These things don’t matter much to me because organized religion and their edicts don’t hold much sway over my life. They are after all, organizations formed and governed by the fallible and malleable. One only has to look at the history of any organization to see they are like the rest of us, not without sin. This is not to say they are evil but rather I think that they are susceptible to temptation.
I appreciate the links you provided and when the Southern baptist link says: “Most broadly, we may use the term Christian in a generic sense, according to which any group is “Christian” if it is properly classified within the category of world religions known as Christianity. In this generic sense, the LDS Church may be described as “Christian.” But this means simply that Mormonism should be classified as part of the world religion of Christianity rather than being classified as a branch of, say, Judaism or Hinduism.”
For me that’s a good enough definition that we humans should dare to undertake. When the definition goes on to further sub-categorize and exclude for this reason or that reason, I think organizations tread on thinner ice. To support their claim they must depend on cherry-picking and combining constantly retranslated scripture which in itself was cherry picked centuries ago. What we have now are the writings that some humans, centuries ago, for his own purposes cherry picked for followers. I believe the devil is in the details and the more we try and parse details to justify something we take on faith, we risk inviting that devil into our twisted explanations. This is not to say the Bible’s pieces are not the word of God but that man’s translations and interpretations after all are the work of men. I think Romney made a good point where he said “The Bible is the word of God. I mean, I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read the Bible and I believe the Bible is the word of God. I don’t disagree with the Bible. I try to live by it.”. Huckabee also made a good point when he said: “there are parts of it I don’t fully comprehend and understand, because the Bible is a revelation of an infinite god, and no finite person is ever going to fully understand it. If they do, their god is too small.”
Thanks for your help but Romney’s Christian enough for me to accept him at his word. But finally and most importantly, it matters more to me that a candidate for president understands these words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” and “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...”. And shame on all of us for for daring to demand something more.
This is what I was responding to in post 316.
“”Sorry I’m not trying to be “slippery”. I’ll try to be more plain. The things you “seem” to believe in aren’t good enough proof for me that someone who wants to be called a Christian should be questioned. If they are good enough for you, that’s fine we’re done talking and I’m not convinced. But statements like “you should know” don’t seem very open minded to me... but hey, that’s just me. I do try my best to avoid telling people what they should know or believe. I’m not perfect but I try to avoid such things.””