A question for the Christians here

[Hitro]

Most of the religious people here are Christians, but as we all know there are many different denominations of that faith, probably getting more every year.

So my question to the Christians here is:

Which denomination of Christianity do you belong to and what distinguishes it from all the others, what makes it special?

 

[Pangur Bán]

You'll stump most Christians with that question, Hitro.
The real answer will be "it's the nearest church" or "the people are nicer"

I was baptized Catholic, but brought up Presbyterian/Calvinist. The thing with disguishes us is that we believe in predestination and the Elect Well, most presbyterians have never read Calvin. I once opened a thread on Calvinism for curiosity:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50775

 

[Affirmative]

I am non-denominational, although I do go to a Presbyterian Church at the moment.

 

[cgannon64]

I'm a Catholic. What makes it special? Its the oldest, most original denomination of Christianity. I think it is also the only one that has all the sacraments, while others only have some. We also have a very organized central church structure and a Pope.

I'm not going to get into some of the negatives of Catholicism (the history, the scandals, etc), just what makes us different.

 

[The Yankee]

I'm not very religious, and I'm usually non-denominational, but I come from Roman Catholic families and their traditions (communion, the funerals were in the Roman Catholic churches and preists).

 

[Shadylookin]

Baptist. as for what makes us different perhaps something to do with john the baptist not really sure i usually just day dream about all the evil things i plan on doing for the week in church so i don't really catch all the messages.

 

[amadeus]

Lutheran.

I can eat meat on Friday if I want.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Originally posted by rmsharpe
Lutheran.

I can eat meat on Friday if I want.

Are you practicing?

 

[Aramazd]

non-denominational

 

[amadeus]

Originally posted by Sobieski II


Are you practicing?

No, just injecting some humor. I never attend church services.

The clergymen of this area do not appeal to me as much as some accomplished theological scholars like Peter Popoff.

 

[onejayhawk]

Lutheran also. I think their understanding of the Lord's Supper is the best. I have a problem with baptism. I do not like infant baptism, which my church practices, but I like "age of accountability" even less. Its one of those things I dont have a handle on.

For the most part I am a big tent type of Christian. To my way of thinking, anyone that acknowledges God and their personal inability to meet his standards, who accepts that God has chosen to to bridge that gap and who believes that the bridge is the person of the Saviour, Jesus, the Christ and relies on his intervention on their behalf is saved. The rest is just window dressing.

They say that genius is simple at its heart, but complex at the point of application. That is surely true of the Church. I doubt that you would find a dozen church fathers that would disagree with anything I just laid out, yet we have the divergence you see.

I have sited before my favorite analogy: the story of the blind men and the elephant. If the faith of a child is the elephant, then the Catholics think it is a wall, the Baptists think it is a spear, we Lutherans think it is a fan, Pentacostals think it a snake, Presbyterians think it rope, and Methodists think it a tree. None are wrong, and all are right, but in this world no one will ever get the whole truth.

J

 

[Zarn]

Part 1: Catholic
Part 2: see Cgannon's post

There may be more distinctions like in the Trinity being compared with Protestants. I'm just too lazy to think of them all right now.

 

[Archer 007]

Im techinally a Baptist, but my church is not a member of any of the large organizations and we have a view on many issues different then mainstream Baptists.

 

[Speedo]

United Methodist.

It is the church I was raised in, however more and more of the things coming out of the church leadership are turning me away (for example, last year one of the leader of our conference made a statement to the effect that ALL war veterans -he was specifically asked about WW2 though- were going to hell because God hates war). There are rumors about that some very unpleasant things will be coming out of the General Conference next spring, and if they are true I will probably remove my membership. It doesn't help that after having an excellent pastor for 8 years, our current one is well... not that great.

I'm leaning towards going Baptist, but I disagree with them on many issues.

 

[Vrylakas]

Lutheran.

I can eat meat on Friday if I want.

Ever hear Garrison Keillor's Lutheran jokes? It never would have occurred to me that someone could tell Lutheran jokes...

 

[stratego]

Protestant-Baptist. Never been baptized.

 

[HighlandWarrior]

Lutheran,

we don't have to worship mary or the pope, we actually worship Christ.

 

[The Iron Fist]

I think I'm evangelic-lutheran. Though I'm really a devout follower of Baal.

 

[Eastern Knight]

Just Christian, no need to classify.

 

[EdwardTking]

Church of England


While it does have a sort of central doctrine, it tolerates quite a wide range of beliefs. I regard this as essential for me because to me religion covers the areas where is no agreed existential or provable legal, mathematical or scientific proof e.g. faith amongst uncertainty and I have difficulties with most forms of fundamentalists and literalists who seem to convince themselves to believe that only their particular version must be absolutely right.