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What kind of Christian do you think I am?

A genuine question because I’m not quite sure myself. I know I’m a Christian and always will be but have never quite figured what denomination reflects my views.

Here’s a summary of my beliefs.

I believe that there is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit/Ghost. I believe in the literal bodily resurrection of Christ and in a literal heaven and hell.

I believe the Bible was inspired by God and written by man, and that all parts of scripture are profitable to study. However I do not believe in Biblical literalism and I believe that especially the creation story and the stories in Genesis are poetic myths that capture and distil truth, rather than being necessarily literally true in all cases.

I believe that salvation can only be attained through Jesus Christ and there is no other path to the Kingdom of God. I don’t rule out the possibility that some people without *explicit* faith in Christ might nonetheless be saved through his grace (so I am an inclusivist but definitely not a universalist).

I don’t accept the contradiction between belief in salvation by faith alone and by faith and works. True, saving faith inevitably leads to one performing good works, and faith without works is bankrupt - it’s not belief in God but merely acceptance of an intellectual theory about him. But I don’t believe in a works-based theology where we justify ourselves in God’s eyes by committing good deeds, since no one could possibly be saved on such a standard.

I don’t accept the Pope as anything more than a fallible human being, but I respect the current Pope as a theological voice worth listening to. I believe that many, though not all, Popes have been virtuous Christians who have helped the Christian community.

I am convinced by the historical arguments for their canonicity and thus accept the books of the Catholic deuterocanon (1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon etc.) as inspired scripture.

I believe that at least some souls may go to a form of purgatory after death, and that prayers said for the dead are far from pointless. But I also believe that traditional imagery of purgatory as a place of fire and torment is not accurate, and that purgatory is simply a place of purgation of sin - how this happens, and who ends up there, are questions we can’t answer.

I don’t believe in a penal substitutionary view of atonement. Instead I tend to see Christ’s death as a ransom to Satan to free mankind from the bondage of inherited sin, or else through the ‘Christus Victor’ idea. But I view theories about how atonement works as ultimately secondary to faith in that it *does* work.

I believe that God does not predetermine, but instead infallibly knows who will believe and be saved. Although God knows from the beginning of the world who will go where, the choice is still with the individual. (I think this is the Arminian view.)

I believe that Jesus will come again to judge mankind and bring the Kingdom of Heaven to fruition.
 

sooda

Veteran Member
A genuine question because I’m not quite sure myself. I know I’m a Christian and always will be but have never quite figured what denomination reflects my views.

Here’s a summary of my beliefs.

I believe that there is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit/Ghost. I believe in the literal bodily resurrection of Christ and in a literal heaven and hell.

I believe the Bible was inspired by God and written by man, and that all parts of scripture are profitable to study. However I do not believe in Biblical literalism and I believe that especially the creation story and the stories in Genesis are poetic myths that capture and distil truth, rather than being necessarily literally true in all cases.

I believe that salvation can only be attained through Jesus Christ and there is no other path to the Kingdom of God. I don’t rule out the possibility that some people without *explicit* faith in Christ might nonetheless be saved through his grace (so I am an inclusivist but definitely not a universalist).

I don’t accept the contradiction between belief in salvation by faith alone and by faith and works. True, saving faith inevitably leads to one performing good works, and faith without works is bankrupt - it’s not belief in God but merely acceptance of an intellectual theory about him. But I don’t believe in a works-based theology where we justify ourselves in God’s eyes by committing good deeds, since no one could possibly be saved on such a standard.

I don’t accept the Pope as anything more than a fallible human being, but I respect the current Pope as a theological voice worth listening to. I believe that many, though not all, Popes have been virtuous Christians who have helped the Christian community.

I am convinced by the historical arguments for their canonicity and thus accept the books of the Catholic deuterocanon (1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon etc.) as inspired scripture.

I believe that at least some souls may go to a form of purgatory after death, and that prayers said for the dead are far from pointless. But I also believe that traditional imagery of purgatory as a place of fire and torment is not accurate, and that purgatory is simply a place of purgation of sin - how this happens, and who ends up there, are questions we can’t answer.

I don’t believe in a penal substitutionary view of atonement. Instead I tend to see Christ’s death as a ransom to Satan to free mankind from the bondage of inherited sin, or else through the ‘Christus Victor’ idea. But I view theories about how atonement works as ultimately secondary to faith in that it *does* work.

I believe that God does not predetermine, but instead infallibly knows who will believe and be saved. Although God knows from the beginning of the world who will go where, the choice is still with the individual. (I think this is the Arminian view.)

I believe that Jesus will come again to judge mankind and bring the Kingdom of Heaven to fruition.

Episcopalian......
 
Episcopalian......

I’m nominally Anglican so of course we’re in communion with the Episcopal Church in the US. But sometimes their pivot to theological liberalism does put me off. Not that I see myself as an arch-conservative but some figures in the Episcopal Church seem to take things a little far for me.
 
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sooda

Veteran Member
I’m nominally Anglican so of course we’re in communion with the Episcopalian Church. But sometimes their pivot to theological liberalism does put me off. Not that I see myself as an arch-conservative but some figures in the Episcopalian Church seem to take things a little far for me.

Do you live in England?
 
In the US we have high church and low church Episcopalian. High church is like Anglican.

Yes, I think a divide exists within the Church of England in that regard too. Most of my local churches (although they’re lovely and do a great deal to benefit the community) very much tend to the low-church, evangelical approach. Whereas I’m sure you’ve figured that my beliefs incline a lot more to the high-church, even Anglo-Catholic approach, with a lot more interest in tradition and probably a lot more common ground with Roman Catholicism than most Anglicans tend to have.
 

sooda

Veteran Member
Yes, I think a divide exists within the Church of England in that regard too. Most of my local churches (although they’re lovely and do a great deal to benefit the community) very much tend to the low-church, evangelical approach. Whereas I’m sure you’ve figured that my beliefs incline a lot more to the high-church, even Anglo-Catholic approach, with a lot more interest in tradition and probably a lot more common ground with Roman Catholicism than most Anglicans tend to have.

I moved back to a town after an absence of 5 years and my old church had turned Evangelical.. I walked out.
 

Shiranui117

Pronounced Shee-ra-noo-ee
Premium Member
A genuine question because I’m not quite sure myself. I know I’m a Christian and always will be but have never quite figured what denomination reflects my views.

Here’s a summary of my beliefs.

I believe that there is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit/Ghost. I believe in the literal bodily resurrection of Christ and in a literal heaven and hell.

I believe the Bible was inspired by God and written by man, and that all parts of scripture are profitable to study. However I do not believe in Biblical literalism and I believe that especially the creation story and the stories in Genesis are poetic myths that capture and distil truth, rather than being necessarily literally true in all cases.

I believe that salvation can only be attained through Jesus Christ and there is no other path to the Kingdom of God. I don’t rule out the possibility that some people without *explicit* faith in Christ might nonetheless be saved through his grace (so I am an inclusivist but definitely not a universalist).

I don’t accept the contradiction between belief in salvation by faith alone and by faith and works. True, saving faith inevitably leads to one performing good works, and faith without works is bankrupt - it’s not belief in God but merely acceptance of an intellectual theory about him. But I don’t believe in a works-based theology where we justify ourselves in God’s eyes by committing good deeds, since no one could possibly be saved on such a standard.

I don’t accept the Pope as anything more than a fallible human being, but I respect the current Pope as a theological voice worth listening to. I believe that many, though not all, Popes have been virtuous Christians who have helped the Christian community.

I am convinced by the historical arguments for their canonicity and thus accept the books of the Catholic deuterocanon (1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon etc.) as inspired scripture.

I believe that at least some souls may go to a form of purgatory after death, and that prayers said for the dead are far from pointless. But I also believe that traditional imagery of purgatory as a place of fire and torment is not accurate, and that purgatory is simply a place of purgation of sin - how this happens, and who ends up there, are questions we can’t answer.

I don’t believe in a penal substitutionary view of atonement. Instead I tend to see Christ’s death as a ransom to Satan to free mankind from the bondage of inherited sin, or else through the ‘Christus Victor’ idea. But I view theories about how atonement works as ultimately secondary to faith in that it *does* work.

I believe that God does not predetermine, but instead infallibly knows who will believe and be saved. Although God knows from the beginning of the world who will go where, the choice is still with the individual. (I think this is the Arminian view.)

I believe that Jesus will come again to judge mankind and bring the Kingdom of Heaven to fruition.
You sound exactly like an Eastern Orthodox Christian. We believe basically all the same things.
 
You sound exactly like an Eastern Orthodox Christian. We believe basically all the same things.

Interesting! I have a friend from Romania who belongs to the Eastern Orthodox Church, and we don't seem to have any obvious areas of disagreement. I shall have to attend a service some time and see what it's like (of course, the Orthodox church doesn't have too much of a presence over here in England, but nice to know it's so close to my brand of Anglicanism in so many ways).
 

Shiranui117

Pronounced Shee-ra-noo-ee
Premium Member
Interesting! I have a friend from Romania who belongs to the Eastern Orthodox Church, and we don't seem to have any obvious areas of disagreement. I shall have to attend a service some time and see what it's like (of course, the Orthodox church doesn't have too much of a presence over here in England, but nice to know it's so close to my brand of Anglicanism in so many ways).
Yeah, the Russian Orthodox Church was actually beginning to consider unification talks with the Anglicans until some changes were made to Anglican Holy Orders and women started being ordained in the 60's. Let me know if you decide to go to an Orthodox Liturgy and I can give you a text for the Liturgy in English (if it's Romanian and in Western Europe, it's probably going to be a Liturgy done entirely or mostly in Romanian).
 
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