Christian denominations....just for fun

[mikeeh]

I’ve divided the denominations of Christianity into four categories to better understand them. I feel like the term Protestant encompasses too much. Orthodox Christianity is any church that predates the reformation and has many of the old rituals and beliefs in Christ. Traditional Christianity is any church that came after the reformation but still retains many of the beliefs of Orthodox Christianity including sacraments and saints. Conservative Christianity is any church that no longer practices the old rituals and focuses mainly of Jesus Christ and the Bible. Liberal Christianity is any church that has developed new sacred scriptures, praises a prophet as its leader, believes Christ already returned, believes Christ has returned, or believes Christ was something other than God. I’m not trying to start a fight, just intelligent responses. What do y’all think?

Orthodox Christianity: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox
Traditional Christianity: Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Methodism
Conservative Christianity: Calvinism, Baptists, Anabaptism
Liberal Christianity: Mormonism, Rastafari, Jehovah’s Witnesses

 

[SaintPatrick333]

“Liberal Christianity” isn’t Christianity. Not because it has the world liberal in it, but the three listed are not Christian. I don’t know what rastafarians believe, other than that smoking marijuana is part of their “religion”. What I “do” know, is that mormons deny the Trinity and JW don’t baptized in the Trinity so by the very definition of their religions, they can’t be classified as Christians.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

Orthodox Christianity: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox
Traditional Christianity: Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Methodism
Conservative Christianity: Calvinism, Baptists, Anabaptism
Liberal Christianity: Mormonism, Rastafari, Jehovah’s Witnesses

It is hard to characterize some of these groups because there is such extreme variation within them. My take on your system:

Apostolic Christianity: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox
Semi-Apostolic Christianity: Anglicanism, Lutheranism
Reformed/Radical Christianity: Calvinism, Anabaptism
Sermon-based Christianity: Methodism, Baptists
Semi-Christianity: Mormonism, Rastafari, Jehovah’s Witnesses

 

[JonNC]

It is hard to characterize some of these groups because there is such extreme variation within them. My take on your system:

Apostolic Christianity: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox
Semi-Apostolic Christianity: Anglicanism, Lutheranism
Reformed/Radical Christianity: Calvinism, Anabaptism
Sermon-based Christianity: Methodism, Baptists
Semi-Christianity: Mormonism, Rastafari, Jehovah’s Witnesses

Though we would say we’re just as apostolic as you, this is a better layout than the OP’s.

Jon

 

[J_the_Centrist]

I’ve divided the denominations of Christianity into four categories to better understand them. I feel like the term Protestant encompasses too much. Orthodox Christianity is any church that predates the reformation and has many of the old rituals and beliefs in Christ. Traditional Christianity is any church that came after the reformation but still retains many of the beliefs of Orthodox Christianity including sacraments and saints. Conservative Christianity is any church that no longer practices the old rituals and focuses mainly of Jesus Christ and the Bible. Liberal Christianity is any church that has developed new sacred scriptures, praises a prophet as its leader, believes Christ already returned, believes Christ has returned, or believes Christ was something other than God. I’m not trying to start a fight, just intelligent responses. What do y’all think?

Orthodox Christianity: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox
Traditional Christianity: Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Methodism
Conservative Christianity: Calvinism, Baptists, Anabaptism
Liberal Christianity: Mormonism, Rastafari, Jehovah’s Witnesses

I have no problem with other denominations however, the only of these I ever considered converting to was the Orthodox Church. Their rituals are similar to ours, not to mention the fact that their icons are beautiful. I believe in Christian unity, a glimpse at my previous posts verify this; I also am a very tolerant person with regards to other religious beliefs, like Muslims for example. However, if a religion is going to call itself Christian and doesn’t believe in Christ as the central figure of their faith or they adhere to some other obviously non Christian tenets, I find this insulting.

 

[kimg901]

Liberal Christianity: Mormonism, Rastafari, Jehovah’s Witnesses = Non christian

 

[J_the_Centrist]

“Liberal Christianity” isn’t Christianity. Not because it has the world liberal in it, but the three listed are not Christian. I don’t know what rastafarians believe, other than that smoking marijuana is part of their “religion”. What I “do” know, is that mormons deny the Trinity and JW don’t baptized in the Trinity so by the very definition of their religions, they can’t be classified as Christians.

That’s a bit of a slippery slope, I also am not very familiar with Rastafarians. All I know of them is that smoking marijuana in their churches are forbidden and that they believe in Christ, to what degree I don’t know. I do know that there are some “Christian” groups out there who call themselves Christian, but there tenets suggest otherwise. This is an insult, if you are not a Christian why would you want your group indentied as such? I am going to look into the Rastafarians now because learning about the unfamiliar is in my nature, thank you for putting me on the road of a new learning experience.

 

[kimg901]

Heres what rastafarians believe (somewhat) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari_movement

As far as the lds, thats long and complicated. You can look at other threads here about mormonism.

 

[J_the_Centrist]

Heres what rastafarians believe (somewhat) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari_movement

As far as the lds, thats long and complicated. You can look at other threads here about mormonism.

I know more about Mormon’s than I do about Rastafarians and from what I do know I would consider them brothers and sisters in Christ. However, their devotion to Joseph Smith, as well as some of their practices can call this into question. not to mention the Book of Mormon of which I have read only little. They seem to believe that all of the other denominations of Christianity from about the beginning have been wrong. They are certainly not alone in this arrogant view, too many Christians believe this for me to be comfortable, but they seem to take it further than most.

 

[Bran_Stark]

I would categorize them this way.

Original churches: Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian.

Old Protestant churches (infant baptism): Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Reformed, Congregational.

New Protestant churches (adult baptism): Baptist, Pentecostal, non-denominational Evangelical.

Radical churches: Salvation Army, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, Unitarian Christians.

 

[Indifferently]

No, no. Christian orthodoxy is a matter of right belief. So, I would call the Sarum Use and the Extraordinary Form ‘traditional’, but would refer to the Book of Common Prayer as orthodox, reflecting as it does, the truth of the Gospel of Christ, according to the Vincentian formula.

 

[CMatt25]

I’ve divided the denominations of Christianity into four categories to better understand them. I feel like the term Protestant encompasses too much. Orthodox Christianity is any church that predates the reformation and has many of the old rituals and beliefs in Christ. Traditional Christianity is any church that came after the reformation but still retains many of the beliefs of Orthodox Christianity including sacraments and saints. Conservative Christianity is any church that no longer practices the old rituals and focuses mainly of Jesus Christ and the Bible. Liberal Christianity is any church that has developed new sacred scriptures, praises a prophet as its leader, believes Christ already returned, believes Christ has returned, or believes Christ was something other than God. I’m not trying to start a fight, just intelligent responses. What do y’all think?

Orthodox Christianity: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox
Traditional Christianity: Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Methodism
Conservative Christianity: Calvinism, Baptists, Anabaptism
Liberal Christianity: Mormonism, Rastafari, Jehovah’s Witnesses

If Mormons and JWs are liberal, just curious where on your list do you put churches such as the United of Christ whose national body has endorsed SS marriage and is pro choice as far as denominational policy goes in the UCC. Though of course the UCC has a broad range of congregations with members of varying POV on these matters. Or the Episcopal Church whose priests can bless SS unions in dioceses where the bishop has granted approval, as in the Episcopal diocese where I live. Again individual Episcopalians vary greatly. I do see you place Anglicanism and other mainline denominations as traditional.

 

[mikeeh]

Good responses everyone.

It is hard to characterize some of these groups because there is such extreme variation within them. My take on your system:

Apostolic Christianity: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox
Semi-Apostolic Christianity: Anglicanism, Lutheranism
Reformed/Radical Christianity: Calvinism, Anabaptism
Sermon-based Christianity: Methodism, Baptists
Semi-Christianity: Mormonism, Rastafari, Jehovah’s Witnesses

I like your categories. They help to understand how a denomination practices Christianity.

If Mormons and JWs are liberal, just curious where on your list do you put churches such as the United of Christ whose national body has endorsed SS marriage and is pro choice as far as denominational policy goes in the UCC. Though of course the UCC has a broad range of congregations with members of varying POV on these matters. Or the Episcopal Church whose priests can bless SS unions in dioceses where the bishop has granted approval, as in the Episcopal diocese where I live. Again individual Episcopalians vary greatly. I do see you place Anglicanism and other mainline denominations as traditional.

You tell me. My categories aren’t perfect nor are they complete. And I don’t know every church/denomination that exists. I assume UCC churches are not Orthodox or Traditional, most probably don’t have sacraments or saints similar to Orthodox and Traditional churches. Depending on the individual church’s beliefs in Christ and scriptures, UCC churches would either be Conservative or Liberal. The terms Conservative and Liberal are not that same as political conservative (conservatism) and political liberal (liberalism). Here Conservative means to maintain the original beliefs in Christ and scriptures, while Liberal means to change the beliefs in Christ and scriptures.

 

[J_the_Centrist]

If Mormons and JWs are liberal, just curious where on your list do you put churches such as the United of Christ whose national body has endorsed SS marriage and is pro choice as far as denominational policy goes in the UCC. Though of course the UCC has a broad range of congregations with members of varying POV on these matters. Or the Episcopal Church whose priests can bless SS unions in dioceses where the bishop has granted approval, as in the Episcopal diocese where I live. Again individual Episcopalians vary greatly. I do see you place Anglicanism and other mainline denominations as traditional.

You put too much emphasis on SS marriages being approved and performed by clergy. Being a liberal Catholic (my theology not my politics), I am not interested in driving liberals (theologically or politically) away, nor am I interested in forcing clergy to perform ceremonies that go against their conscience or their established traditions. If other denominations want to perform these ceremonies fine. One more thing, who cares about dividing denominations into political affiliated categories anyway? I address this to the previous poster as well.

 

[aidanbradypop]

It is hard to characterize some of these groups because there is such extreme variation within them. My take on your system:

Apostolic Christianity: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox
Semi-Apostolic Christianity: Anglicanism, Lutheranism
Reformed/Radical Christianity: Calvinism, Anabaptism
Sermon-based Christianity: Methodism, Baptists
Semi-Christianity: Mormonism, Rastafari, Jehovah’s Witnesses

I like this grouping

 

[CMatt25]

You tell me. My categories aren’t perfect nor are they complete. And I don’t know every church/denomination that exists. I assume UCC churches are not Orthodox or Traditional, most probably don’t have sacraments or saints similar to Orthodox and Traditional churches. Depending on the individual church’s beliefs in Christ and scriptures, UCC churches would either be Conservative or Liberal. The terms Conservative and Liberal are not that same as political conservative (conservatism) and political liberal (liberalism). Here Conservative means to maintain the original beliefs in Christ and scriptures, while Liberal means to change the beliefs in Christ and scriptures.

Ok but I don’t know everything about every church that exists either. I found this on the UCC website though. “Our faith is 2,000 years old.” I also see they believe in the Triune God and do indeed have the sacraments of baptism and Communion.

ucc.org/about-us/who-we-are.html

ucc.org/about-us/what-we-believe.html

So a faith that is 2000 yrs old, believes in the Trinity, and with sacraments I suppose seems to fit pretty well in the traditional grouping on your list.

 

[CMatt25]

You put too much emphasis on SS marriages being approved and performed by clergy. Being a liberal Catholic (my theology not my politics), I am not interested in driving liberals (theologically or politically) away, nor am I interested in forcing clergy to perform ceremonies that go against their conscience or their established traditions. If other denominations want to perform these ceremonies fine. One more thing, who cares about dividing denominations into political affiliated categories anyway? I address this to the previous poster as well.

J, you’re new here I see. First of all welcome. But I don’t know how much time you have spent on CAF’s news subforums. Abortion and SS marriage are 2 of the most emphasized topics. And religion and politics are combined there on CAF all of the time. They’ll go so far as to say if a Catholic votes a certain way or holds a certain political POV, they aren’t a Catholic.

And while I respect you identifying as a liberal Catholic theologically, I know people on CAF have said there is either orthodox or heterodox but not liberal or conservative Catholics.

In any case, we seem on the same page in not being interested in driving liberals away. Nor in forcing clergy to perform ceremonies. But being fine if other denominations want to.

Peace .

 

[CMatt25]

Though we would say we’re just as apostolic as you, this is a better layout than the OP’s.

Jon

Episcopal priests have informed me that they have apostolic succession too. So Episcopalians would also say they are just as apostolic.

 

[fluttershy]

Episcopal priests have informed me that they have apostolic succession too. So Episcopalians would also say they are just as apostolic.

Haha came here to say this. Too bad we didn’t leave the Roman Catholic Church in good terms (I’m looking at you King Henry VIII), but I’ve gotten nothing but kindness and courtesy from Roman Catholics.

 

[J_the_Centrist]

J, you’re new here I see. First of all welcome. But I don’t know how much time you have spent on CAF’s news subforums. Abortion and SS marriage are 2 of the most emphasized topics. And religion and politics are combined there on CAF all of the time. They’ll go so far as to say if a Catholic votes a certain way or holds a certain political POV, they aren’t a Catholic.

And while I respect you identifying as a liberal Catholic theologically, I know people on CAF have said there is either orthodox or heterodox but not liberal or conservative Catholics.

In any case, we seem on the same page in not being interested in driving liberals away. Nor in forcing clergy to perform ceremonies. But being fine if other denominations want to.

Peace .

I try to avoid politics whenever possible and I am a liberal Catholic in the sense of my interest/tolerance/acceptance of other religions, including non-Christian religions. What other denominations do does not concern me as long as they are doing it out of love for Christ and are not motivated by any outside influences other than that love. I am a swing voter who votes begrudgingly only because I appreciate the fact that we live in a society where this is possible and all who can should do so. Yes, we are on the same page and FYI no one is going to tell me whether I am a true Catholic based upon who I vote for, not to my face anyway. Peace be with you.