Why is it that the Evangelicals, Born-Agains and Fundamentalists want to use the word CHRISTIANS exclusively?

Question

I am alarm by the exclusive use of these people of the word CHRISTIANS to refer to themselves only and denying the other Christians like Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's to be referred as Christians.

Is this not religious discrimination in the name of Christ? Should we not file a compliant with the ACLU to stop this dangerous trend? Nowadays, it is becoming too common to hear people say that the Catholics are not Christians but rather cult-followers. I am worried that should this be not stopped, the future generations of Christians will be fighting each other just to have the claim of who are the true christians. It is chilling...sounds like the days of heretic-hunting!

Answer 1

I am a Christian, but sometimes I think we would be better off if we didn't put a name on any denomination. That way, all believers in Jesus Christ would be labeled "Christian". That was probably the "Church of Christ" original intent, but then turned into a we vs them deal that if you didn't have their name you were in error. So lets have no signs, no names anywhere, no labels, no conventions, no creed(except the bible), no traditions of men. On and on.

Answer 2

No, all these Christians are not Creationists. That's the quick answer to that. For example, my family and I are all evangelicals but we embrace the idea of theistic evolution shared by most Catholics. A born-again Christian can be either a fundamentalist or an evangelical or a liberal Christian. Jesus said "you must be born again" and the term is used as a synonym for having had a conversion experience. It usually refers to a conversion experience that one can remember as having happened at a particular time and place, a personal decision to which one can point rather than having been raised in the faith from babyhood and never believing anything else. Evangelicals believe it is our responsibility to evangelize, or share the gospel, with the world. A fundamentalist is one who embraces the fundamentals, or basics, of Christianity and in American terms, is usually a biblical literalist. An extremist is probably always a fundamentalist, but not all fundamentalists are extremists. Many have a very literal mindset, but do not wish to harrass or hurt anyone and have no desire to set up any kind of theocracy. The extremists are those who take literally God's character of judgment on sin, but do not also take literally the command to love our neighbor as ourselves. Edit to add--Kevin S, I assure you there is no reason to fear me.

Answer 3

Oregon Flower above gives a perfect biblilical definition of what a "Christian" is. So, I do not need to repeat it here.

What would you prefer?
A definition that includes anything and anyone who decides that they want to be known as a christian?

The word "christian" has a definite bibilical meaning. To veer from it is to render the word useless.

There use to be a word in old english; Gentleman
The word used to mean a "person of landed property and of a certain 'means'.

It was not a contradiction to say, "such and such a person was a "gentleman", but also a scoundrel"

But of course when the word became overused by folks that would say something like, "Well so and so is much more a 'true gentleman' than someone else (who fit the original definition), then the word became useless as a description, and just became another word that meant a "nice" person. (Credit to C.S. Lewis for the example)

That is what is happening to the word "christian".

The word itself carries a certain built-in descriptive meaning. ( A person who believes certain doctrines that the bible says MUST be believed to BE a christian).
But if it's allowed to just be used by anyone who exibits what are thought to be christian qualities and adheres to any kind of doctrine that someone wants to squeeze into a christian mold , (though without the biblicial meaning behind it), then the word will soon become useless as far as being accurately decriptiive.

As an aside, I also am amused when I hear people say something like, "Im a christian, but not one of those 'born again' types.".
Since the bible teaches that ALL real christians have been born again, (or born from above), I wonder just what they are objecting to.
Calling oneself a "born again" christian is technically redundent. I myself usally use the term "evangelical christian" when refering to myself. Which is also technically redundent, as all christians should be "evangelical". But what can a person do? The bibilical terms are becoming increasingly mis-used.

Oh well, God knows who are His.



....theBerean

Answer 4

In the future generations, when the Anti christ shows up, he will set up a One World Church, in which he will not tolerate any bickering. He will set the rules. Thus, no fighting among religions ! Is that what you'd prefer ? Well, that's what's on the way. Oh yeah , did I say that the Bible says that those who are deceived by the Antichrist will end up in the lake of fire ? God will straighten out all this arguing over whose church is THE one !

Answer 5

The hysteria is all yours. I post questions for Christians only and it doesn't stop anyone from posting. The answer is what I am looking for and I know that Atheists are incapable of delivering it. So after eliminating all the Atheist answers, I can look for a Best Answer. ( It's just because the Atheists suck at scripture) .

But if a Jehovah's Witness answers better than a Fundie, then they will get the Best Answer. I don't care which denomination they are!

Answer 6

Christ himself said that his followers must "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matthew 3: 8) and that false prophets would be recognised by their fruit (Matthew 7: 16). So, if anyone claims to be a follower of Christ, a Christian, then their lives must be transformed - they must produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:22-24).

This is the rule against which a Christian is measured. If anyone claims to be a Christian, then s/he must live up to the biblical definition. It is not up to us to judge who is or who is not a Christian. Fortunately, that's God's perogative. So forget about names and titles and denominations. God knows who are trully his.

As theBerean pointed out, doctrine is also critical. If a denomination preaches a gospel other than that found in the Bible (e.g. only 144,000 go to heaven, hell doesn't exist, baptism for the dead) and makes false prophecies about 'end times' or the second coming of Christ (e.g. he came invisibly in 1914 and will come a third time), then that denomination is a false prophet. Some denominations also claim that they have received additional revelations from God and that the Bible is incomplete. They have added to God's word. Or they may insist people have to earn their salvation. For those reasons I would describe them as pseudo-Christians.

Answer 7

A Christian is a "Little Christ" and only those who follow Christ exclusively should bear the name.

Jehovah's Witnesses don't even believe in Christ as the Son of God so they certainly do not follow Him.

Catholics follow Christ, but not exclusively.

Answer 8

The Pope has just reaffirmed the doctrine that the Catholic Church is the Only True Church and the only means to salvation. He claims that Catholics are the only true Christians.

Answer 9

Trinitarians in particular seem to delight in pretending that nontrinitarians cannot be Christians. Trinitarians use an artificial, trinity-specific definition of the term "Christian" which excludes anyone who does not believe that Jesus is God Himself, rather than the Son of God. Interestingly, pagans in the first century pretended that Christ's followers were Atheists(!) because the Christians had a somewhat different idea from the pagans about the nature of God.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that no salvation occurs without Christ, that accepting Christ's sacrifice is a requirement for true worship, that every prayer must acknowledge Christ, that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom, that Christ is the head of the Christian congregation, that Christ is immortal and above every creature, even that Christ was the 'master worker' in creating the universe! Both secular dictionaries and disinterested theologians acknowledge that Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian religion.

The Trinitarian arguments are intended to insult and demean Jehovah's Witnesses, rather than to give a Scripturally accurate understanding of the term "Christian".

In fact, the bible most closely associates being "Christian" with preaching about Christ and Christ's teachings. Review all three times the bible uses the term "Christian" and note that the context connects the term with:
"declaring the good news"
'teaching quite a crowd'
'open eyes, turn from dark to light'
"uttering sayings of truth"
"persuade"
"keep on glorifying"

(Acts 11:20-26) [The early disciples of Jesus] began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus... and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.

(Acts 26:17-28) [Jesus said to Paul] I am sending you, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God... Paul said: “I am not going mad, Your Excellency Festus, but I am uttering sayings of truth and of soundness of mind. ...Do you, King Agrippa, believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” But Agrippa said to Paul: “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.”

(1 Peter 4:14-16) If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy... But if he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name


So why do anti-Witnesses try to hijack the term "Christian" and hide its Scriptural implications? Because anti-Witnesses recognize that it is the preaching work that makes it clear that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are by far the most prominent followers of Christ:

(Matthew 28:19,20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded


Learn more!
http://watchtower.org/e/ti/index.htm?article=article_04.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050422/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/pr/index.htm?article=article_04.htm

Answer 10

Clearly, a Christian is a person who has accepted Christ's work on the cross as payment in full for his/her sins. It is described in God's Word what it takes to be a Christian. Veering away from that description means one is NOT a Christian.

It isn't a do-it-yourself faith that one makes up as they go along like Mormonism, we follow clear precepts that Christ clearly gave. That seems to be a difficult pill to swallow for some . . .