Protestantism

» Brian Tubbs - US, Bush, Christianity

In response to US Entertainment industry posted by siminspain:

Well, Simon, there's a lot packed into your post.

First clarification, a LOT depends on what you mean by "Christian." Do we mean that as a social, demographic classification or as a descriptor for a true believer in and follower of Jesus Christ?

Second main issue, Europe and the USA have diverged significantly in terms of their socio-cultural perspectives. Europe is more communal and generally more liberal. The USA is more individualistic and more conservative. This is an oversimplification, I know, but it's generally correct.

Britain is literally a cross between mainland European culture/values and those of the USA. The United States is a byproduct of British expansionism and semi-capitalism. (Which later turned to mercantilism and helped trigger the American Revolution). The USA was founded on British common law, British economic values of commercialism and expansionism, and Anglicanism (which became very evangelical and revivalist in America).

As I type this, I'm realizing more and more that this is a DEEP and COMPLEX issue.

Bottom line....the United States, Britain (and its Commonwealth, incl Canada), and Mainland Europe all represent different cultural and social perspectives in western civilization. And THIS FACT influences their respective understandings of Christianity.

A great book on this is America's God by Mark Noll. He digs deep into demographics research in the 1700s and 1800s to show the religous history of the United States.

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» Brian Tubbs - Baptists

Pink will appreciate this, Simon, since he (like me) grew up Baptist. Unlike me, though, he...I'll be kind....drifted away.

Seriously, two denominations played a HUGE role in American religious history. The first would be the Methodists, who broke away from the Anglicans. And the second were the Baptists.

The Baptists, in particular, are significant, because they are (in many ways) unique to America. They are an offshoot of the European Anabaptists, but more so of the New World evangelical congregationalists.

If you want to get an idea of how an evangelical Christian in the USA can, at the same time, support war.....study the Baptists.

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» pink101 - Enoch

In response to Semi-Christians Like Pink posted by BrianTubbs:
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I laughed and took it like you meant it.
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:)
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I don's know what I should be called. I do know, however, what I believe and I know I have sorted it out after giving most of what I have been exposed to great consideration.
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Presently, I am trying to learn about the Kabbalah. It's very interesting, Brian. They have a lot to say about Christianity.
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I have always been extremely partial to the Crucified One. Always ever since I first heard of him. I believe I know why he gave his life up; although, I'm not buying all the hype of the religiosity that has been built up around him and his life.
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What do you have to say about Enoch? Will you be doing a paper or a sermon on him? I would find that quite interesting.
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-- posted by pink101

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» Simon Davies - Baptists

In response to Baptists posted by BrianTubbs:
Brian,

This is fascinating. I am from a reformed baptist background in the UK, which is a very minority group, so I have some idea of what you are talking about.

The link between christians (those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Saviour) and politics is something that I have thought about from time to time - maybe I will do some more study on the American Baptists.

Regards,

Simon

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» pink101 - Baptists

In response to Baptists posted by siminspain:

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My sister who spent 50 years as a missionary in South America has now become a Reformed Baptist after all those years as a Fundamentalist aka Evangelical Baptist.
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They claim their beliefs are not pure Calvinism--only partially.
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-- posted by pink101

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» Simon Davies - Baptists

In response to Baptists posted by pink101:
Here we see the weakness of labels!
You have equated Fundamentalist and Evangelical and contrasted it with Reformed. Then you have contrasted Reformed with Calvinism.
I personally would call myself evangelical without hesitation but distance myself from fundamentalists. I would doubt that I am totally reformed but would affirm calvinism as a correct biblical interpretation!
It all comes down to what you associate with the labels!
Now thats post-modern (or is it?)!
Maybe I'll write an article on the christian labels or something.

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» pink101 - Postmodernism

In response to Baptists posted by siminspain:

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Yes, I would say that's post-modernism. Everything must be seen or taken in the context in which it is given.
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Fundamentalism speaks of a movement which started in the USA about 1920. It was an outgrowth of the millenialism of the nineteenth century. At midcentury a Presbyterian minister, Carl McIntyre, rose to prominence as the major representative of Fundamentalist thinking. He was so obnoxious to the general protestant Christian that they disavowed the label of Fundamentalist and took on the mantle of Evangelical.
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The Reformed Baptists I know, claim they are not "strict Calvinists" at all. In fact, they try to trace their roots around Calvinism back to the first century.
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It's a tough call, though. And, you are correct about post-modernism. Everything must be understood by itself. Generalized labels just don't do the job anymore.
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-- posted by pink101

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» moin - please clarify this!...please dont mistake for asking this...

please dont mistake me!?...i just wanna discuss something with u.kindly clarify this.
how can u unite the christians? i mean , how can u unite catholics, protestants,jehovah, and others who is having different sense of basic belief in God?
how can u unite different sects of christians though protestants reject 7 books of new testament?
how can u call christians as christians as there was no quotation from the new testament of bible
does not show evidence that jesus himself told ' i am a christian' (there is not any unequivocal statement in the whole bible that jesus says that.but rather the word christian , appeared in bible three times,was used by a pagan and jews of antioch ,check acts 11:26,acts 26:28,1 peter 4: 16.my question is 'are christians following jesus or pagans!?' ,if that is the case, how can we eradicate evils of tyre in this place though we support evils!)
there is no name of the way used by the prophets in old testament,like for adam -adamity,ishmael- ishmaelity,abraham- abrahamity...., then how come the word to way of jesus is christianity,moreover , there is no word 'christianity' in the whole bible)
the word for son in greek bible is paidos.but if u refer the Greek dictionary, the actual meaning is servant. so jesus is not son of God but Servant of God.(muslim-servant of God) .no muslim is muslim if he reject the prophethood of jesus.we believe jesus is the prophet of God, but we dont believe that jesus is son of God!.even jesus doesnt says this in the whole bible.
according to bible(supposed to be the book of God) and in the Quran, All prophets are muslims,meaning servants of God, abraham,ishmael,moses,jesus,and all others are servants of God, but not the Sons of God.most christians say jesus is the son of God,but in the bible in several places the word son is attributed to many prophets..muslims believe torah,injeel.but the books what christians holding is not the real injeel.it has Gospel of Mark,Luke,Jhon,Matthew (no one is the one among the 12 disciples of jesus),where is Gospel of JESUS(peace be upon him)!!!!!?????
even for the sake of understanding, if we accept, how can we have 2 geneologies for jesus.mathew 1 :6-16 (26 forefathers),luke 3:23-31 (41 forefathers)...in all these, the name GOD is not there(if jesus supposed to be the begotten son of God , where is the word of God in the geneology given).if u r quoting geneology of your son has 40 forefathers and in that if your name is not there,what will u say about him!!!!????....In the Book of God , will God say like that...)
i asked several priests about these things.but no one answers! i appreciate if u answer.i am having lots of clarifications needed from the bible. i will glad to discuss with u as my brother, about these things.i dont want the christian brothers (sorry to use this word to identify) i mean that followers of jesus,to go in a wrong way....i am doing my research as much as i can in the bible to know what it says.if the questions that i asked hurts you, i am very much sorry !!!!....
please answer these questions! i feel very much hectic unless i get the answers for these questions from priests.....!!!!

-- posted by moin

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» pink101 - please clarify this!...please dont mistake for asking this...

In response to please clarify this!...please dont mistake for asking this... posted by moin:
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Greetings to you, Moin.
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We have a slight language problem. Your english is a little shakey; but, I think I get the main thrust of what it is that you want to say.
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We are brothers and sisters and, we are all in life together.
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So, we are all bothers and sisters.
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What you write makes good sense.
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:)
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-- posted by pink101

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» Brian Tubbs - answer to moin

In response to please clarify this!...please dont mistake for asking this... posted by moin:

Moin, thanks for taking the time to write out your questions. In reading through your post a couple times, I see two main questions -

1) to paraphrase Rodney King -- "Why can't we all get along?" or put another way, "Don't we have more things in common than not?" and

2) does the Bible really, truly teach that Jesus is the Son of God in terms of actual Deity?

Am I understanding your questions correctly? If so, I'll do my best to address them. But I want to make sure I am understanding you first.

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