Me and My Liberal Ways

I have been labeled a liberal in many cases through out my life. The tattoos, the style of dress, my politics and especially the way I approach the way the church runs. In my current position as a church Youth Director I am definitely seen as the young, mostly immature, liberal just out of college mind that still has to embrace the reality of the "real world". My boss even quoted to me that most conservatives are "liberals who have been punched in the gut by reality", meaning that give it time Wes, you will realize that with a family, kids especially, that it suites you better to play it safer and therefore be a conservative.

I am not sure how I feel about that. And actually don't know how super left that I really am. Over coffee yesterday, my best friend was able to point out that he doesn't believe that I am that liberal, at least not from a theological stand point. Instead, I am some one who rebels from the system and most of my growing up years was experiencing how the "system" was flawed. Church structure, government, the education system, cultural expectations are all things that I think twice about and sometimes will fight against just because I don't want to conform. I think that puts me in Driscoll's first lane of Emergence...the one that still uses the scripture as my base, but wants to see Church and therefore life gone about in a different way.

I have to ask myself, was Jesus a liberal? Was he a rebel? The bigger question to those however, is why? Why would he be considered liberal? Why would he be considered a rebel? And I believe that the reality of those statements is that Jesus knew that He had a better way, something greater than the system that was in place. So, where do I go from here?