Date: Mon Apr 10 2006 - 12:13:41 EDT
At 11:27 AM 4/10/2006, Dawsonzhu@aol.com wrote:
I'm not the theologian here, but what is prudent to understand here
is that there are a number of conflicting issues that have _always_
troubled the church. Out of the many, one is the question of how
Christ can be both divine and human (the divinity/humanity
issue). If you put any thought to it, you will soon recognize that
the divinity/humanity issue is not trivial to explain. When you push
the divinity too far, you end up denying Jesus died, and when you
push the humanity too far, you wind up with an unrisen
Christ. Either extreme calls our salvation into question, as the
former implies that there was no sacrifice and the latter means we
should be pitied. Many a great mind has wrestled with this, but
there is yet no answer to the best of my knowledge.
by Grace we proceed, Wayne ...What exactly Michael means by that
short statement, but knowing something of how well read he is, it
certainly requires more inquiry.
@ The Christian faith is what it IS. "Watch, stand fast in THE
faith, be brave, be strong." [1 Cor. 16:13]
The fact that some professing Christians down through history have
been/are emotionally "troubled by certain issues" --- which causes
them to want to find excuses to get rid of the Scriptures that don't
fit their personal "theology" --- isn't germane. ~ Janice
"The Christian faith is a definite system of beliefs with definite
content (<http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?jude+1:3>Jude 3
Off-site Link
) ... Because these central doctrines define the character of
Christianity, one cannot be saved and deny these."
Theology http://www.apologeticsindex.org/c45.html
A cult of Christianity is a group of people, which claiming to be
Christian, embraces a particular doctrinal system taught by an
individual leader, group of leaders, or organization, which (system)
denies (either explicitly or implicitly) one or more of the central
doctrines of the Christian faith as taught in the sixty-six books of
the Bible.
* "Central doctrines" of the Christian faith are those doctrines
that make the Christian faith Christian and not something else.
* The meaning of the expression "Christian faith" is not like
a wax nose, which can be twisted to mean whatever the speaker wants
it to mean.
* The Christian faith is a definite system of beliefs with
definite content (<http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?jude+1:3>Jude 3
[]
)
* Certain Christian doctrines constitute the core of the
faith. Central doctrines include the
<http://www.apologeticsindex.org/t10.html>Trinity, the deity of
<http://www.apologeticsindex.org/j20.html>Christ, the bodily
resurrection, the atoning work of Christ on the cross, and
<http://www.apologeticsindex.org/s12.html>salvation by grace through
faith. These doctrines so comprise the essence of the Christian faith
that to remove any of them is to make the belief system non-Christian.
* Scripture teaches that the beliefs mentioned above are of
central importance (e.g.,
<http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?matthew+28:19>Matt. 28:19
[]
; <http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?john+8:24>John 8:24
[]
; <http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?1+corinthians+15>1 Cor. 15
[]
; <http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?ephesians+2:8-10>Eph. 2:8-10
[]
).
* Because these central doctrines define the character of
Christianity, one cannot be saved and deny these.
* Central doctrines should not be confused with peripheral
issues, about which Christians may legitimately disagree.
* Peripheral (i.e. non-essential) doctrines include such
issues as the timing of the tribulation, the method of baptism, or
the structure of church government. For example, one can be wrong
about the identity of "the spirits in prison"
<http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?1+peter+3:19>1 Peter 3:19
[]
) or about the timing of the rapture and still go to heaven,
but one cannot deny salvation by grace or the deity of Christ
(<http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?john+8:24>John 8:24
[]
) and be saved.
* All Christian denominations -- whether
<http://www.apologeticsindex.org/c16.html>Roman Catholic,
<http://www.apologeticsindex.org/o06.html>Eastern Orthodox, or
<http://www.apologeticsindex.org/p11.html>Protestant -- agree on the
essential core. The relatively minor disagreements between genuinely
Christian <http://www.apologeticsindex.org/d10.html>denominations,
then, cannot be used to argue that there is no objectively recognized
core of fundamental doctrine which constitutes the Christian faith.
Source: Alam Gomes,
<http://www.apologeticsindex.org/c09a01.html>Cult: A Theological
Definition, excerpt from
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310704413/christianministr>"Unmasking
The Cults"
[]
