What do people mean by christian fundamentalist

Maybe so Lilygran but she's got me thinking!
I'm certainly not doing any soon-baiting but questioning my interpretation of her posts.

I'm not soon - baiting, Lilygran. As a Christian yourself, can you confirm what she says in her post of 15.20 please?

Who told you that, soontobe? I've never heard anyone say what you did in your post of 15.20.

There's quite a lot of soon-baiting going on here. Everyone surely understands that her statements refer to what she believes and are intended to be descriptive rather than prescriptive.

granjura - I dont think there is much dispute amongst Christians, if any, as to which chapter and verse.

Your DS did not commit a sin, and his marriage is very much valid.

I do think that children or adults have to say the Romans 10v9 words themselves. I dont think that anyone else can do it for them.
I still like christenings though. The parents are bringing their child before God. A lovely thing to do. And the child gets blessed.

Can every individual Christian, or all the very many different Christian denominations (and there are 100s- a lot more than separate Muslim groups) - choose which chapter and verse defines what is a Christian Soon- or is your decision final?

That effectively means my DCs aren't, as both christened but not confirmed and DS who married in a church was committing a sin and the marriage is invalid?

That's preposterous IMO.

So anyone christened/baptised isn't a Christian at all until they can say those words for themselves

I strongly disagree.

Yes, Catholics are Christians. Missed that bit out.

I dont know anything about Orthodox Patriarchs.
Yes, the Pope is a Christian.

Soutra, I will try and remember my capital letters.

Personally I believe that a person becomes a Christian, in God's eyes at the point of my post at 15.20pm.

This link about the 'misunderstanding' about Adam and Eve (both synonyms for 'man' as in human, neither female or male, is quite long. Feel free not to bother to read it, of course:



Orthodox Catholic Church of the New Age

The Real Meaning of the Story of Adam and Eve

Life before Birth; the human spirit in Paradise

Although they may not practise their religion, most western people today, still call themselves, Christians, which is right and proper, for our religion is based on the story of Jesus Christ. However, that statement is not quite as simple as it sounds, for His story began long before He was born in Bethlehem. We know this, because as St. John tells us 'He was in the Beginning with God' (John 1: 2.) But what exactly does this mean?

Are we being simply told that his earthly ancestry stretches far back in time, as we read in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, where his line is traced back to 'Adam, the son of God'? (Luke 3:38) But even this is no answer! Who is this Adam? Obviously the reference says that he was the "Son of God", but elsewhere in the Bible this title is only used to refer to Christ and Melchizedek. Clearly then, this phrase does not tell the whole story, but it does indicate that Adam was not a "normal" historical man. Adam was a 'son of God', a spiritual being, not simply a part of God's Physical Creation. To confirm that detail we must read Genesis 5: 1-2 which says: "In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."

We notice straightaway that Adam is both male and female, which means that Adam was not simply the first man - the start of the human race. In some strange way, which we shall seek to explain in due course, Adam was both male and female. Someone may suggest, that that means that "Adam" is a general term, like "Man" and refers to the whole human race – both men and women. It is obviously not referring to the creation of one single specific male human being. Perhaps it is dealing with the spiritual creation of Mankind, not the evolution of his physical body at all! Let us look again at the text: "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, ... "

This means simply that Adam is both male and female. But this is not the end of the story for in fact most of chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis are about Adam. And if Adam is both male and female, what is "Eve"? We have to explain her too. We also have to consider the fact that both Adam and Eve were originally in Paradise, a spiritual realm, not somewhere on Earth. And we must even say why Eve was said to have been made out of one of Adam's ribs, although modern men and women have an equal number of ribs! All these and other problems can only be solved if we accept that Adam and Eve represent the spiritual nature of every individual, rather than a physical man and woman.

This story is an allegory, and within it there are many hidden truths. It is not a myth and not a parable either.

So, soontobe, by your set of criteria, the Pope and the Orthodox Patriarchs - and all their world-wide followers - are quite clearly not Christians.

"Evangelical" of course.

I personally don't think they're the same. You can be christian without being a church going individual or aligned to CofE/baptist/RC etc.
Or maybe I'm just confused?

I think, no, I believe that one becomes a Christian at one's baptism and particularly in the case of infant baptism, this is confirmed at one's confirmation when one becomes a full or communicant member of the church. (The clue is in the word).
I too resent the appropriation of the term "Christian" by the evgelical end of the spectrum.
BTW Christian, Jesus, Christ, God, Bible are conventionally written with a capital letter.

Many of the contributors to the Bible were discarded along the way- a very careful and deliberate choice. And translators over the centuries have deliberately changed the original stories to something totally different. Worse than Chinese whipers.

I've mentioned it before, but I was totally bowled over about 10 years ago when I attended a lecture by a senior Jesuit Bishop here in Switzerland (still lived in the UK at the time) who is a specialist in Hebrew and Hebrew translations. He explained bery clearly how the story of Adam and Eve was never about man and woman in the original text- which is totally unclear about the sex of the two int he story about the apple and temptation- but 2 synonyms for 'man' as in 'human' ... The early Church manipulated texts heavily to discredit and malign women (including Mary Magdalen of course).

I dont know the difference between chrisitan and Christian. They are the same?

Adults who become Christian, get christened/baptised after they have become a Christian.

I'm assuming it's Christian as opposed to christian?
And there must be more to it than just quoting the Bible? I assume the person wasn't christened/baptised or Confirmed?

More questions than answers!

Who knew it was so simple...?

Thank you

loopylou, you become a christian by believing and saying Romans chapter 10, verse 9. And by being and saying sorry for your sins.

As an ex-Presbyterian, and calling myself a Christian Humanist, I am inclined to take exception to the way exponents of a certain brand of born-again Christianity have assumed to themselves the unique right to call themselves 'Christian'. Do they accept that the Pope is Christian or Orthodox patriarchs? Jesus rejected the hard-line legalism of the Old Testament, but many of the fundamentalist sects - especially in America - accept as if they were gospel the laws laid down in Leviticus. There was a wonderful episode of the West Wing (can't remember which series) in which President Bartlet, faced with a bunch of these bigots, quoting OT authority for their bigotry, confounded their statements by quoting other biblical sources.
By calling myself a Christian Humanist, I mean that I accept Christian ethics - see the Sermon on the Mount - although I can't accept its metaphysics.

What's a gnostic? Meant 'agnostic'

I'll tell her that!