I attend an Evangelical Free Church of America congregation.
I affirm the standard doctrines of evangelical Christianity which include:
1) the full deity of Jesus Christ
2) monotheism (there is only one God)
3) the doctrine of the Trinity or Triune nature of God
4) justification by faith alone
5) authority and inspiration of Scripture
6) substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross
7) original sin
8) virgin birth
9) bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ
10) eternal reward of the righteous and eternal
punishment of the wicked at Christ's return
These doctrines are essential doctrines of Christianity, and I am unwilling to yield on any of them. If someone teaches contrary to these doctrines, I consider them to be heretical. I have no issue if someone has doctrinal confusion over the above points, but if they teach against them, I would have issues with their teaching.
By saying a doctrine is essential, what I mean is that Christianity ceases to become Christianity if one's understanding of Christianity violates these doctrines.
There are other non-essential elements of Christianity which are less important, and that believers can disagree upon.
Examples of these would be the role of women in church leadership, church governance types, speaking in tongues, preferred Bible translations, eternal security, Arminian vs. Calvinist theology, whether the Sabbath or clean laws still apply, or many other topics. I would not claim that a person who doesn't believe in eternal security is unsaved, for example. I may strongly disagree with him but I don't claim he is unsaved.
As an example of essential Christianity, I like to use ice cream. Ice cream has cream and sugar in it, and is served cold. If someone serves you a warm concoction with no cream and no sugar in it, you can't really call it ice cream. The essential ingredients must be there, and the above 10 elements are essential to Christianity.
My ice cream may have different ingredients than your ice cream, for instance I might like chocolate and almonds, and you might like pecans and butterscotch, but we still have ice cream as our base.
That's how I view Christianity. Some doctrines we hold with a closed fist, unwilling to yield or compromise on them, like the above ten elements. Other doctrines we hold with an open hand, willing to acknowledge we may be wrong on these doctrines.
We extend charity toward believers who think differently than us on those topics. We may fiercely debate those differences but we aren't allowed to call others unbelievers based on peripheral doctrines.
I was an Armstrongite for over a decade, believing the false teachings of Herbert Armstrong. He criticized Christianity on many different topics, and claimed that he restored the true, apostolic faith. He taught that only members of his organization were saved. So, that is why the topic of essential Christianity is important to me.
Regarding salvation, if you'd like to discuss it, I'd be glad to talk to you and help you with study materials and church recommendations. My email is [email protected]. My facebook page is
https://www.facebook.com/sparkmanrl
If you are in the USA I would recommend Evangelical Free Church of America (www.efca.org) or Christian and Missionary Alliance (www.cmalliance.org) churches.
Evangelical Free Church of America is very well balanced and defines the essentials of Christianity in a manner similar to me.
The following groups reject one or more of the above essentials of the Christian faith:
- Pelagians
- Moral Government Theology teachers
- Armstrongites like United Church of God, Restored
Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God, and
Living Church of God
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
I affirm the standard doctrines of evangelical Christianity which include:
1) the full deity of Jesus Christ
2) monotheism (there is only one God)
3) the doctrine of the Trinity or Triune nature of God
4) justification by faith alone
5) authority and inspiration of Scripture
6) substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross
7) original sin
8) virgin birth
9) bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ
10) eternal reward of the righteous and eternal
punishment of the wicked at Christ's return
These doctrines are essential doctrines of Christianity, and I am unwilling to yield on any of them. If someone teaches contrary to these doctrines, I consider them to be heretical. I have no issue if someone has doctrinal confusion over the above points, but if they teach against them, I would have issues with their teaching.
By saying a doctrine is essential, what I mean is that Christianity ceases to become Christianity if one's understanding of Christianity violates these doctrines.
There are other non-essential elements of Christianity which are less important, and that believers can disagree upon.
Examples of these would be the role of women in church leadership, church governance types, speaking in tongues, preferred Bible translations, eternal security, Arminian vs. Calvinist theology, whether the Sabbath or clean laws still apply, or many other topics. I would not claim that a person who doesn't believe in eternal security is unsaved, for example. I may strongly disagree with him but I don't claim he is unsaved.
As an example of essential Christianity, I like to use ice cream. Ice cream has cream and sugar in it, and is served cold. If someone serves you a warm concoction with no cream and no sugar in it, you can't really call it ice cream. The essential ingredients must be there, and the above 10 elements are essential to Christianity.
My ice cream may have different ingredients than your ice cream, for instance I might like chocolate and almonds, and you might like pecans and butterscotch, but we still have ice cream as our base.
That's how I view Christianity. Some doctrines we hold with a closed fist, unwilling to yield or compromise on them, like the above ten elements. Other doctrines we hold with an open hand, willing to acknowledge we may be wrong on these doctrines.
We extend charity toward believers who think differently than us on those topics. We may fiercely debate those differences but we aren't allowed to call others unbelievers based on peripheral doctrines.
I was an Armstrongite for over a decade, believing the false teachings of Herbert Armstrong. He criticized Christianity on many different topics, and claimed that he restored the true, apostolic faith. He taught that only members of his organization were saved. So, that is why the topic of essential Christianity is important to me.
Regarding salvation, if you'd like to discuss it, I'd be glad to talk to you and help you with study materials and church recommendations. My email is [email protected]. My facebook page is
https://www.facebook.com/sparkmanrl
If you are in the USA I would recommend Evangelical Free Church of America (www.efca.org) or Christian and Missionary Alliance (www.cmalliance.org) churches.
Evangelical Free Church of America is very well balanced and defines the essentials of Christianity in a manner similar to me.
The following groups reject one or more of the above essentials of the Christian faith:
- Pelagians
- Moral Government Theology teachers
- Armstrongites like United Church of God, Restored
Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God, and
Living Church of God
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
