Soul Liberty

[MsCread]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anybody has really observed this being practiced in local church assemblies?

TIA

[jeremiah]

What is "soul liberty"?

[MsCread]

Soul Liberty is something the pastor of the local Baptist Church just mentioned to me. It's basically where a human/Christian is entitled to believe or hold to their interpretations of scripture and God and that they alone stand answerable before God on Judgement Day.

A Christian may have differing views of interpretation of scripture to their local church and are still entitled to hold those views as long as they are not in gross error of scripture.

I have never heard it mentioned before but it came up in a chat about church membership and individual interpretation versus what the church's stance on some issues are.

It's sounds okay but I wonder how it's practiced really?

TIA

[mattrose]

It sounds like a fancy title for something almost everyone already assumes to be the case. Would the opposite of soul liberty be membership in a cult?

[Michelle]

I didn't know the term either, so I looked it up. We, in America, take Soul Liberty for granted, but it wasn't always so. Maybe it's not always held tightly to even today.

Would the opposite of soul liberty be membership in a cult?

Probably.

In the past, the opposite of soul liberty was to suffer excommunication, banishment, seizure of property, and execution. Even in the original colonies this was the case, until Roger Williams and William Penn started their colonies which began to turn the tide.

In America, we are free to believe whatever we want. Yet, sometimes the opposite seems to rear its ugly head. You, mattrose, mentioned cults, which famously demand uniformity of thought.

Michael Licona was forced to resign the North American Mission Board (oh, wow, a Baptist organization — the very people who were so persecuted in previous generations) because he wrote that perhaps the resurrection of the saints in Jerusalem (recorded in Matthew 27:52) might be apocalyptic symbolism rather than absolute literal history. He was accused of denying inerrancy of scripture. So much for his own conscience before God, eh?

[jeremiah]

Thanks Tia (is this short for something? at my house this means "aunt"),

That does clear it up, though that seems like a strange way to say something like freedom of conscience. It reminds me of when I hear folk say stuff like "pot faith" instead of "pot luck." Ultimately it's not a big deal, but it still bugs me sometimes that they feel they must use a sanitized 'christian' version of a phrase that communicates just fine.

It's sounds okay but I wonder how it's practiced really?

I think the best place to start is with a much greater commitment to humility in learning the scriptures, and as well with the family of God than the acquisition of knowledge. I think if love unfolded among the family of God has well established roots beneath it, then discussions about even the nature of the atonement though differing can still be edifying to all. If we don't cherish each other, disallowing cultivation to occur, then we can be sure that same conversation will only produce envy, strife, and possibly the destruction of one for whom Christ died.

The most memorable of Steve Gregg's mp3s in my opinion is called: Strategies For Unity. If you haven't listened to it, please do, I bet you'll enjoy it. You can find it here, in the middle column, the fifth from the top

Grace and peace to you.

[MsCread]

The most memorable of Steve Gregg's mp3s in my opinion is called: Strategies For Unity. If you haven't listened to it, please do, I bet you'll enjoy it. You can find it here, in the middle column, the fifth from the top

Thanks Jeremiah, just listened and really enjoyed this teaching very much

[MsCread]

It sounds like a fancy title for something almost everyone already assumes to be the case. Would the opposite of soul liberty be membership in a cult?

[mattrose]

I think most people are familiar with this concept through the more famous quote "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity."

[MsCread]

I think most people are familiar with this concept through the more famous quote "In essential unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity."

Amen bother!