re soc religion christian in article may geneva rutgers edu revdak netcom com d andrew kille writes anni dozier dozier utkux utk edu wrote after reading the posts on this newsgroup for the pasts months it has become apparent to me that this group is primarily active with liberals catholics new agers and athiests someone might think etc since when did conservative protestant old time religion believers get an exclusive francise to christianity christianity is and always has been a diverse and contentious tradition and this group reflects that diversity i fo one am not ready to concede to any group be they liberal or conservative catholic protestant or orthodox charismatic or not the right to claim that they have the truth and everyone else is not christian i am becoming increasingly convinced that most of us take paul s illustration about one body many parts far too narrowly it is easy to say that the one body represents a particular sect of christianity generally our own and the parts are clearly the various offices of ministry there is a place for that but having met people who are walking closeely with god in a wide variety of doctine catholic protestant liberal conservative orthodox etc i am willing to encompass a wide spectrum of views within the context of the body of christ and i am equally sure that one day after we shug off this mortal coil when we no longer see through a glass darkly but see clearly face to face we will all be ashamed at some of the things we held as truth we ought all fellowship worship and serve where we are called and understand that where we are called may not be where everyone else is called one of the fathers of the reformation help me out can t recall the name put it quite succiently in essentials unity in nonessentials liberty in all things charity while i agree with lewis mere christianity that calling oneself a christian implies some basic fundamental standards of belief if the word is to mean anything at all i think most of us define the bounds of essentials a bit too broadly deny the place for liberty in questionable issues near those bounds and ignore the requirements of charity all together me i attend a vineyard church speak in tongues am effectively an inerrantist though i ll grant some inaccuracy in translation am moderately pre mill and evangelical but i m not ready to damn those who use icons say mass in latin uphold the virgin mary though i really don t believe that she was sinless vote on church membership or insist on baptism for salvation of course i think my doctine is pretty close to the truth why would i follow it if i believed something else was closer to the truth but my understanding of the reality of a walk with christ is continually evolving as i spend more and more time walking with him studying his word and fellowshiping with others in the often extended family i read much of the night and go south in the winter t s eliot the waste land s w marlatt prov university of colorado marlatt spot colorado edu national center for atmospheric research marlatt neit cgd ucar edu
