“You’re not a Christian,” someone told me recently in an online forum after I said that I believe in reincarnation.
It brings up an interesting question: What is Christian, and what isn’t?
There are a number of Christian churches that people say are not actually Christian. To be fair, these churches have dogma that is questionable, to say the least.
For example, the Mormon Church (LDS) believes that God was originally human.
Christian Science believes that heaven and hell are not actual places that people go to in the afterlife, but just states of mind.
New Thought believes in the Law of Attraction, that positive thinking and visualization can manifest material wealth and worldly success.
The Pentecostal church believes that the miraculous abilities described in the New Testament, such as speaking in tongues, are still available today.
All of these ideas are contradicted by the Bible. All of them are indeed false. So does this mean that these churches are not Christian?
Consider the following test results:
LDS - 405
Christian Science - 410
New Thought - 405
Pentecostal - 310
(Hawkins, 2005, p. 335)
Christianity overall calibrates at 498. So while these churches fall into the lower end of the spectrum, they still have integrity. Therefore, they still deserve to be called Christian.
It would appear that to be a Christian, you don’t have to get everything 100% right. You just need to believe in the divinity of Jesus (either God or Son of God), you need to believe in the Resurrection, you need to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you need to follow Jesus’s teachings as presented in the four canonical Gospels (tests as true).
Now, some preachers who teach false ideas may well be in serious trouble. For example, if you teach the Prosperity Gospel (i.e. Law of Attraction) and your primary intention is financial gain, promising people that whatever money they give you, they will receive back many times over, then I don’t think you are a Christian or that you are going to heaven. This isn’t just a case of naïve error. This is a person acting out of personal gain and preying upon people. It is a clear rejection of Christian morality and principles.
I think it will also help to examine a more nuanced controversy that has engulfed many churches. In recent decades, there has been disagreement about the role of women in the church. Many believe that women should be allowed to take leadership roles and become ministers/pastors, despite Paul’s mandate that only men be in these positions.
Does a belief that women should be in leadership roles mean that one is not a Christian? I would say it depends. Unfortunately, this belief often reflects a larger problem, that the person has rejected the church’s authority. And they usually have rejected it in many areas, not just regarding women’s roles, but also regarding homosexuality, divorce, and more. And by rejecting the church’s authority, they have rejected Jesus’s authority as well. And if you reject Jesus’s authority, then you have not accepted him as your Lord. Therefore, you are not a Christian, or at the very least, you have embraced a corrupt version of Christianity that is not going to save your soul. While LDS, Christian Science, New Thought, and Pentecostalism are flawed, they are not corrupt (Of course, I have argued that all Christians churches are at least somewhat flawed due to the negative books of the Bible).
The main message of this article is that there is indeed a lot of room in the Christian tent. While the gate is certainly narrow (Matthew 7:13-14), it is not quite as narrow as many Christians believe. After all, if Jesus is truly about unconditional love, if he truly wants us to be saved, it makes sense that he would give us a little bit of leeway.
Hopefully, with this understanding, we can stop reflexively shouting, “You’re not a Christian!” to anyone who isn’t in complete lockstep with our own beliefs.
Reference
Hawkins, David R. Truth vs Falsehood: How To Tell The Difference. Toronto, Axial Publishing Company, 2005.
It brings up an interesting question: What is Christian, and what isn’t?
There are a number of Christian churches that people say are not actually Christian. To be fair, these churches have dogma that is questionable, to say the least.
For example, the Mormon Church (LDS) believes that God was originally human.
Christian Science believes that heaven and hell are not actual places that people go to in the afterlife, but just states of mind.
New Thought believes in the Law of Attraction, that positive thinking and visualization can manifest material wealth and worldly success.
The Pentecostal church believes that the miraculous abilities described in the New Testament, such as speaking in tongues, are still available today.
All of these ideas are contradicted by the Bible. All of them are indeed false. So does this mean that these churches are not Christian?
Consider the following test results:
LDS - 405
Christian Science - 410
New Thought - 405
Pentecostal - 310
(Hawkins, 2005, p. 335)
Christianity overall calibrates at 498. So while these churches fall into the lower end of the spectrum, they still have integrity. Therefore, they still deserve to be called Christian.
It would appear that to be a Christian, you don’t have to get everything 100% right. You just need to believe in the divinity of Jesus (either God or Son of God), you need to believe in the Resurrection, you need to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you need to follow Jesus’s teachings as presented in the four canonical Gospels (tests as true).
Now, some preachers who teach false ideas may well be in serious trouble. For example, if you teach the Prosperity Gospel (i.e. Law of Attraction) and your primary intention is financial gain, promising people that whatever money they give you, they will receive back many times over, then I don’t think you are a Christian or that you are going to heaven. This isn’t just a case of naïve error. This is a person acting out of personal gain and preying upon people. It is a clear rejection of Christian morality and principles.
I think it will also help to examine a more nuanced controversy that has engulfed many churches. In recent decades, there has been disagreement about the role of women in the church. Many believe that women should be allowed to take leadership roles and become ministers/pastors, despite Paul’s mandate that only men be in these positions.
Does a belief that women should be in leadership roles mean that one is not a Christian? I would say it depends. Unfortunately, this belief often reflects a larger problem, that the person has rejected the church’s authority. And they usually have rejected it in many areas, not just regarding women’s roles, but also regarding homosexuality, divorce, and more. And by rejecting the church’s authority, they have rejected Jesus’s authority as well. And if you reject Jesus’s authority, then you have not accepted him as your Lord. Therefore, you are not a Christian, or at the very least, you have embraced a corrupt version of Christianity that is not going to save your soul. While LDS, Christian Science, New Thought, and Pentecostalism are flawed, they are not corrupt (Of course, I have argued that all Christians churches are at least somewhat flawed due to the negative books of the Bible).
The main message of this article is that there is indeed a lot of room in the Christian tent. While the gate is certainly narrow (Matthew 7:13-14), it is not quite as narrow as many Christians believe. After all, if Jesus is truly about unconditional love, if he truly wants us to be saved, it makes sense that he would give us a little bit of leeway.
Hopefully, with this understanding, we can stop reflexively shouting, “You’re not a Christian!” to anyone who isn’t in complete lockstep with our own beliefs.
Reference
Hawkins, David R. Truth vs Falsehood: How To Tell The Difference. Toronto, Axial Publishing Company, 2005.