How Reactionary (Conservative) Thinking Can Hinder More Truth From Being Taught

I am wondering how being "conservative" is hindering the advancement of the kingdom of God. Many conservatives know the harmful effects of being "liberal" that violate God's will, but is modern political conservatism the answer? Is it the only alternative? I say no.

What I mean is NOT to become "liberal," as most of us understand these two terms in our political world. What I mean is to understand what conservative thought is better and, especially, its limitations. I am coming from a behavioral standpoint most of all, because my concern surrounds the fact that "conservative" means "reactionary."

If we are always reacting (conservative) to the world which by doing so we relinquish leadership to the "active" (liberal), then they set the agenda. Why does this matter? It matters because, generationally, conditioned reactionaries don't set the agenda, obviously, but more so, this matters because truth cannot be taught and/or known when letting others who are considered or known not to teach truth are setting the agenda. We end up getting lost in conservatism, looking back instead of forward, and stagnantly repeating signals reactively. We are not leading. We are reacting. And reacting equals conservative.

The best way I know right now is to illustrate this by using a commonly accepted group among us as an illustration. Apologetics Press does great work. My wife and I support AP monthly and benefit greatly from their work in the debate, and here comes my point, (reacting) against the General Theory of Evolution and its attacks on the Bible.

What if the Bible (Genesis in particular) is not addressing Macro-Evolution in its context? Does not context determine meaning? Yes, it does. So what if we are reacting to the world's lead, but are not leading ourselves as God desires?

The biggest difference this makes as I see it right now is how being "conservative," or reactionary, keeps us connected to the world instead of an alternative to the world. The harmful result is that we are dependent on the world and not the world dependent on us. If we are a "religious" part of the world, then we are still "of the world." The kingdom of God is intended to be an alternative to the world--not a religious version of it.

Here is a link to a concise and insightful article written by Ben Putnam:

https://bashahar.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/the-day-the-world-was-destroyed/

(If you don't read Ben's article, then I feel you cannot really see anything differently than you do now).

Okay, Notice how the worldview of Peter, the apostle, in the first century AD, and especially, the worldview of Moses in the 15th century BC have nothing to do with the question of Evolution. They were viewing the world through a "Temple" (see Matt. 24 and how the apostles thought the end of the world would come if the Temple was destroyed, e.g.).

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying "don't support AP" or that we need to discourage their work in stopping Evolution's influence of convincing people there is no God. I am saying that we need to move on, move ahead, "liberally" not "conservatively." Stop being only reactionary and see where this leads us in the church. I think that it will lead us more out of the world, make us more distinct from the world, and a real alternative to the world--not a religious part of it.

Perhaps some from AP are already incorporating the ANE worldview into their writings, and they are certainly the ones most qualified to do it.

Again, my point is that a modern "conservative" mindset is hindering the truth about our own book.

Our "reaction" to Evolution may need to be, "Of course, we don't believe in the General Theory of Evolution, Our book discusses the world from a "Temple" worldview--not a post-Enlightenment scientific worldview."

Instead of constantly reacting conservatively to the liberal leadership which only manifests our dependency on them, let's understand our own book better and teach it to the world whom we, then, would clearly not be a part of.

As a young earth creationist who actively studied AP's material which helped me lay a solid foundation in my mind against Macro-Evolution, I encourage everyone to read their work against it, but when it comes to political conservatism--I think this mentality is a hindrance to our growth and advancing the kingdom of God.

How can we lead people while letting them set the agenda?