Dear all,

This thread is mainly interesting for christians, but also for interested persons.

I would like to discuss several statements of christians faith with you. Why? Because in my impression the christian church adapted several ideas which are not christian, but entered somehow and distort the christian faith.
I know, there are millions of similar posts, blogs, threads, home pages in the web. There are countless persons who publish their views on why christianity is not as it should be or why a specific teaching is wrong etc... etc... Probably I am one of them. I cannot say. I personally think that I stick to the basic message which is written in the Bible. But, ok, this also everyone claims.

I think you have to judge for yourself. But If you have read until here, I am thankful, because most people already have switched off and assumed that I am one of these freaks, who want to offer a "new" or "corrected" gospel.

I would like to start with one statement and then -if you are interested- continue with further statements. All of them are of the style:

What I believe: against What I do not believe any more:

This is because I have the impression that God led me on a path of being cleansed. He showed me, where I believed something wrong in my life and replaced it by the truth from the Bible. Just to give you some examples and may be then you will see that I will not spread any strange teachings:

- I believe, that God does really love me. And this replaces the wrong old thinking that God loves me only as much as I move up in some hierarchy in the church.
- I believe now that my real identity as a christian is: I am a child of God, I belong to a royal priesthood, my citizenship is in heaven. This replaces my old wrong thinking: I am what I am in my job. My job defines me.
- I believe now that I am God's servant. This replaces the old wrong thinking that to be God's servant one has to study theology or attend a Bible school and only professional pastors or bishops etc. are His servants and the others are just "private" believers.
And similar points.

You might say: well, that is nothing special. I know all that. However, I think that it is these minor points which distort chritianity nowadays. I think that these minor points, which appear very subtle and stupid, that these have a bigger influence on christianity and on our faith than heavy false teachings.

OK, let's start with my first point:

1. Justification only by faith?

What I believe:
I believe that we are justified only by faith and that means by our trust and faith in Jesus. Justified means that God is on our side, that he if for us and not against us. He declares us justified.

What I do not believe any more:
We are theoretically, theologically justified, but in reality we are that what other people think about us. That means, if other persons think that I am small and worthless, then I am small and worthless.

Please write what you think about this.

If you have similar statements, please post them too. I also would like to comment on them.

But: please note, this is NOT a thread to discuss very different teachings which are completely off. Roughly the direction is "orthodox evangelical" teaching, but not excluding other christian denominations, e.g. Catholic, etc. . If you like, one could say: anything near the Nicean creed is fine.
That means, if you believe e.g. that Paul's letters are wrong, then this thread is not the proper place.

Alexander

By the way: I will not be able to check this forum every day. May be every 3-4 days or so.

Why is this important to the Public?

I think it is very important to the Public.

Next point:

2. Our identity as Christians.

What I believe:

Our identity as Christians is: we are God's children, a royal priesthood, God's servants, citizens of Heaven, heirs. (Rom. 8:16-17, Phil. 3:20, 1. Pet. 2:9)

What I do not believe any more:

In this world our identity is mainly given by two things: the job and may be a special hobby. In churches often unfortunately the identity is given by my position and my acceptance in the church.