Originally posted by SousyHawk:
In my opinion in order to be a Christian, you must at least agree on the following: (By the way, I am not inviting cricicism from those that do not hold to the authority & inerrancy of scripture, for this is my main premise).
- That Jesus was the Son of God.
- That Jesus was crucified, buried, & resurrected on the third day as an atonement for our sin.
- That faith in Jesus is the only way to God.
and
For me some of these are extremely important issues. Issues that (through my own study of scripture & study of contextual commentaries by biblical scholars) I have strong feelings about. I would not attend a church where there is people that are 'slain-in-the-spirit'. I would not attend a church that taught works-based salvation. I believe this viewpoint is wrong - I would argue that it is wrong.
Sarge, you're beginning to sound positively Lutheran in your viewpoint.
Either faith-based is correct, faith + works is correct or they are both wrong - no two opposing viewpoints can be correct on this.
That's one of the interesting issues when debating "Biblical" inerrancy: Paul takes one view of the faith/works issue, (the author of) James seems to take another. Both are included in the New Testament, and both have been viewed in different ways by different faiths.
A quick question for you, given the above:
1) What church do you attend?
2) What is your view (or churches view) in regards to open communion? Do you commune in churches of different faiths, and allow those of different faiths to commune in your church?