Few Questions??

[PloverWing]

You've listed an unusual combination of beliefs: non-Trinitarian, and also non-Pentecostal, and also conservative on women's roles in the church. (I can't tell exactly what you mean by point #8, so that's possibly unusual as well.) I don't think there's going to be any church that fits all of your beliefs; you're probably going to have to settle for one that matches most of the things that are most important to you, and you'll just disagree with the church about the other points.

Southern Baptist might be a reasonable fit, or a church on the conservative end of the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition. I'll disagree with Albion and say that the United Church of Christ is not a good fit: they're Trinitarian, and they're very affirming of women in church leadership.

Almost all Christian denominations accept the traditional doctrine of the Trinity, so that one's hard to avoid when choosing a church. At the same time, however, many Christians have a very fuzzy idea of what the Trinity means, so you could probably get along, in practice, without too many theology arguments.

Albion's question about worship style is a good one. Do you have any preferences about liturgical/nonliturgical worship, length of sermon, frequency of Communion -- things like that?

 

[Albion]

Southern Baptist might be a reasonable fit, or a church on the conservative end of the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition. I'll disagree with Albion and say that the United Church of Christ is not a good fit: they're Trinitarian

They're sorta Trinitarian. Their official creedal statement is worded such that there's room to work around it. That's my view, but it was made by other observers when it was promulgated some years ago, replacing a more clearcut statement.

Check it out:

"We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
Father, and to his deeds we testify:

He calls the worlds into being, creates man in his own image and sets before him the ways of life and death.

He seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.

He judges men and nations by his righteous will declared through prophets and apostles.

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, he has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to himself.

He bestows upon us his Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races. "

and they're very affirming of women in church leadership.

Yes.

 

[Halbhh]

The foremost thing of all to look for first in a church of any kind:

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

And to see how that applies to you, the stranger, it applies as He said:

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in..."

See? If the people are following Christ, are His sheep, you will be welcomed, not 'shunned' or any such. Sinners are welcomed to churches, (because churches are much like hospitals, among other things).

31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

If you don't get welcomed, accepted, and see "love one another" happening, then flee! Run.

And go and find a church that follows Christ.

 

[JESUS=G.O.A.T]

new here and have some questions about denominations, bible history, just some general newer Christian questions that google can't seem to help with.

Denomination wise:
Never had a denomination really as an adult. As a child southern baptist. Attended a Wesleyan church later, recently went to a Presbyterian church which shunned us from joining once they found out we where not married when our child was born. Major turn off for a re-organized christian. Here are some questions personally about which denomination we might fit best into for anyone willing to give help.
1. To me God The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are 3 different beings/entities.
2. I believe once you are saved you can always loose grace and salvation until once again you whole heartedly and humbly give your life to God.
3. We do not believe women should be leaders of a church. Not a sexist thing that's just how we interpret women's role in the Bible. No arguments needed.
4. The KJV is not the end all correct Bible. Is it accurate sure. But we don't think a church that says the KJV is the only correct bible is true.
5. Elders and deacons and such are fine but modern day prophets are a big no go for us. We put our faith in God. Not dave down the street.
6. Hell is a spiritual place of non believers. I believe that God will save those and all of those who come to him and repent and ask for and seek grace through him.
7. Speaking in tongues. Snakes. Hell fire Brimstone. If I drink 3 beers over the weekend I'm bound for eternal damnation. No thank you.
8. Jesus is Gods son. A spiritual messenger and teacher who performed works and miracles and died for our sins.

So what would we fit into church wise better?

I'll start with this Bible question.
God in genesis has his sons around and lucifer "light bringer" "knowledge" etc is there.....if angels are sons of god would that not make lucifer a son of god?

You sound mormon tbh....I pray some of your beliefs may change with time but yeah.

No church will have your whole list though that's for sure it's a strange combination, it's just you seem to lean that way.

 

[disciple1]

new here and have some questions about denominations, bible history, just some general newer Christian questions that google can't seem to help with.

Denomination wise:
Never had a denomination really as an adult. As a child southern baptist. Attended a Wesleyan church later, recently went to a Presbyterian church which shunned us from joining once they found out we where not married when our child was born. Major turn off for a re-organized christian. Here are some questions personally about which denomination we might fit best into for anyone willing to give help.
1. To me God The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are 3 different beings/entities.
2. I believe once you are saved you can always loose grace and salvation until once again you whole heartedly and humbly give your life to God.
3. We do not believe women should be leaders of a church. Not a sexist thing that's just how we interpret women's role in the Bible. No arguments needed.
4. The KJV is not the end all correct Bible. Is it accurate sure. But we don't think a church that says the KJV is the only correct bible is true.
5. Elders and deacons and such are fine but modern day prophets are a big no go for us. We put our faith in God. Not dave down the street.
6. Hell is a spiritual place of non believers. I believe that God will save those and all of those who come to him and repent and ask for and seek grace through him.
7. Speaking in tongues. Snakes. Hell fire Brimstone. If I drink 3 beers over the weekend I'm bound for eternal damnation. No thank you.
8. Jesus is Gods son. A spiritual messenger and teacher who performed works and miracles and died for our sins.

So what would we fit into church wise better?

I'll start with this Bible question.
God in genesis has his sons around and lucifer "light bringer" "knowledge" etc is there.....if angels are sons of god would that not make lucifer a son of god?

If you want to go to church try a different one every week or until you find one you like, I don't go to church, I just study the bible 2 to 4 hours a day, I believe what I believe and do always go along with the pastors of any church.
I go by Galatians chapter 5 verse 6
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.

 

[PloverWing]

They're sorta Trinitarian. Their official creedal statement is worded such that there's room to work around it.

Okay, I see what you mean. There's definitely a lack of traditional wording about "persons" and "substance". I'm guessing that the UCC's intent was to describe the Trinity without using Greek/Latin philosophical vocabulary that's foreign to most modern Americans, and I can see this as a good thing. But in doing so, they've discarded some of the theological precision that the church fathers so carefully worked out. I agree with you that the new wording allows quite a bit of latitude, perhaps too much latitude.

 

[Raphael Jauregui]

new here and have some questions about denominations, bible history, just some general newer Christian questions that google can't seem to help with.

Denomination wise:
Never had a denomination really as an adult. As a child southern baptist. Attended a Wesleyan church later, recently went to a Presbyterian church which shunned us from joining once they found out we where not married when our child was born. Major turn off for a re-organized christian. Here are some questions personally about which denomination we might fit best into for anyone willing to give help.
1. To me God The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are 3 different beings/entities.

So what would we fit into church wise better?

It is true that most denominations, with the exception of Unitarian Universalists and the LDS, affirm the doctrine of the Trinity as one God in three persons. However, among members of those denominations, there are different interpretations about what that means. While that may take some theological wrestling and discerning, your other points would seem to put you, only in my humble opinion, in the realm of the mainline Protestant denominations. The mainline denominations are less conservative and are generally moderate/liberal in their theology and social praxis. I would really recommend looking at the 'Seven Sisters' of mainline churches: 1) United Methodists, 2) Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 3) Presbyterian Church (USA), 4) the Episcopal Church, 5) American Baptist Churches USA, 6) United Church of Christ, and 7) Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). There is also the Reformed Church in America, Mennonite Church USA, and other moderate/liberal denominations.

 

[Vicomte13]

new here and have some questions about denominations, bible history, just some general newer Christian questions that google can't seem to help with.

Denomination wise:
Never had a denomination really as an adult. As a child southern baptist. Attended a Wesleyan church later, recently went to a Presbyterian church which shunned us from joining once they found out we where not married when our child was born. Major turn off for a re-organized christian. Here are some questions personally about which denomination we might fit best into for anyone willing to give help.
1. To me God The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are 3 different beings/entities.
2. I believe once you are saved you can always loose grace and salvation until once again you whole heartedly and humbly give your life to God.
3. We do not believe women should be leaders of a church. Not a sexist thing that's just how we interpret women's role in the Bible. No arguments needed.
4. The KJV is not the end all correct Bible. Is it accurate sure. But we don't think a church that says the KJV is the only correct bible is true.
5. Elders and deacons and such are fine but modern day prophets are a big no go for us. We put our faith in God. Not dave down the street.
6. Hell is a spiritual place of non believers. I believe that God will save those and all of those who come to him and repent and ask for and seek grace through him.
7. Speaking in tongues. Snakes. Hell fire Brimstone. If I drink 3 beers over the weekend I'm bound for eternal damnation. No thank you.
8. Jesus is Gods son. A spiritual messenger and teacher who performed works and miracles and died for our sins.

So what would we fit into church wise better?

I'll start with this Bible question.
God in genesis has his sons around and lucifer "light bringer" "knowledge" etc is there.....if angels are sons of god would that not make lucifer a son of god?

Let me start with your last question. There is no Lucifer the light bringer in Genesis anywhere. But your more general question really is: are angels sons of God. And the answer to that is, I suppose yes. But they're not HUMAN sons of God, as contrasted with Jesus, and unlike angels or Adam, Jesus was BEGOTTEN, meaning that God biologically fathered him with a human woman. Angels and Adam were MADE - God simply created them, he did not use an agency. We can say that for sure about Adam, because Genesis tells us so. We can surmise it about the angels, although Scripture says nothing. Jesus is unique because he was God's only BEGOTTEN, HUMAN son. So that's a big deal to us humans.

As to the other things, maybe I'll go through the list later if you want me to.

 

[Raphael Jauregui]

I took it and it came up with Episcopalian?

As an Episcopalian, I could say that most of the points of your list would be accommodated in an Episcopal church as they would be in many other mainline (more liberal) Anglican churches. As Albion said, The Episcopal Church affirms and teaches that the Trinity is one God in three persons and we affirm women as ordained ministers. As long as you are comfortable with holding a different interpretation on those two issues, I am sure that you would like many Episcopal congregations.

 

[Vicomte13]

I took it and it came up with Episcopalian?

I took it, and so did I. I wonder if the test was made by Episcopalians LOL.

 

[Raphael Jauregui]

LOL, I HAVE to try it.

Fun quiz! My top three were 1) Episcopal/Anglican 100%, 2) Evangelical Lutheran 100%, and 3) Eastern Orthodox 89%.

 

[HereIStand]

1. To me God The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are 3 different beings/entities.

A good short summary of Trinity is the following:

1) The Father is God.

2) The Son is God.

3) The Holy Spirit is God.

4) The Father is not the Son.

5) The Son is not the Holy Spirit.

6) The Holy Spirit is not the Father.

7) There is only one God.

These were taken from Phillip Cary's book Good News for Anxious Christians. Cary derived them from Augustine's On Christian Doctrine (Book I, Chapter 5).

Beware of the following error:

Tritheism
...Tritheism confessses the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three independent divine beings; three separate gods who share the 'same substance'. This is a common mistake because of misunderstanding of the use of the term 'persons' in defining the Trinity. (See Trinitarian Heresies)

 

[Frozenocean]

You've listed an unusual combination of beliefs: non-Trinitarian, and also non-Pentecostal, and also conservative on women's roles in the church. (I can't tell exactly what you mean by point #8, so that's possibly unusual as well.) I don't think there's going to be any church that fits all of your beliefs; you're probably going to have to settle for one that matches most of the things that are most important to you, and you'll just disagree with the church about the other points.

Southern Baptist might be a reasonable fit, or a church on the conservative end of the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition. I'll disagree with Albion and say that the United Church of Christ is not a good fit: they're Trinitarian, and they're very affirming of women in church leadership.

Almost all Christian denominations accept the traditional doctrine of the Trinity, so that one's hard to avoid when choosing a church. At the same time, however, many Christians have a very fuzzy idea of what the Trinity means, so you could probably get along, in practice, without too many theology arguments.

Albion's question about worship style is a good one. Do you have any preferences about liturgical/nonliturgical worship, length of sermon, frequency of Communion -- things like that?

No worship service style we are perfectly ok with Lutheran style services, baptist, Methodist....we have tried quiet a few churches but I have been told quiet a bit that besides Joseph smith thing Mormon would be a fit but Joseph smith is not a prophet. I disagree with plenty of what the Mormon church is about.

 

[Kenny'sID]

Fun quiz! My top three were 1) Episcopal/Anglican 100%, 2) Evangelical Lutheran 100%, and 3) Eastern Orthodox 89%.

Hmm, 2 @ 100%? interesting. Maybe they should rename those "Episcopatheran", since they are that close, unite em' and be done with it.

 

[Frozenocean]

Let me start with your last question. There is no Lucifer the light bringer in Genesis anywhere. But your more general question really is: are angels sons of God. And the answer to that is, I suppose yes. But they're not HUMAN sons of God, as contrasted with Jesus, and unlike angels or Adam, Jesus was BEGOTTEN, meaning that God biologically fathered him with a human woman. Angels and Adam were MADE - God simply created them, he did not use an agency. We can say that for sure about Adam, because Genesis tells us so. We can surmise it about the angels, although Scripture says nothing. Jesus is unique because he was God's only BEGOTTEN, HUMAN son. So that's a big deal to us humans.

As to the other things, maybe I'll go through the list later if you want me to.

I say light bringer, bringer of dawn, morning star based on Greek and Latin translations of the root word.

 

[Frozenocean]

If you want to go to church try a different one every week or until you find one you like, I don't go to church, I just study the bible 2 to 4 hours a day, I believe what I believe and do always go along with the pastors of any church.
I go by Galatians chapter 5 verse 6
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.

I wish we could devote 2-4 hours a day! Working 14 hour shifts on top of 8 month old I have fallen asleep many times with my good book propped open!

 

[Jezmeyah]

new here and have some questions about denominations, bible history, just some general newer Christian questions that google can't seem to help with.

Denomination wise:
Never had a denomination really as an adult. As a child southern baptist. Attended a Wesleyan church later, recently went to a Presbyterian church which shunned us from joining once they found out we where not married when our child was born. Major turn off for a re-organized christian.

The United Methodist church would not hold your backslidden condition against you.. since you come to church as a saved person. You have repented of your passed behavior, and God has accepted you, as God forgives all sins and doesn't remember them anymore against the sinners.

2. I believe once you are saved you can always loose grace and salvation until once again you whole heartedly and humbly give your life to God.

Catholics, Methodists, and a number of other churches agree with you there.

The Untied Methodists call it 'backsliding', not total loss of salvation or grace.
Returning to God is referred to as 'rededication'. As Jesus stated, he is the Good Shepherd who goes after the lamb who goes astray in order to bring them back to the fold.

I'll start with this Bible question.
God in genesis has his sons around and lucifer "light bringer" "knowledge" etc is there.....if angels are sons of god would that not make lucifer a son of god?

In the strictest understanding of them all being the same class of being, I'd answer, yes.

Lucifer didn't become another class of being when he fell. He's still of the angel class, howbeit a corruption of that class to be sure.

Just as Adam before he fell and after he fell remained of the human class.

We Christians are called 'sons of God', 'children of God' because we have been inwardly re-created in Christ Jesus. That re-creation has not changed our human classification.

Therefore, the angels and the devil are 'sons' because they were created by God. Even in his fallen state the devil could as written in Job, still approach God to converse with Him.

 

[disciple1]

I wish we could devote 2-4 hours a day! Working 14 hour shifts on top of 8 month old I have fallen asleep many times with my good book propped open!

I know you don't have the time I do, but you might want to try a MP3 player, or bible on CD's you could listen on the way to work or anytime you find.

 

[disciple1]

I wish we could devote 2-4 hours a day! Working 14 hour shifts on top of 8 month old I have fallen asleep many times with my good book propped open!

Some other verses I thought of, I don't know if there's much you can do about it or not.
Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 13
Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
Jeremiah chapter 51 verse 58
This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Babylon's thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations' labor is only fuel for the flames."

 

[Frozenocean]

The United Methodist church would not hold your backslidden condition against you.. since you come to church as a saved person. You have repented of your passed behavior, and God has accepted you, as God forgives all sins and doesn't remember them anymore against the sinners.
The Untied Methodists call it 'backsliding', not total loss of salvation or grace.
Returning to God is referred to as 'rededication'. As Jesus stated, he is the Good Shepherd who goes after the lamb who goes astray in order to bring them back to the fold.
In the strictest understanding of them all being the same class of being, I'd answer, yes.

Lucifer didn't become another class of being when he fell. He's still of the angel class, howbeit a corruption of that class to be sure.

Just as Adam before he fell and after he fell remained of the human class.

We Christians are called 'sons of God', 'children of God' because we have been inwardly re-created in Christ Jesus. That re-creation has not changed our human classification.

Therefore, the angels and the devil are 'sons' because they were created by God. Even in his fallen state the devil could as written in Job, still approach God to converse with Him.

Thank you for your post and input!