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F/T Christians

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I refer to my fundamentalist and traditional Christian friends a lot in comparison to my personal faith. Throughout my posts, I will endeavor to use the acronym F/T to refer to Fundamentalist/Traditional Christians.  A few definitions are in order– keep in mind that these are my own definitions, my understandings as I write my posts:

Fundamentalist Christian:  A Christian who believes all orthodox doctrines are laws, the Bible is inerrant, literal and the only perfect revelation from God Himself.  Jesus, the only perfect human, was born of a virgin and conceived by God Himself and is part of the divine Trinity, thus is not only prayed to– he is also worshiped, sometimes in lieu of God.  Jesus died on the cross to atone for the sins of all humanity, was physically raised from death directly to God, and whoever accepts this (accepts Jesus into his/her heart as his/her Lord and Savior) will enjoy eternal life in Heaven with God– as opposed to eternal damnation in Hell, which is reserved for everyone else.  To a fundamentalist, it is “ALL-OR-NOTHING.”  To question or reject any of this is to directly question or reject God Himself, a damnable, blasphemous act.

Fundamentalists tend to confuse worshiping their beliefs with worshiping God.  They are so mired by their beliefs in the Bible, their beliefs about Jesus, their beliefs about God– that they can’t open themselves up to experience the fullness of God’s true expression.  They are worshiping their IMAGE OF GOD– and they don’t see that is idolatry.

Traditional Christian: A relaxed fundamentalist.  They believe most, but not all the above Christian doctrines.  Often they may hold that the Bible is not 100% literal or that the Bible may have mistakes in depiction– but certainly not inspiration.  They may not be in strict adherence to the concepts of the Trinity, virgin birth, miracles, etc., as they are not “salvation issues.”  They hold pretty much the same views of Jesus’ role as sacrificial lamb to mankind as fundamentalists and are inflexible in Jesus’ role in mankind’s salvation.  They may tolerate alternate faith paths, but they hold that theirs is the only one that leads directly to God– that is why they believe.  They ascribe to the concepts of God’s judgment via Heaven and Hell– but not necessarily as strictly defined as fundamentalist views.

Like Fundamentalists, Traditional Christians are mired in their beliefs and are wary of any new ways of expressing Gods expression.  They cannot even consider that they may be on the wrong track because they see doubt as on of the most feared traits of unbelief that inevitably leads to apostasy and damnation.

Progressive Christian:  Basically, a progressive Christian is anyone who considers themselves a Christian but doesn’t fall into either of the above categories. Such a Christian believes that there is no one way to experience, describe, or please God.  They stress following Christ’s lead in loving others and bringing justice to the world.  They tend to favor what we DO over what we BELIEVE.  Theirs is not an exclusive, tribal faith– but one in symbiosis with other belief systems that stress Christ-like (love, justice) behavior for salvation.  They believe that knowledge, intelligence, imagination, and common sense can walk hand-in-hand with faith, so supernatural tenants of Christian doctrine (i.e. virgin birth, original sin, miracles, physical resurrection and ascension, etc.) are often discarded as superfluous.  They often refer to an After Life, but generally not as Heaven or Hell– and usually not as part of an act of Godly judgment.

Progressives understand that God is unknowable– therefore they don’t fear questions, doubt, or even unbelief.  They recognize God as the source of knowledge, intelligence, imagination, and common sense– so to censor them would be to deny the full expression and experience of God.  They shy from orthodoxy and tend to believe that which makes sense– not that which has traditionally been believed.


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