What is your doctrinal tradition and affiliation
Now about half of you will immediately say "Just Christian" that is not an honest response. I am not trying to get into a doctrinal fight about what is a denomination, but all of us have been taught or are affiliated with a church or doctrinal tradition.
I was raised Episcopalian as a kid and then got involved with Pentecostals for many years, the 2nd Church I started became Conservative Baptist, then I helped a Lutheran Church for ten yrs and joined it. Now I would clasiffy myself as an Evangelical who enjoy liturgy. Many would say at this point that I am a Liberal, but that only fits because I am quite literal where honesty is concerned.
So in many ways it is a full circle for me from child to now. I had a national Christian music ministry for twenty yrs and so that has taken me to many many different denominations.
I think the value here is that ones persons doctrinal speak is anothers gibberish. If our desire is to communicate knowing where you are coming from is helpful. For example if you are comfortable with the non biblical phrases of "personal savior" "age of accountability" and "dispansations" then you are from a Fundementalist background. By non biblical I am not saying those phrases are or are not valid, but they are not found in the bible, but are common among Fundementalist groups. On the other hand "Baptised in the Spirit" is found in the bible, but means something very different to the Evangelical than to the Pentecostal.
Christians frequently use the unique meanings of their doctrinal traditions to elevate themselves above others that don't use those terms.
In my area we have many mega churches who claim no denomination so the people say they are "just Christian" when their church has a parochiel school system, has a seminary, has many other congregations that owe allegence, so they are a denomination to themselves.
Really not trying to debate all this, but knowing your background, not who you are, but the tradition you have been taught and embraced is helpful to know what you are saying.
We are not all the same on this forum. I suspect there are Catholics, Pentecostals, Fundementalists, maybe even some cults present seeking Christian fellowhip here. God knows your heart, but knowing what you are saying is of everyones benefit.
I wrote this while thinking of being naked
Howdy Bluespoet from Houston Texas.
I agree. There are alot of churches that prefer to refer to themselves as "non-denominational", when the reality of the matter is that most of them actually have denominational roots.
Back in the 1980s, the Southern Baptist Convention went through a ton of turmoil. Several of the churches here in the Houston area, and I assume in many other areas, decided to remove "Baptist" from their public name, however, they still taught and many were still members of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Every church I have ever been involved with has stated emphatically that they only teach what is taught in the Bible. However, every one of them taught some things very differently. A few years ago, we moved, we feel at the prompting of the Holy Spirit,from a small Southern Baptist to a larger "non-denominational" church in our area. Initially, they explained that they held pretty much the same beliefs as our past church, albeit without the limitations on wine, dancing and smoking etc. However, after digging deeper, I found that they were actually a "Dispensational" church, with eschatological and soteriologicalteachings vastly different from the SBC.
It prompted me to start working on "100 Questions to Ask a Prospective Church" as a tool to help others discover which denominations match their beliefs most closely or as a tool to open discussions on "world views" or theology. The number of questions quickly grew past 100, but I got hung up in the discovery and discussion of "Dispensationalism", "Millenialism/Amillenialism" and "Partial Preterism". Someday I hope to continue with the project.
Very good responses, I am not saying one belief is better than another, but I think it helps to know each others background.
It is ironic to me that the Darbites who espouse dispansationalism don't know that they were founded by John Nelson Darby. All of my grandchildren are baptised Catholic and a couple are getting ready for their first communion. I will be there. I also think it interesting what our backgrounds are, because we all seem to be drawn to traidtions outside our primary tradition. So i think everyone for the response so far, but even in my intial post, I am not judging the rightness or wrongness of beleif, but seeking to discover your backgrounds and that is all part of you as a Christian
Hello,
I am Boyd Allen (Allen is my middle name), and my religious background is a lifetime part of the Worldwide Church of God, first founded by Herbert W. Armstong back in the forties.
It became a legalistic Saturday church and a few years after his death in '86, he predecessor, Joseph T'Katch started making changes as he began to understand the Trinity and what Jesus has really done. Though we lost over three quarters of our membership in the last ten years, it is growing again and with a new zeal that is very exciting.
To let you know how much has changed, I was able to tell our previous pastor and our current pastor about our naturism and our current pastor is excited about our ministry out here.
So there is hope and new excitement in our lives. So if I come across at times as a bit over zealous (teaching Christiainity on a Christian site), I appologize in advance.
My motto is "Live Nude and Prosper". I got the first one down pretty good.
Blessings,
Shouldn't that say "Come as you were born?"
Nah! If you are old enough to read the sign, then you are old enough for all sorts of corruptions to have entered into your life and heart.
I know where you are going with that though. Unfortunately however, most people driving past the sign will probably be clothed as most states frown on driving nude or intoxicated.
Some close friends of ours had been attending a Presbyterian Church and held strongly to Reformed theology. All of a sudden the had a falling out with their church due to the introduction of some teachings by HT Wright that it is possible to lose ones salvations, totally contrary to Reformed doctrine.
After a time of studying and reflection, they ended up joining (re-joining) the Catholic Church. I believe that their primary interest is the High-Church style litergy rather than the theology or traditions.
We have attend with then a couple of times, and it brings back a lot of memories as both my wife and I come from Catholic upbringings. She became a Baptist when she was around 12. Her parents figured that as long as she was going to church, it didn't matter which denomination she attended as long as Christ was preached. I became a Baptist when I was 20, after walking away from the church and God for about two years as I entered college biology and the endoctrination of naturalistic, Darwinian evolution. It wasn't until we got into the complexities of the DNA molecules that I began to see how futile and dogmatic Darwinian evolution really is.
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