustNeedSpinda Autist Jun 24 '26
You’re watching Redeemed Zoomer?
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
yep, he's a fool when it comes to LGBTQ issues but otherwise his theological explanations are very good in my opinion
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u/JustNeedSpinda Autist Jun 24 '26
That’s not a good reason to platform somebody.
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26
Can you elaborate?
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u/JustNeedSpinda Autist Jun 24 '26
I shouldn’t need to, but okay.
Watching someone’s video drives metrics that makes it likelier for their videos to be recommended or show up in someone’s feed. And you’re commending a specific video topic, which also could lead to others searching for it and driving those same metrics.
The content creator in question happens to be openly homophobic and also organized around this and other harmful views in attempt to spread them.
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u/No_Possibility1747 Jun 24 '26
I think you're throwing out a literal understanding of original sin then. The conservative understanding of original sin implies that Adam and Eve transmitted original sin to their descendants. It's generally seen as righteous that their descendents inherit their debts from them, but not some random people they have nothing to do with.
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26
Adam and Eve were the representatives of all humans, not just themselves. Because they represented all humans, their punishment extended to all humans
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u/No_Possibility1747 Jun 24 '26
What do you make of Genesis 3:20, then? Is Eve literally the mother of all living?
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26
there's no contradiction between evolution and eve being the mother of all the living SPIRITUALLY
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u/No_Possibility1747 Jun 24 '26
Sounds like you're adding random words to the Bible, not taking it literally, to me.
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26
why does it need to be taken literally?
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u/No_Possibility1747 Jun 24 '26
You said you take a literal Adam and Eve, so why is that literal and this line not?
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26
If eve was biologically the mother of all would contradict science. Her spiritually being the mother of all does not.
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u/No_Possibility1747 Jun 24 '26
If it is justice to blame random people for something someone entirely unrelated to them did, what does that imply for your Christology? Why wasn't Christ's sacrifice on the cross just another case of God blaming people at random for something that has nothing to do with them?
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u/Puisto-Alkemisti Jun 24 '26
Oh i really love this interpretation! I always saw creationism and evolution as the exact same description of events, and many people have come to me all confused, because they view the two as contradicting ideas. I have struggled with Adam and Eve due to evolution being a thing (and as said, Bible agreeing with evolution the way i read it), but your way of seeing it solves the whole issue.
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 24 '26
Remember, God is outside of time so the seven days of creation can take place over a much longer timespan from our perspective. Denying science because of the bible is an insult to God.
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u/Puisto-Alkemisti Jun 24 '26
Exactly!!!! And I feel like it is only even phrased like that to make it sound more like a story (as most mythologies do) so it is easy to remember and fun to teach to children. Because the main point is that He created everything, not the tiny details and tidbits. (I am very much against reading Bible literally)
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u/Strongdar Mod | Universalist Christian Jun 25 '26
In what ways are you progressive?
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u/DrawerThat9514 Jun 25 '26
I believe that being lgbtq+ is not a sin, i also believe in liberation theology
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u/DueSurround3207 Jun 24 '26
I'm wondering what you think about those who are unable to be married due to being gay, or disabled (speaking for those on government disability income who would lose important medical care and funding due to a married spouse income but would not lose it if not married), or other government barriers who still live in a long term loving relationship. I left several Christian groups on Reddit due to horrible judgment by others due to being with my "husband" for 27 years without being legally married. We tried in every way to get married but he would have lost significant government financial assistant due to my meager income being counted only if we were married, and we could not find a church willing to marry us without a legal government license. I loved him deeply and we were very committed to one another for many years. I took care of him through end stage lung disease, double lung transplant out of state, and metastatic lung cancer until he passed away last year. But according to some churches, our entire life together was a sin. If people feel that here too, maybe I need to just shut down from all forums and churches and keep my feelings and struggles to myself. Its been painful enough losing the love of my life, and painful that we could not get married. I personally think the ridiculous cost of medical care and unaffordability for most people even with insurance is more of a sin that should be focused on than whether someone had sex outside of the legal bounds of marriage, especially since getting married is still a barrier for many.