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A question about differences
- Thread starter preacherinblack
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No, sinning is not apostasy. You have to, of your own free will, choose to turn your back on God. As Brian said above, if sinning was apostasy no one would ultimately be redeemed.
John Wesley likened sin to a disease that God is working to cure within us. Once a person starts following Christ the rest of the journey of the Christian life is to cooperate with God's sanctifying grace to be what and who God created us to be.
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Preacherinblack,
You might also want to be aware that United Methodists view salvation as a life long process and not a singular event. I grew up in the SBC and people would say "I was saved on March 5, 1972."
You don't hear Methodists use that kind of language as much because we believe the day we chose to accept God's justifying grace is just one of the mile markers along the road of a life of experiencing God's saving grace. I can name a date on which I first confessed Jesus Christ as savior. But that was just the beginning of my walk with God and not a conclusion to my relationship in any way.
You might also want to be aware that United Methodists view salvation as a life long process and not a singular event. I grew up in the SBC and people would say "I was saved on March 5, 1972."
You don't hear Methodists use that kind of language as much because we believe the day we chose to accept God's justifying grace is just one of the mile markers along the road of a life of experiencing God's saving grace. I can name a date on which I first confessed Jesus Christ as savior. But that was just the beginning of my walk with God and not a conclusion to my relationship in any way.
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Small clarification, it isn't even quite right to say that my first confession of faith was the beginning of my walk with God. The Doctrine of Prevenient Grace tells us that God has been working in our lives from the beginning. So while my first confession was my accepting the work of Christ in my life, Christ was already working in my life before I knew it.
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GraceSeeker
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I'm sooooo tired of this question. It's not that I find it offensive; I know where it comes from. But it seems like a new person is asking the very same question(s) about the UMC every other week. Can we just create an FAQ thread and pin it to the top?
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Maybe so. But how do you answer the question? If you are talking to a fundamentalist Christian than nearly anyone else is "liberal." If you are talking to one of our UCC friends they might think we are kind of "conservative."
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I got another question.It's about membership I think, and the reason I say "think" is because the info I have may come out broken.When your a member of the UMC does your membership get moved every 5 years? I can't remember were I heard this I was just curious if I were to join my local UMC and Liked it there I would not like to move.
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preacherinblack, you may be confusing the membership in the local church and the pastor?
Pastors of United Methodist Churches are appointed by the Bishop to pastor their church. The Bishop decides when and where a pastor will move. In some conferences the average is around five years. In my conference the average to six or seven.
United Methodist ordained Elders (those who are ordained to pastor as ministers of Word, Sacrament, Order and Service) are itinerant. We agree to a calling to move from church to church as the conference needs under the direction of our Bishop.
Pastors of United Methodist Churches are appointed by the Bishop to pastor their church. The Bishop decides when and where a pastor will move. In some conferences the average is around five years. In my conference the average to six or seven.
United Methodist ordained Elders (those who are ordained to pastor as ministers of Word, Sacrament, Order and Service) are itinerant. We agree to a calling to move from church to church as the conference needs under the direction of our Bishop.
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Oh, and to further clarify, United Methodist clergy are not members of the local church they pastor. They are members of the Conference they serve in.
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Ok thanks sorry for the mix up I guess I heard the wrong part of the conversation.I got another question what is full sanctification?
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Also Is the difference between Baptist and Methodist great? Because I hear in the area I live in it's really your preference of which of the two like.
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Maybe you me total sanctification?
Sanctification is the process of being formed in Christ's image. John Wesley believed it could take a lifetime or happen in an instant because it is God that make us holy. This is called the doctrine of Christian perfection.
Perfection in the Wesleyan sense, as the language has changed, doesn't mean without flaw it means being the person God created you to be. As Christians we are to be, as Wesley said, "going on to perfection" or full maturity in Christ.
Wesley never claimed to have reached total sanctification. But it was always his hope and prayer that God would take him there as it is to be the hope and prayer of every Christian that we become what God wants us to be.
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There are real differences. How different depends on the church. If the Baptist church is really Calvinist that is a lot different than Methodist. It just depends on what differences are important to you.
This past Sunday I baptized a 6 week old baby. For some Baptists that is a huge deal and for others not. For Methodists that is normal.
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GraceSeeker
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No.
If you're not active, a church can, at their discretion, place you on inactive status and have you removed from membership. But they can only do that if you're not active. Beyond that, you decide when and if you ever want to move your membership; no one else does.
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ok I got another question,Do you have to believe that it is possible to apostatize(i.e be truly saved and born again and reject/leave Christ) to be methodist or could you reject that form of apostasy?
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GraceSeeker
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You know, when I go to the Lutheran churches they always think they do the best potlucks. I sort of get tired of the competitiveness. I mean, really? We are more concerned about who serves the better fried chicken, than how to feed the poor, be they hungry or poor in spirit?
As for the best potluck I've ever been to, it was at a mosque -- foods from nations around the world.
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