Comments on: on Defining “Christian”

By: Guitar Eddie

Guitar Eddie — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:29:10 +0000

I have met some Christians define themselves with the old saw:

“I’m not religious. I just love Jesus!”

This statement has always struck me as somewhat disingenuous. I therefore have at times retorted:

“Well, I’m not a pothead. I jus smoke marijuana.”

The logic is essentially the same.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:56:52 +0000

I think you’re going to find attending a Christian school to be an interesting experience, xJane. As I’ve probably said here before, I attended a university that is run by the Mennonite Brethren. I was worried that I’d be getting hit over the head by religion all the time, but aside from a couple of specific incidents with specific students, it wasn’t like that at all. The two years it took me to do my upper division work ended up being one of the best educational experiences I’ve ever had.

While I was there, I took an independent study on the anthropology of religion, and as part of that I surveyed the undergrad student body (just under 1,000 students that semester) concerning what religions and denominations they identify as. By far the biggest group, bigger than even the MBs going to school there, was “nondenominational”, and when I wrote the analysis of my survey, I concluded that “nondenominational” has now become a denomination. I’m pretty sure I still feel that way.

One of the other things I learned while I was at FPU was that “evangelicals” are not a monolithic block at all. The stereotype is of the Biblical literalist, politically and socially conservative, evangelical, but I found just as many progressives, politically and theologically, as I did conservatives.

By: xJane

xJane — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:19:50 +0000

Lessie: I guess what I’m trying to articulate is that I feel that some of the more fundamental sects hide behind a “just Christian” lable, blending in with people like your grandparents, who likely mean me no harm…

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:40:25 +0000

Sounds similar to what C.S. Lewis outlined in Mere Christianity. He gave Christianity in broad strokes, very basic levels, mostly what the different branches had in common. But at the end he described said “mere” Christianity as being like standing in a hallway with a multitude of doors leading off of it. Inside the rooms there is comfort and company and warmth, the hallway is just meant to be a vehicle to that.

By: Lessie

Lessie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:52:34 +0000

I’m not entirely sure I understand . . . My grandparents have never been church goers, but they identify as Christian. They’re not trying to sneak up on anyone, they just have no use for organized religion. Or is that what you’re trying to say?