What is your flavour of Christianity?

by Dan Godde
 
There seem to be distinct flavours of Christianity out there. There is the traditional flavour, such as Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christianity. There is the liberal flavour with an emphasis on keeping to what is reasonable. Charismatic is another flavour with a strong taste of experience and let’s not forget the good ole evangelical, big on the Bible and evangelism. But is that correct? Is Christianity divided into flavours? How do you know which flavours are legit? How do you know what is the best?
 
I was very taken by a comment made by John Woodhouse the other day in a doctrine lecture. He said, ‘The character and nature of Christianity is determined by the fact that God has spoken.’ Christianity is at heart about knowing God and the object of our knowledge shapes the experience of knowing. What is God like? He is a God who speaks. What does he speak? He speaks promises and commands. What will knowing him be like? Believing his promises and obeying his commands. It will not be by mystical experience, submission to tradition or the independent use of reason. Knowing God is believing his promises and obeying his commands. Hence a high value on his word – the Bible. Evangelical Christianity, for all its faults, is not just a flavour of Christianity, it is Christianity, because God is a God who speaks.
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Joel Deans   |203.10.224.xxx |2010-06-21 23:36:12
Dan,
helpful insight by John Woodhouse and also your comments; thanks. In
relation to your last couple of lines, although I would ally myself
very much with the Evangelical Christianity camp, I think there's
nevertheless going to be variations on the theme based on secondary issues, rather than primary issues. I think often we don't really know where we stand as individuals
(except you learned types) on primary issues but then get all worked up
about differences in others that are of a secondary issue nature. This
is something I know I have to be careful with lest I fall into some sort
of moral hierarchy competition that is unbiblical anyway..
Cheers
mate! Joel
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Dan Godde   |220.233.5.xxx |2010-06-21 23:48:39
Thanks Joel, those comments are very insightful.  One thing I've learnt
lately is that there is no such thing as a 'normal theology'. By that
I don't mean there is no such thing as orthodoxy (right and wrong),
but that everyone has subtle variations in their views so that there is
almost no two people who hold the same view on everything (except
maybe in a cult!). I think that this variation is healthy and should lead
us to humility when it comes to disagreements. I also think your
distinction between primary and secondary issues is both helpful and
necessary. I wonder, though, what should go in the primary issues box? This might be a helpful debate...
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Mike Oborn     |110.33.85.xxx |2010-06-21 23:43:55
Hi Dan, thanks for the blurb on 'which Christianity', I found it thought
provoking!

Whilst I do not disagree with what you or John Woodhouse proclaim
- I am an Evangelical after all - yet there is a real danger in the obvious yet
subtle judgement that accompanies your comments.

It is easy to find things
to disagree on. I'm sure you can attest to the fact that even Evangelicals
disagree. Our mighty and loving creator is a 'just' God. That is He is the
judge, not us; He is perfect, not us.

Therefore I believe we should certainly
profess our beliefs and not water them down, but we should also seek to include
rather than exclude; to accept and love rather than to discard and judge.
Sometimes easier said than done, but still important.

For example I am
currently at sea and whilst it would be easy for me to pick the differences with
the two Chaplains onboard (there are a few) I have chosen to celebrate the
simil...
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Dan Godde   |220.233.5.xxx |2010-06-30 23:54:26
Thanks Mike for that helpful reply. You are right that we should be looking for
inclusion rather than exclusion. Please don't hear me saying that only
evangelicals are Christian. I don't believe that for a minute. There are
Christians right across the spectrum of Christian backgrounds, and some who call
themselves evangelical are in fact not Christian at all.
But I think the point
I'm trying to make is this: evangelical Christianity is not just a flavour of
Christianity, it is (for all our faults and foibles) genuine Christianity. The
other 'flavours' of Christianity are in fact distortions.
This is not an
invitation then to arrogance, for all we have has been given to us, but an
invitation to embrace evangelical Christianity without fear that we are going to
somehow miss out on something by doing so.
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Jacob Hepner   |150.101.162.xxx |2010-08-03 02:15:20
I'm not quite sure I understand what you are exactly getting at by that. What
exactly are you classing as "evangelical Christianity"? And if it is
classed as "genuine Christianity", then does that mean that any others
aren't genuine Christians?
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Dan Godde   |220.233.5.xxx |2010-08-22 04:43:26
G'day Jacob, thanks for your question. What I mean by evangelical is
Christianity that places a high value on the Bible - considering it to be God's
word and the final authority on matters of the faith. Evangelicals are also big
on doing what the Bible says (well they should be!)- especially seeking to bring
new people into Jesus' kingdom.
No-one is a Christian by belonging to a brand.
We are Christian only by repenting of our sin and putting our faith in Jesus
Christ. What I am saying is that what some 'brands' teach is not the genuine
Christianity that flows out of the fact that our God is a God who speaks.
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