I stumbled across a thread yesterday about progressive Christianity, and as someone who used to claim that label, there are some problems with that camp. (Thread)

I was drawn to it because it seemed to be more about encompassing Jesus' acts than evangelicalism/whatever it was that I had come from. (I don't think I was ever evangelical, to be honest, but I never quite found a label for what I was attempting to unpack, so I stuck with that

one)

Anyway, I liked that prog Christianity seemed to be about what Jesus DID, as opposed to simply believing in Jesus and boom, that's it, it doesn't really change your life. Cool. I was a progressive Christian. Sweet.

The more I moved around in various deconstruction circles online, I started to pick up on some things. First, it was very works based. If you weren't doing what some person deemed more marginalized than you should be doing, you'd get attacked.

There was a hierarchy to this marginalization. Some groups were allowed to voice their struggles, while others who did were shot down or gaslit and attacked. There were some issues you could talk about, but others, you couldn't mention without everyone swarming you. There were

some groups that had zero space to say anything in such circles. They pressured people into revealing very personal information/trauma. If you pushed back against what they said, they would attack you. There was little room for nuance, and you had to go with the flow or there was

a cost.

It seemed everyone who ran in those circles (myself included at times) was building a faith and a worldview solely on being anti-evangelicalism/anti-whatever-we-came-from. There is a time to unpack your beliefs to see what holds up under the light, but some were taking things

apart simply because the church they had left believed that way. It was completely reactionary. At first, it was empowering, but then it became a whole new set of constraints and checklists. "Do this" or you're privileged. "Follow this voice," "do what they say," "share your

platform," "if you only post online, you aren't doing enough." To which I say "no, I have real life obligations," "I need to follow voices who encourage me," "I don't have a platform, I'm on Twitter to share my experiences," I'm just one person.

The social justice stuff never stops. I agree that social justice is important, but last fall, I heard so many prayers about social justice at my progressive church that I sat there and hung my head in frustration. Why weren't we talking about Jesus? Why weren't we encouraging?

It was something that just took, and took, and took, and it was never satisfied. There was always something more to take. Listen, I can only worry about my corner of the world, my personal irl relationships, and I can try to encourage someone online. That's about all I can do.

I cannot take down systemic injustice. I am one person. And the constant pressure to be on about this cause, speak up for that cause, follow this person, join that group, go to this march, etc., etc., etc., is exhausting.

A lot of the progressive ethics are entirely reactionary. When I read Scripture, I see things in PC that go directly against Scripture.

Now for the more important part: Jesus. I started really having issues in the spring of 2019 when I was in certain online groups and discussions would turn to Jesus. People wanted to reduce him to simply a person who did good things and showed us how to live on Earth.

That was my final breaking point. I believe Jesus is the reason we have Christianity. Period. Without Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection, Christianity would not exist. I doubted the resurrection for a while (deconstruction makes you question everything) but one day that changed.

Without Jesus being the point of everything, we're wasting our breath and making things up as we go. And a lot of progressive Christians DO make things up as they go.

Please don't read this and get offended, I'm simply sharing my own experience, and every part of this thread is true from that lens. Don't "not all progressive Christians" when these folks ARE a part of your camp.

I still attend a progressive church and I stay because they welcome me wherever I am in my journey, but I don't really hear a whole lot about Jesus anymore. My former church is all about Jesus, but I'm 30 and not married with multiple children, so I don't really fit there either.

I'm someone who fits in neither camp and I mostly do my own thing and try to keep Jesus the center of it all. It's pretty lonely out here, but I'm not alone. I'm thinking about becoming Episcopalian, but I don't know if that will be a good fit for me or not. /end thread