Both Feet and a Whip

Why do Christians have to be conservatives? 

Once I was talking to a preacher about his thoughts. He said, “But of course I’m a conservative.” I wondered at the time, why “of course”?

I have learned since then how indoctrinated many Christian communities have become in the belief that conservative=godly and liberal=hedonism.  Even though I consider myself a liberal, I still feel the value judgements of those words. 

But why? Was Jesus a conservative? 

Conservative means people who want to hold on to tradition and who are reluctant to change. The dictionary offers orthodox, cautious and safe as other synonyms. But was that Jesus? 

• Jesus said repeatedly, “This is what you were taught, but now I’m telling you….” 
• His harshest words were for the religious leaders. 
• He stayed out of Roman politics, but jumped into Jewish politics with both feet and a whip. 
• Jesus was not just liberal, he was radical. 
• He was revolutionary. 
• He was so unsettling to the status quo that they killed him for it. 

They executed him for his words.