What is the essence of Christianity?

[Albion]

True, Albion. And the Pre-Reformation Churches have it right.

Very well. I would tend to agree that the historic church bodies such as those that you and I belong to have a greater likelihood of being well-grounded in the faith than some of the newer ones, but of course that wasn't the point here.

When someone says that there are a lot of different churches with different doctrines THEREFORE none of them can be correct, he is obviously wrong.

It's illogical on its face. One of them could very well BE correct and the others wrong.

 

[A_Thinker]

How can I figure out the truth when I'm supposed to have a male intermediary to decide my beliefs for me (women must submit to men authorities, and cannot come to Christ on their own), and yet all my male intermediaries would war over very different theological views, coming to completely logically contradictory conclusions?

Seems madness to me...

Submit to Jesus ... His teachings and His ways ...

John 4

6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

 

[A_Thinker]

How can I figure out the truth when I'm supposed to have a male intermediary to decide my beliefs for me (women must submit to men authorities, and cannot come to Christ on their own), and yet all my male intermediaries would war over very different theological views, coming to completely logically contradictory conclusions?

John 8

2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.

And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

11 She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

 

[A_Thinker]

How can I figure out the truth when I'm supposed to have a male intermediary to decide my beliefs for me (women must submit to men authorities, and cannot come to Christ on their own), and yet all my male intermediaries would war over very different theological views, coming to completely logically contradictory conclusions?

Luke 7

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 No when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both.Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose,for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss,but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”

50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

 

[A_Thinker]

Luke 8:43-48 King James Version (KJV)

43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,

44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.

45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.

47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.

48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

 

[A_Thinker]

John 20:1-18

1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me [Latin: “Nolo me tangere”], because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' " 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

 

[eleos1954]

What is the essence of Christianity? What theological hills are the ones I must die on?

I'm in my mid-thirties, and I'm at a tough point in the faith. I've dealt with doubt before, eventually broke through it and rejected all forms of agnosticism and atheism, found other religions lacking as well -- and yet I still haven't figured out everything about Christianity, either.

I was raised in something of a generic, and yet very unstructured, American Protestant Christian home. However, there were a few theological quirks: my mother basically reduced everything in the Bible to Micah 6:8, my father told me hell isn't eternal and that people can be saved after they die (he vigorously maintains this belief to this day -- it's his own theological hill that he chooses to die on), and most emphasis was placed on endless End Times speculations rather than morality, even though both my parents identified as conservative Christians. (They remained outsiders in the faith, and few followed their highly idiosyncratic theology. As I've gotten older, I totally understand why few people followed them, despite my love for them -- they were very inconsistent theologically, and took a lot of the Bible grossly out of context, and could never admit or discuss their hermeneutical errors well with others.)

In my young adult years, I was exposed to the conservative Calvinist/Reformed, Vision Forum, somewhat famous/infamous "Brain Type" patriarchal Christianity of the Niednagel family, which holds that most people are Myers-Briggs ENTPs/FCIRs and cannot discern truth and reality well. True Biblical Christianity, according to them, is following rules and regulations to the utmost, and following the Bible according to black-and-white, linear left brain context, best exemplified in rigid Reformed Calvinism and ISFJ or ISTJ BEAL and BEIL Brain Types. My parents were believed to be generic ENTP FCIR right brain thinkers who took the Bible too creatively and didn't spend enough time on law, righteousness, and the like, which would explain their obsession with doomsday thinking, and the lack of emphasis on law/morality, and why my family never gave into the very different thinking of the Niednagel Brain Typists.

I also have been exposed to Calvary Chapel, which holds that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion, and that God can be attained through ecstatic emotional spontaneous Pentecostal worship, coupled with a somewhat conservative theological bent. The Niednagels would dismiss this as right brain extroversion emotionalism, and to me, it seems offensively feminine instead of male patriarchal. God is not a woman -- He is a MALE, so why treat him so emotionally and reduce His holiness to a girly RUH-LAY-SHUN-SHIP? Men are systems thinkers, thus so should a male God be, not a "relationship."

I now think, and have thought for over a year, that conservative Lutherans have the best balance of all these matters, theological and otherwise -- but it's alienated my family and all my former Calvinist and Calvary Chapel friends, who would wish to persuade me back to 'their' ways.

Even so, I find myself fighting: is conservative Lutheranism just my own preference, or is it absolute truth? If it's absolute truth, how do I -- as a woman and descendant of Eve -- practice it best? Women aren't supposed to hold Scriptural authority in the Bible, and yet the men in my life have had such differing views on how the Bible should be interpreted, so it's hard to figure out who to submit to. They are all over the place! Where is the consistency in Protestant Christianity? I outlined what my parents, the Niednagel Brain Typist Calvinists, and the Calvary Chapelists believe -- and none of it is internally consistent or co-existent. What a mess!

It got me thinking, even back to the bigger picture -- what, then, IS the essence of Christianity, and what does Christianity offer that other world views or religions don't? Why is there such division in Christianity when the Apostle Paul told us not to have all these divisions? And as a woman, how especially do I deal with all of this, when Eve's curse is upon me? How can I figure out the truth when I'm supposed to have a male intermediary to decide my beliefs for me (women must submit to men authorities, and cannot come to Christ on their own), and yet all my male intermediaries would war over very different theological views, coming to completely logically contradictory conclusions?

Seems madness to me...

"How can I figure out the truth when I'm supposed to have a male intermediary to decide my beliefs for me (women must submit to men authorities, and cannot come to Christ on their own),"

Not so.

Galatians 3:28

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Each of us are an individual and are to form an individual relationship with Christ.

Matthew 22:21

They said to Him, "Caesar's." Then He said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."

You belong to God ... submit to Him.

Study Gods Word yourself. Follow the Lamb. It's all about Jesus.

John 3

16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

My husband and I have different beliefs, but also understand that each of us has a personal relationship with Christ and thereby respect each others beliefs even though they differ, just like God respects peoples choices/beliefs. We don't allow what each of us believes to come between us ... we treat each other kindly.

God Bless

 

[A_Thinker]

God is not a woman -- He is a MALE, so why treat him so emotionally and reduce His holiness to a girly RUH-LAY-SHUN-SHIP? Men are systems thinkers, thus so should a male God be, not a "relationship."

John 14

18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 In a little while, the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”

23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will eat with him, and he with me.

 

[A_Thinker]

Matthew 15

21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

23 But He answered her not a word.

And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”

24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

 

[A_Thinker]

It got me thinking, even back to the bigger picture -- what, then, IS the essence of Christianity, and what does Christianity offer that other world views or religions don't?

I would say that LOVE is the ESSENCE of Christianity ... and that this building block of LOVE is what Christianity offers ... that other religions don't.

When asked what was the greatest commandment of God, ... Jesus said "LOVE ... "

Matthew 22

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the LAW, tested him with this question:

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

39 And the second is like it: ‘LOVE your neighbor as yourself.’

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

 

[W2L]

I would say that LOVE is the ESSENCE of Christianity ... and that this building block of LOVE is what Christianity offers ... that other religions don't.

When asked what was the greatest commandment of God, ... Jesus said "LOVE ... "

Matthew 22

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the LAW, tested him with this question:

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

39 And the second is like it: ‘LOVE your neighbor as yourself.’

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Love is greater than faith.

 

[W2L]

8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of [c]prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I [d]became a man, I did away with childish things.

 

[worshipjunkie]

. I have Asperger Syndrome. I'm essentially the polar opposite of the kinds of women you just described. I spend hours sorting through theological treatises in cheap oversized pajamas, not clubbing with socially sophisticated women. Lol I don't even have any women friends. It's hard to discuss theology with most of them because they are overly focused on feelings and relationships (another reason I hate it when people reduce Christianity to a relationship-- that might appeal to the Gucci sorts of women, but God is Male, and certainly there is more to Christianity than some nebulous touchy feely concept of relationship. )

I think there's more women like you then you suppose. I don't have Aspergers, and your idea of a good time sounds like my idea of a good time. I'm sure there are many other women on this forum who would concur. I used to be a traditional Catholic, which is very similar in a lot of ways to the kind of movement you're talking about with Vision Forum and such, so I know where you're coming from.
I believe Christianity is a relationship. Not in the touchy feely sense, but I believe that the truth of redemption is at the center of Christianity, and among other things, what redemption does is free us to have the relationship with God He wants us to have. I'm coming from a different place then you; I'm divorced, my parents are dead, and I don't have a lot of friends. So the idea of a God that I can actually have a relationship with means a great deal to me. But I think it means a great deal to Him too, or He wouldn't have put it in Scripture.

"For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called." (Isaiah 54:5)

"For this is what the LORD says: I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flowing stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm, and bounced upon her knees. As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem. (Isaiah 66:13-14)"

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:13-15)

Husband, mother, friend....all relationships. And I could have added a lot more. God clearly values highly having a multi-faceted relationship with us.

That being said I think Christians, especially Protestants, are too afraid of the word "religion". It simply means you believe and worship in a particular way. The belief about the Trinity separates us from every other religion, and that is a doctrine Christians hold to, and they believe certain things about the Trinity, and not others (It's not three Gods in one, it doesn't mean each Person of the Trinity is incomplete by Himself, etc). I know what they're trying to say, that unlike other religions, it's not about what we do but about what Christ did for us. But I think it's not necessary to reject the term out of hand.

re·li·gion
[rəˈlijən]
NOUN

1. the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
   "ideas about the relationship between science and religion"
   synonyms:
   faith · belief · divinity · worship · creed · teaching · doctrine · theology · sect · cult · religious group · faith community · church · denomination · body · following · persuasion · affiliation
   • a particular system of faith and worship.
     "the world's great religions"
     synonyms:
     faith · religion · religious belief(s) · religious persuasion · religious conviction · religious group · faith community · church · persuasion · affiliation · denomination · sect · body · following · communion · order · school · fraternity · brotherhood · sisterhood
   • a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.
     "consumerism is the new religion"

ORIGIN
Middle English (originally in the sense ‘life under monastic vows’): from Old French, or from Latin religio(n-) ‘obligation, bond, reverence’, perhaps based on Latin religare ‘to bind’.

 

[Bruce Leiter]

What is the essence of Christianity? What theological hills are the ones I must die on?

I'm in my mid-thirties, and I'm at a tough point in the faith. I've dealt with doubt before, eventually broke through it and rejected all forms of agnosticism and atheism, found other religions lacking as well -- and yet I still haven't figured out everything about Christianity, either.

I was raised in something of a generic, and yet very unstructured, American Protestant Christian home. However, there were a few theological quirks: my mother basically reduced everything in the Bible to Micah 6:8, my father told me hell isn't eternal and that people can be saved after they die (he vigorously maintains this belief to this day -- it's his own theological hill that he chooses to die on), and most emphasis was placed on endless End Times speculations rather than morality, even though both my parents identified as conservative Christians. (They remained outsiders in the faith, and few followed their highly idiosyncratic theology. As I've gotten older, I totally understand why few people followed them, despite my love for them -- they were very inconsistent theologically, and took a lot of the Bible grossly out of context, and could never admit or discuss their hermeneutical errors well with others.)

In my young adult years, I was exposed to the conservative Calvinist/Reformed, Vision Forum, somewhat famous/infamous "Brain Type" patriarchal Christianity of the Niednagel family, which holds that most people are Myers-Briggs ENTPs/FCIRs and cannot discern truth and reality well. True Biblical Christianity, according to them, is following rules and regulations to the utmost, and following the Bible according to black-and-white, linear left brain context, best exemplified in rigid Reformed Calvinism and ISFJ or ISTJ BEAL and BEIL Brain Types. My parents were believed to be generic ENTP FCIR right brain thinkers who took the Bible too creatively and didn't spend enough time on law, righteousness, and the like, which would explain their obsession with doomsday thinking, and the lack of emphasis on law/morality, and why my family never gave into the very different thinking of the Niednagel Brain Typists.

I also have been exposed to Calvary Chapel, which holds that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion, and that God can be attained through ecstatic emotional spontaneous Pentecostal worship, coupled with a somewhat conservative theological bent. The Niednagels would dismiss this as right brain extroversion emotionalism, and to me, it seems offensively feminine instead of male patriarchal. God is not a woman -- He is a MALE, so why treat him so emotionally and reduce His holiness to a girly RUH-LAY-SHUN-SHIP? Men are systems thinkers, thus so should a male God be, not a "relationship."

I now think, and have thought for over a year, that conservative Lutherans have the best balance of all these matters, theological and otherwise -- but it's alienated my family and all my former Calvinist and Calvary Chapel friends, who would wish to persuade me back to 'their' ways.

Even so, I find myself fighting: is conservative Lutheranism just my own preference, or is it absolute truth? If it's absolute truth, how do I -- as a woman and descendant of Eve -- practice it best? Women aren't supposed to hold Scriptural authority in the Bible, and yet the men in my life have had such differing views on how the Bible should be interpreted, so it's hard to figure out who to submit to. They are all over the place! Where is the consistency in Protestant Christianity? I outlined what my parents, the Niednagel Brain Typist Calvinists, and the Calvary Chapelists believe -- and none of it is internally consistent or co-existent. What a mess!

It got me thinking, even back to the bigger picture -- what, then, IS the essence of Christianity, and what does Christianity offer that other world views or religions don't? Why is there such division in Christianity when the Apostle Paul told us not to have all these divisions? And as a woman, how especially do I deal with all of this, when Eve's curse is upon me? How can I figure out the truth when I'm supposed to have a male intermediary to decide my beliefs for me (women must submit to men authorities, and cannot come to Christ on their own), and yet all my male intermediaries would war over very different theological views, coming to completely logically contradictory conclusions?

Seems madness to me...

Hi! I suggest that you take a step back from all the people's views. For one thing, the Niednagels did not represent all Reformed and Calvinistic views to emphasize good works as the essence of Christianity. The Calvary Chapel that you experienced was excessively interested in experiences with God. Conservative Lutheranism doesn't have all the truth either with, perhaps, an excessive emphasis on grace.

I suggest that once you step back from people's views about God, you read the Bible itself. Find a good modern translation like the NIV before it was recently revised, and start with the New Testament, perhaps the Gospel of Mark and then the other gospels. Then, go to the beginning and read the Old Testament through to get the background on what you read in the New Testament. Finally, read the rest of the New Testament. At the same time, choose a good, solid church that preaches and teaches the Bible's truths according to its own assumptions, not people's ideas about it. After all, it is God's Word. Also, join one of the Bible-discussion small groups that church has.

I joined just such a church in a denomination that tries to stay in the Word rather than our culture's false ideas. You are correct that the Bible, according to its own assumptions, does use male pronouns for God and place males as the servant-leaders of marriage and the church because God made Adam first and Eve out of him. However, no male dominance is biblical. Males are to serve women to show their love just as Christ served the church by dying for her. In the church, Paul is clear that males are to serve the church by setting the church's direction, not dominating them. Thus, females are free to serve in all other roles, according to the Bible's principles.

The essence of the Christian faith is found in the whole book of Romans: GUILT of all humans (1:1--3:20), God's GRACE in rescuing believing humans (3:21--11), and our GRATITUDE in response to his grace (free, unearned acceptance). You will find the same pattern in our Christian Reformed Church's Heidelberg catechism, which I also recommend to you. It is not inspired, the way the Bible is, but it does agree with the Bible's balance of beliefs.

You are on my prayer list.

 

[kdm1984]

Thanks again for the replies. This has been a thought-provoking thread.

My parents emphasized love more than anything, and they probably would agree that's the essence of Christianity, although they remained regrettably obsessed with End Times prophecy and trying to figure out the month and year of the end of the world as well (my mother passed away last year, having never seen the end of it after all).

That was another of my clashes with the Calvinists from Vision Forum...their refrain was, God is love, but that is not all He is. They heavily de-emphasized love, and instead emphasized His nature as the Lawgiver, and how humans must follow moral boundaries. My parents were looked down upon for allowing me to marry an unbeliever, for having limited Biblical kowledge in proper context, for allowing me to go to college (this was not encouraged among Vision Forum women -- neither was work of any kind), and for not training me up with lots of rules and regulations (very strict gender roles, etc.). My "brain type" was said to be among those near the bottom of those able to follow the boundaries, and my parents were given the same 'types' by these people.

I've tried to get past VF's influence, but it continues to haunt me.

 

[crossnote]

I would die on Calvary's (not Chapel) Hill, especially over the inerrancy and inspiration of Scripture. Outside that, the Christian faith sinks into mush.

 

[Tutorman]

What is the essence of Christianity?

The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

 

[Unnamed Guy]

Very well. I take it that the epistle to the Hebrews does not apply to Christians, according to you. If not, then who does it apply to?

It's in the title: Hebrews. Just like Leviticus is addressed to the Levites and The Revelation To St. John is addressed to a list of Jewish synagogues. (That's why goyim can't understand it.)

 

[Unnamed Guy]

That being said I think Christians, especially Protestants, are too afraid of the word "religion". It simply means you believe and worship in a particular way. The belief about the Trinity separates us from every other religion, and that is a doctrine Christians hold to, and they believe certain things about the Trinity, and not others (It's not three Gods in one, it doesn't mean each Person of the Trinity is incomplete by Himself, etc). I know what they're trying to say, that unlike other religions, it's not about what we do but about what Christ did for us. But I think it's not necessary to reject the term out of hand.

re·li·gion
[rəˈlijən]
NOUN

1. the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
   "ideas about the relationship between science and religion"
   synonyms:
   faith · belief · divinity · worship · creed · teaching · doctrine · theology · sect · cult · religious group · faith community · church · denomination · body · following · persuasion · affiliation
   • a particular system of faith and worship.
     "the world's great religions"
     synonyms:
     faith · religion · religious belief(s) · religious persuasion · religious conviction · religious group · faith community · church · persuasion · affiliation · denomination · sect · body · following · communion · order · school · fraternity · brotherhood · sisterhood
   • a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.
     "consumerism is the new religion"

ORIGIN
Middle English (originally in the sense ‘life under monastic vows’): from Old French, or from Latin religio(n-) ‘obligation, bond, reverence’, perhaps based on Latin religare ‘to bind’.

If you look up the word in the bible you get a very different definition: men telling each other what to do. It is variously translated, so you have to use a concordance to find all the occurrences.

 

[JAYPT]

It got me thinking, even back to the bigger picture -- what, then, IS the essence of Christianity, and what does Christianity offer that other world views or religions don't?

GRACE.