Yes! We are hypocrites, which is why we and the world are in desperate need of the gospel.
Can’t you see the bigger picture? Trump winning the presidency has been a huge blessing from God. Trump has aroused so much anger from people that a spirit of self righteousness has permeated American society, Americans have been so readily quick to accuse, judge etc…giving rise to more gospel encounters. People say to me that Trump is a liar, in which I reply. Are you a liar? Do you consider yourself to be a good person? How many lies have you told?..
It’s sad that these so called, “Evangelicals” are missing a huge opportunity that God is giving them to reach a fallen, rebellious world; instead they rather squabble and fret about things that will not save anyone from hell.
(John 15:18) “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”
“Evangelical” used to mean “gospel-centered.” Now it’s almost meaningless, because it’s applied indiscriminately to so many diverse opinions, many of which are anything but gospel-centered. Truly sad.
An excellent question. One that I find difficult to answer.
I am a Christian, if by Christian you mean a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ who has pledged allegiance to Him as Lord.
I am Reformed, if by Reformed you mean that I generally hold to the doctrines and precepts that came out of or were reaffirmed by the Reformation (including a high view of Scripture, the sacraments, and the church, the doctrines surrounding covenant theology, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, justification by faith, and so on). This also includes Calvinism.
I am a Baptist, if by Baptist you mean that I don’t practice infant baptism (which some might consider inconsistent with my affirmation of being Reformed and covenantal).
I am an evangelical, if by evangelical you mean that I believe and preach the gospel of justification by faith in Christ (the distinguishing mark of an evangelical), contra Rome and the modernists.
I am a fundamentalist, if by fundamental you mean that I hold to the historical “fundamentals” of the Christian faith outlined by those early 20th century Christian scholars reacting to modernism in defense of supernaturalism.
In terms of politics, I’m too conservative to be a Democrat, and too liberal to be a Republican. I’d like to think my political opinions flow from my theology, as I think they should.
There’s not really a catch-all label for me. Labels, while helpful, often require a lot of qualification to be of any use. And all of those labels, of course, are only facets of my faith, that even when taken together do not fully describe it. It’s becoming harder and harder for me to be tribalistic about certain things, because I know I disagree with people and they with me about certain issues, yet I can still call them “brother” or “sister.” (There are certain “non-negotiables,” of course, specifically surrounding the gospel and the nature of God and so forth; if there weren’t, I wouldn’t be a fundamentalist.)
But anyway. There ya go. Probably more than you bargained for.
I’m trying to figure out how to answer the question, “Oh, so you’re religious? What are you, exactly?”
(I get that one a lot, because I do missions work, so it kind of follows automatically on “What do you do?”)
Lately I’ve been going with, “Christian, the kind who takes it pretty seriously.”
I used to say Evangelical, but that has political baggage now.
Baptist is confusing because everyone thinks Southern Baptist, which I am not.
I went with “Generic Protestant” for a while, but hardly anyone had a clue what that meant.
It’s easier here in Mexico because evangélic@ doesn’t have near as much baggage, and cristian@ usually signals “not Catholic” and is synonymous in many people’s minds with evangélic@. But in the States, I’m still looking for a short answer. I can’t quite bring myself to use “Christ follower,” because it’s almost too hipster for me, as I am old and uncool, do not drink craft beer ever, and won’t let my husband grow a beard.
You’d think that everyone who named the name of Christ would take it seriously, considering He’s a pretty serious person, and eternity hangs in the balance. Alas.
Haha. FWIW, hipster Christianity (especially in Calvinist circles) has always seemed weird to me. Smoking is gross and tattoos can be tacky, IMO. But hey, I guess it’s that whole Christian liberty thing.
Just say you are an evolutionary creationist, and at least among church folk, they will just murmur something like " That’s interesting…" and change the subject.
Good observation. A lot of the problem with the terminology of “war” is that it immediately divides us into opposing teams – the good guys vs. the bad guys. Anything the bad guys favor must be bad, by definition, and anything the good guys want must therefore be good. I won’t go on to give examples because it would be too political for this space, but it shouldn’t be too hard to fill in the blanks.
The real question is: How does one declare war on one’s own culture? Can a house this divided truly stand?
Now that our own Buckwheat impersonator has derailed the conversation, which seems to be his sole reason for existence, I’ll let you guys deal with the fallout. Sorry.
Tim Keller is not using a gospel centered argument. If a Christian makes any type of decision that he or she knows will glorify God. That, my friend, is an Evangelical
Oh…and by the way. There was a time when being an Evangelical meant you believed that God created the world in 6 days, and yet, that Evangelical net has widened.
