Quote:
Originally posted by NY Madman:
Quote:
Originally posted by rift:

[b]My wife and I are part of a "non-denominational" church. That's what I like. I feel that denoms are man-made and only serve to divide people. I would say that yes, the congregation I'm a part of is "mainstream". It's very active in the community, it's missions-minded, it's multi-cultural, it's compassionate, it's excited about seeing the church as a whole work together instead of apart and I feel that we work hard toward that end. We have gays and drug addicts and criminals in our congregation. And they are loved. And people's hearts are being healed. And all we're doing is trying to do what God says to do.
You're being somewhat evasive of the questions I asked. The reason I asked is because you seem to be bringing up the fact that you are a Christian in a number of threads and I was curious.

A non-denominational church is not what can be considered mainstream Christian.

You said you considered yourself very knowledgeable of "Christian culture" and the nature of the church. Well, what church?

You once either said or implied that you were a "born-again" Christian. If that is the case, I am fairly sure that I am not alone in claiming that born-again Christians and evangelicals are not mainstream Christians.[/b]
Sorry, I definitely am not trying to be evasive. One of my hopes in life is simply to help people who don't subscribe to my beliefs at least understand the truth of them, so they can at least make a decision on the Christian faith based on the truth, rather than some warped representation of it given by one of these foil-hat wearin' nut-jobs or by someone who just plain old hates Christians and isn't giving it a fair representation because of their emotions.

I think I am making the mistake of using what is sometimes called "Christianese" language. When I use the term "the church" I'm referring to the whole shebang. Christ didn't differentiate, so I try not to. All Christian denominations, including Catholic. When I use the term "mainstream" I'm referring to congregations and denominations that are neither uber-wacko-conservative nor uber-wacko-liberal. And believe me, there are plenty of both. My intent in using that term is to indicate congregations that, generally speaking, communicate and act within the parameters of what most of those congregations perceive as Godly.

To address your comment that "born-again Christians and evangelicals are not mainstream Christians," I guess I would have to ask you to define your understanding of those terms. To me, those are synonyms. I will admit though, that to the non-church crowd, those words have negative connotations. As does "Christian". Am I answering your questions? If not, let me know how I can better.