A question for Christians

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As a former fundamentalist Christian, I used to profess that those who didn't put their faith in Christ were going to hell. Of course, I never truly believed that. Was out of my character.

Kraichgauer: "I've never heard of evangelicals being classed as mainline Christians. "

I do not, of course, have statistics, nor am I sure how to weight numbers versus - shall we say - activity, but my distinct impression is that in today's USA Evangelicals [excluding the fringe] are [at least] as mainstream as liturgicals.

Of course, mainstream in terms of society need not correlate with being on the main stem of Christianity.

Well, speaking as a mainline Protestant, I was raised with the perception that evangelicals were outside our theological sphere, as they tended to be more intolerant. That is, their belief that salvation was only given to those who are born again and baptized as an adult, are extremely literalistic in their biblical interpretation, along with their belief in the rapture, the 1,000 year earthly reign of Christ, and other aspects of end time theology, all of which separates evangelicals from mainline Protestants.
I know it may not be nice to call someone else the other, but it's kind of hard not to when they're telling us that we're not real Christians, and are all going to hell. And no, I don't believe evangelicals are damned, just damned fools and bigots.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

To those of us who don't believe in hell, your position is a lot more intolerant than theirs.

And how is that? I said I consider them to be Christians, even though they often will not afford the same to me.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

In my post [Episcopal forced attendance] boyhood and pre [switched over from atheist ] middle age I understood Evangelical as you, basically taking off from old Oral Roberts TV observed in my teens.

But SINCE the switchover I have had occasion to deal with Evangelicals, Pentecostals [the liturgicals tend to lump them with Evangelicals but they and the Evangelicals proper reject that] liturgicals, and none of the aboves of a wide range of background and stance. I think there are more fringe [heavy doctrine low tolerance] variants among the Evangelicals and Pentecostals than among the liturgicals and old time nonliturgicals; but the majority of Evangelicals and Penecxostals I have met or whose stuff I have read are less fringy than Wisconsin Synod for example, not at all far from serious Catholic.

There is a case where the outside observer could easily reference this and figure out whether even anybody seems to fit ...

“A renewed command I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
“By this shall [everyone else] know that you are My taught ones, if you have love for one another.”
(John 13:34-35, ISR)

Ah, yes - but then people quibble about who comes into "one another"?

Looking at the Christ's dicta overall, it could seem clear that one another, one's brother, should not be restricted to the in-group, as per the Good Samaritan.

But the unredeemed flesh will keep rearing its ugly head, and Screwtape points out that seeing the coreligionist as a brother is one of the highest hurdles.

Understood and agreed, but the casual observer (outsider) is not likely to know all of that and might therefore just rightly (imo) dismiss the entire crew and continue looking elsewhere!

Then I stand corrected for those evangelicals who you've met and liked. I agree with you on the Wisconsin Synod. They used to be best buddies with my own Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, till they went off the deep end. Michelle Bachmann is a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran, and if her religion is anything like her politics, then she's definitely beyond the pale.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Now the Church of Rome is not mainstream?

It is getting like the old saw about who is a Yankee - any American, Northerners, New Englanders, "one who eats pie for breakfast".

We need agreed boundaries. By my understandings, a non-fringe Catholic is as mainstream as a non-fringe Evangelical.

Are you talking to me? Because if you are; then yes, I believe most Roman Catholics are mainstream. It's the nutty Catholic fundamentalists who want to go back to a Latin Mass, and who are known for their Antisemitism in this day and age (Mel Gibson comes to mind) who are far out of the mainstream.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Well, speaking as a Southerner, the general perception of what defines a Yankee is such that it's not a good thing. I think "one who eats pie for breakfast" is definitely up to something not good and likely befitting the low character of a Yankee. I think it's in the 10 Commandments somewhere... Lemme look:

Exodus 20--Thou shalt have no other gods before me; thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image; thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy; honour thy father and mother; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not eat pie for breakfast...

HEY, there it is!! !

...thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness against they neighbour; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet they neighbour's pie...

There it is again.

...nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his @$$...

I love it.

...nor anything that is thy neighbour's.

So, yeah, there are commandments about pie, especially before breakfast. Looks like negative attitudes towards Yankees are justified, after all!

hmmm, double post

Last edited by MarketAndChurch on 29 Apr 2011, 6:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

These are really rough numbers, but 25-30% of Americans are Evangelical, 20-25% are catholic, and 15-20% are mainstream protestant.

So between 60% to 75% of Americans belong to one of those three groups. Evangelicals are one of the largest religious groups in America with over 50million + members. Even if they only made up 15% of the US population, that is still mainstream within Christianity.

Hmmm... as I was kind of afraid of, this thread took a lot of distant twists and turns, but thanks for your answers, everybody.