Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: oh@m2.ti.com (Stephen Oh) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Why so many kinds of Christians ? Message-ID: Date: 21 Dec 89 08:10:44 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: TI Computer Science Center, Dallas Lines: 74 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article jmoon@lehi3b15.csee.lehigh.edu (Jonggu Moon [890911]) writes: >Over here in old L.U., there are more than one Christian Fellowships. >There's Lehigh Christian Fellowship of IVCF, Navigators, >the Fellowship of Christian Atheletes and the Roman Catholic Newman Center. >And we pretty much ignore each other. >Why are there so many different Christian Groups on Earth ? >If the God described in the Bible exists, why are the Presbyterians >keeping their distance from the Baptists ? What are the Protestants >and the Roman Catholics at each other's throats in Ireland ? I think that I have to add one more thing to this subject. When Jesus was at Earth, he gave us a command, "Love each other just as much as I love you." And so many modern churches are fighting each other because of thier tiny doctorines. I think this is a serious sin against God that modern churches commit. What is the most important thing being a Christian? Love or your dogma? I wish that all church could sever all nations and communities in the harmony of Love. I was raised in Roman Catholic and now I am attending a Presbyterian Church. Our Pastor alway attacks Roman Catholic and he told me that I have to go thru some service which indicating that I am accepting the doctorines of the Presbyterian Chruch. He said that he recognize the baptism from Roman Catholic Church; but since Roman Catholic is really different from the Presbyterian Church, I have to do that. I think this is not needed or even waste. +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | Stephen Oh oh@csc.ti.com | Texas Instruments | | Speech and Image Understandung Lab. | Computer Science Center| +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ [Assuming you're talking about the Presbyterian Church (USA) and not one of the smaller conservative groups, I think there's some misunderstanding here. Most churches that I know ask you to confess your faith in some way when you join. This seems to go back to the early church, and simply makes sure that those joining the Church understand what it means to be a Christian. There is nothing specifically Presbyterian in what you are asked. As of 1985, the questions asked were "Who is your Lord and Savior?" [the intended answer is "Jesus Christ"], "Do you trust in him?", "Do you intend to be his disciple...", "Will you be a faithful member of this congregation, giving of yourself in every way..." [This is not intended to commit you to details of doctrine, but to point out that being a Christian commits you to being active in service]. In principle, these questions are only asked if you have never been a member of a church before. There is a procedure called "transfer of letter" by which one church certifies that someone is a member in good standing. This is normally used when you move from one church to another. If your current church (which need not be Presbyterian) will issue a letter of transfer, we will accept their testimony that you are a Christian. In that case, we ask only the last question. (Indeed from the constitution it's not clear that even that is needed.) This is a sign of the fact that when a church receives a new member, it is not a private act, but they are functioning for the Universal Church. Thus if you have already been received by another church, we accept that. Unfortunately, a Catholic church is probably not going to issue a letter of transfer to a Presbyterian church. So you'll end up being received by "reaffirmation of faith", and answering the full set of questions. It seems to me that this procedure gives the maximum possible recognition to actions of other churches, and does not ask you to any assent to anything that any Christian would find out of line. It's not at all unusual for former Catholics to join our church. Formally, they are treated no differently than people from any other church, though it's possible that some pastors would spend additional care in explaining things, since there are greater differences between Presbyterians and Catholics than between Presbyterians and other Protestant churches. There is nothing wrong with a pastor making sure that someone coming from the Catholic tradition understands the differences in our traditions, but if a Presbyterian pastor makes a practice of attacking the Catholic church, I am upset. --clh]