I'm Just a Christian

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heisenburg

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This is the popular catch phrase now it seems. If you ask someone about their denomination you will get… “I’m not a member of any denomination, I’m just a Christian…”

But what does that mean. The purpose of Denominations is not to indicate it is a fraternity of people, or that it is some club that comes before being a Christian, it is a specific understanding of what it means to be a Christian…

When you say you are a Methodist, Baptist, EO, Catholic, Free will of the first synod of Southern Arkansas independant holy pentecostal movement, what ever… What you are saying is that I am a Christian that Believes what it means to be a Christian as taught by my Denomination.

Saying you are a Christian is like saying you are just a College Graduate.

What does that mean.

Did you specialize in Physics? Math? English? Lit… what…

Like wise, saying you are ‘just a Christian’ means absolutely nothing.

By what understanding? By whose understanding? is it by yours? Your Pastors?

Please, don’t say… well… I go by the bible… Because anyone here can say… “How do you know you are interpreting correctly”

Furthermore, when you make such statements like ‘I just go by what the bible says’ you become a church of one, with no authority at all.

A Denom that has been around for 50 years has more authority that jsut you, because they have studied as a DENOMINATION for 50 years. Understands get refined…

a Denom that has been around for 400 should have even more Clout than the one that has been around for only 50.

So please, next time someone asks you… don’t say “I am just a Christian.”

Because this means absolutely nothing.

If this is honestly the only answer you can give? Then you are only at the very beginning of your journey.

So…

Take Pride in your Denomination… Don’t Hide it… This is because it doesn’t just say you are a Christian, it says what you believe.

In Christ
 
Like wise, saying you are ‘just a Christian’ means absolutely nothing.
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I am sorry to differ in opinion. At least it means that this person believes in Jesus. That means something important.

If your direct family were vile criminals, and you were not, wouldn’t you be ashamed of your family name?

If non-compassionate, judgemental people were the majority of the Catholic church, and they represent it to the world… I would be ashamed of being a Catholic.

Just sharing my perspective.
 
I’m not sure if a “nondenom” believes in Jesus, or believes in his own intellect, or at the very least, the intellect of his pastor.
 
I’m not sure if a “nondenom” believes in Jesus, or believes in his own intellect, or at the very least, the intellect of his pastor.
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You can be right, there are 2 major possibilities:
  1. It is a non practicing Christian.
or
  1. It is a practicing Christian who philosophically does not wish to associate himself/herself with a particular denomination.
There can be many reasons for this:
Examples include:
  • he/she believes that not only his denomination will go to heaven.
  • he/she does not want to be a bigot about it.
  • he/she does not want to be pigeonholed into a particular perception.
  • he/she wishes to put down denominational walls when relating to others from other denominations.
  • he/she believes that being called “Catholic” is negative.
  • there are other possible reasons.
Maybe such people aren’t as bad or not as faithful to God as one could think.

Maybe such people love God so much that Love goes before denomination?
 
ABiii said:
Like wise, saying you are ‘just a Christian’ means absolutely nothing.
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Perhaps, but far less than you want it to mean. Arius considered himself a Christian, too.
ABiii said:
If your direct family were vile criminals, and you were not, wouldn’t you be ashamed of your family name?
If non-compassionate, judgemental people were the majority of the Catholic church, and they represent it to the world… I would be ashamed of being a Catholic.

Just sharing my perspective.
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Is that an accusation that you are being mistreated here or elsewhere, or that you think Catholics are doing that to someone?
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Ahh, no, I am just reflecting on possibilities, putting myself in other’s shoes.

In the end, it is true that there are people like Arius. It is also true that there are “Catholics” who do not agree personally with all Catholic teaching ( on topics such as NFP, Death Penalty, etc.) I even know of someone Catholic who would not bow to the pope or kiss his ring, o prefer that all art or jewelry in the vatican (or in churches) be sold so that food may be sent to the less fortunate.

In such cases, they would consider themselves more as a Christian than a Catholic. I understand their perspective, and see the reasoning behind it.
 
Ab…

In a way, you make my point…

If anyone is saying they are ZZZ in a bigoted way then, yes, it is wrong.

But as mentioned, you can’t just say you are a Christian either. As mentioned, in the disjointed state of Christianity as a whole right now… Just saying, “it just means being a follower of Christ” doesn’t cut it.

What a Baptist would say this means is different from an evangelical, or a Methodist, or a Catholic. So, no, it cant just be summarized by saying “I just follow Christ”

Also, as mentioned, there are SO many different understandings out there what it means to be a Christian, so yes, categorization is needed.

I can’t have the same discussions about End times with a Lutheran as i would say a Baptist. They don’t agree with each other… But both claim to be “Just Christians”

It doesn’t put someone in a box, it defines what that person means. If I said I were EO, you could go look it up and see what I believe… But say I was an EO, but said i was just a Christian. You have no way of knowing what I believe.

Also, this gets down to a pride issue…

“Well, I may not agree with what any on denomination teaches”

So who then is at fault? We are ordered by scripture to search for Truth. To say that no Denomination teaches what you believe says several things
  1. Every other denomination is wrong, I am Right - this shows a sign of Arrogance
  2. I don’t need a denomination to teach me anything. I just need to use the bible - This is actually a sign of laziness and violates scripture. We need Teachers. Why do you think you are the first person to get it right
  3. Most often, the “I am just a Christian” when pushed, also defends their understanding as Fact. - This shows a sign of Pride.
  4. It whats right to me - Relativism… it also shows that you are centering God around you, and not you around God.
However, lets look at your points
**he/she believes that not only his denomination will go to heaven. **
Saying you are a member of a denomination does NOT mean that you believe that other denominations are going to hell. Ask a Methodist if they think Baptist go to hell. The answer will be no…

he/she does not want to be a bigot about it.
Why is using a way to classify what you believe bigoted

he/she does not want to be pigeonholed into a particular perception.
Why is saying that you can look up what I believe a bad thing. It doesn’t pigeonholed anyone. I’d rather you know what i believe, than for me to have such an amorphous belief structure

he/she wishes to put down denominational walls when relating to others from other denominations.
If someone’s denomination is a wall. whose problem is that really

he/she believes that being called “Catholic” is negative
Confused on this one… Again though, whose problem is this.

Also, a lot of these arguments go into the personal belief level. Not the ‘personal relationship with Jesus’, but the arguments are very egocentric.

What ultimately happens is that the one holding to the I’m just a Christian is the one that becomes bigoted, because they look down at Denominations, Boxed, because they can’t reconcile that their beliefs MAY agree with someone else already, and Arrogant in that they think they are they have it right where everyone else doesn’t.

Anyway…

Just food for thought

In Christ
 
I think the modern-day situation echoes what was already going on during the time of the Apostles:

1 Corinthians 1:12 - What I mean is that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

You could just as easily say today that "each one of you says, “I belong to the Lutheran church,” or “I belong to the Methodist church”, or "I belong to the [fill in the blank] church, or “I’m just a plain ol’ Christian.”
 
People who claim to be just Christians are I believe those that are deeply fundamentalist and don’t believe that an actual church is what is important. they have bought into the proddie nonsense than anyone who can read can figure out what the bible means. Mostly they follow TV evangelists. They have rather bizarre notions of what scripture means, though they claim it is to be taken literally. The often don’t accept that Jesus is God, insisting he is Son only. They believe they are a priesthood of one, the believe they are chosen, they believer all others are going to hell pretty much. The certainly believe Catholics, JW and Mormons are all cults and wickedly in the penumbra of Satan. They of course disclaim trinity. there constant and only refrain is: show me where that is in the bible. If you can’t it aint true. period. PS…it cannot be perfectly reasonably inferred either. If its something they don’t like, they want it in black and white, and then will claim its not what it seems to mean but is out of context…in context it of coruse means what they wish it to mean.
 
🙂 Thanks,

Well, here is another possibility to the original 4.
  1. Every other denomination is wrong, I am Right - this shows a sign of Arrogance
  2. I don’t need a denomination to teach me anything. I just need to use the bible - This is actually a sign of laziness and violates scripture. We need Teachers. Why do you think you are the first person to get it right
  3. Most often, the “I am just a Christian” when pushed, also defends their understanding as Fact. - This shows a sign of Pride.
  4. It whats right to me - Relativism… it also shows that you are centering God around you, and not you around God.
  • The pride thing can actually be relativistic.
  1. It is whats right to me - non Relativism… Right now, I am not convinced that my denomination of birth has everything right. Not because of arrogance or pride, but rather, I am searching for the truth, and am humbly examining precepts one at a time. All churches claim to have the universal truth… so it would seem that I am centering God around me… but this way we can say that any church is centering God around itself, in that it claims that it is the sole truth.
In humility, one can sit and ask, as one learns every day… are the teachings ingrained in me correct?
Without this, we would never have converts.

Let’s say for example, that you are not Catholic (say Adventist), and that you are in this stage. Would it be prideful to question things that do not make sense to you (and question the authority of your church)? Wouldn’t one owe it to one’s self to go through a phase of questioning for the sake of truth?
 
ABiii said:
There can be many reasons for this:
Examples include:
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These reasons seem to pretty reasonably describe what some people’s reasons really are in using a more generic title of “Christian” than affiliating themselves with a particular denomination. Of course, I’m sure you agree that they are not the only reasons people use.

I think that ABiii and Heisenberg are both right in a sense. I’m sure that many different people have many different reasons for speaking in such a way. Some of them might have noble intentions, some not so noble.

I think that Heisenberg is right to point to pride, at least in some cases. I have seen some anti-Catholics describe themselves as “just Christian” and then proceed to explain that I cannot be because I call myself “Catholic” rather than “just Christian”. If I were really Christian, I would only call myself “Christian”, not something else (like “Catholic”).

It almost seems to be their way of one-upmanship. I might say, “I am a Catholic whose Church is based on the constant teachings of the Apostles and is 200 years old.” “Oh yeah? Well I’M a CHRISTIAN who bases everything only on JESUS and what is found in SCRIPTURE!” Using the term “Christian” is their way of pre-dating their interpretation of Scripture to be before that of the Catholic Church (since the term “Christian” is used in Scripture, but not “Catholic Church”).
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heisenburg;
Like wise, saying you are ‘just a Christian’ means absolutely nothing.
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I doubt that when the disciples were first given the name of Christians in Antioch it meant nothing to them.
Furthermore, when you make such statements like ‘I just go by what the bible says’ you become a church of one, with no authority at all.
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Imagine that, letting the word of God guide your life.
If this is honestly the only answer you can give? Then you are only at the very beginning of your journey.
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Is the power of knowing how far one is into their journey as a Christian a God given ability?
In Christ
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Using you own analogy here you only said “In Christ” this leaves a whole lotta speculation hanging out there. You probably should have told us what denomination you belong.
 
“Just Christians” and “Non-denominational Christians” are usually just stealth Baptists 😃
 
Ab… I can accept number 5 😃

Non…
I doubt that when the disciples were first given the name of Christians in Antioch it meant nothing to them.
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True… but I am not talking about back then… I am talking about today. Today, there are so many different understandings of what it means to be a Christian, that saying “I am just a Christian” is useless. It is impossible for me to know what you mean. What “I am just a Christian” means to a non-denom evangelical is completely different from say a Lutheran.
Imagine that, letting the word of God guide your life
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With respect, why take it to that level… If I was confusing in how I said it, I appologize, but I thought I made it pretty clear that we then have the problem of how you interpret the bible WILL be different from others with out guidance. I am saddened you took this to mean I was slapping at God’s Word as this was not the intent. The intent is saying that it is impossible for an individual without guidance to completely understand scripture. Even scripture says this. Saying you can is a sign of Arogance.
Is the power of knowing how far one is into their journey as a Christian a God given ability?
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No, but people rely on “I am Just a Christian” as an answer. If you read what was said, you will notice that if this is ALL you can say, then you need to study more. Where is there a problem in that…
Using you own analogy here you only said “In Christ” this leaves a whole lotta speculation hanging out there. You probably should have told us what denomination you belong.
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And it is very easy from my Signature, to my profile to find out what I believe. I am Catholic. No ambiguity…

That being said…

Why the sarcasm… I am trying to hold a logical debate. not a snappy child like argument. Forgive me if this is not your intent, but this is how it came out…

In Christ
 
heisenburg said:
But what does that mean. The purpose of Denominations is not to indicate it is a fraternity of people, or that it is some club that comes before being a Christian, it is a specific understanding of what it means to be a Christian…
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Catholicism is NOT a denomination. Denominations represent sects that have separated themselves from the Mother Church, the Holy Catholic Church.
 
Catholicism is NOT a denomination. Denominations represent sects that have separated themselves from the Mother Church, the Holy Catholic Church.
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I absolutely agree that Catholicism is not a denomination, but what is and what is not a denomination is not the issue of this thread. What I am saying is you can’t just say your “Just a Christian” because in todays world pf 1.25 gazillion different understandings on what it means to be a Christian, that the statement is useless, and thus, this is why you need to indicated what your denomination is. This way we can at least get an idea on what you believe.

Example,

I someone believes and follows Christ as taught by a oneness pentecostal holiness said they were “Just a Christian”, it would mean something completely different than if a faithful follower of EO said HE was “Just a Christian”

In Christ
 
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