Don't mention the "e" word

[TeutonKnight]

Michael Jackson apparently regards himself as an "evangelical" Christian. Who knew? Though I doubt this association was in the mind of John Buckeridge, the editor of Christianity magazine, who uses his current editorial to voice exasperation at the popular connotations that now haunt the 'e' word:

I’m tired of being tarred with the identities of men with megaphones who shout ‘hell’, ‘wrath’ and ‘damnation’ at passers-by and fail to say, ‘love’, ‘grace’ or ‘forgiveness’. I’m tired of being tarred with the identities of the ‘anti-everything’ brigade – who angrily list the things they are against and claim to speak for ‘evangelicals’, but actually have a tiny support base. And I’m tired of being tarred with US right wing foreign policy.​

Buckeridge says the word 'evangelical', like other words such as 'gay', 'ecstacy', and 'wicked', has changed its meaning. There's no doubt that the term 'evangelical' is often used, particularly in media accounts, as a synonym of 'fundamentalist'. But the term 'evangelical' is a difficult one nothwithstanding the political caricatures it now attracts. There is no clear, undisputed definition of the term, even among self-styled evangelicals. Anyone like to risk a definition?

The evangelical theologian William J Abraham's comments on the distinction between an evangelical and a fundamentalist: an evangelical, he said, is a fundamentalist with table manners.
Then there's the question of which alternative terms would helpfully re-brand contemporary evangelicalism. Some possibilities immediately suggest themselves: "conservative Christians", "biblical Christians", "biblical literalists". But my personal favourite is this one: "paleo-orthodox". Any takers?

 

[BlackSabb]

I'm dead against this pigeon holeing of people. Everything has to fit into a neat category or definition. Everything has to be nicely sorted into some file and labelled accordingly so.

So, if a person believes everything in the Bible literally, then of course he's a hard core "thumper" that is loveless, judgemental, right wing, pro Bush and Republican.

If a person doesn't believe in the Bible, he's an immoral person and a drunkard, druggie, liar, thief and sexually promiscous.

If a man keeps a neat appearance and looks after himslelf and likes to cook and go shopping, he's gay.

If a woman loves to work on cars and hates makeup, she's a lesbian.

All these idiotic stereotypes. The fact is that the vast majority of people are not as clear cut as these simplistic labels.

Take myself for example. Yeah, I believe in God and in Jesus. At the moment, I pretty well hate the church though, and I do not classify myself as "religious". Some things I am right wing and some things left wing. Some things I am typically manly in, and some things I am more of what some people would considered womanly. For eg, I love powerful cars and hard rock music. Yet as a guy, I love cats far over dogs. I love shopping but I dress like a hillbilly and don't care about clothes. And my wife. A real girly girl when it comes to makeup and jewellery. She has tons of the stuff, every sort of gunk and goo that you can put on you, anything to make you sparkle and glitter like a Christmas tree. Yet, she hates, and I mean really hates and despises wearing stockings/tights.

For those that believe in the Christian faith, there is only supposed to be one category: Christian. That's it, period! All these stupid labels and categories and endless number of denominations with varying beliefs are all a man made phenomenon.