Emerging Wednesday- a sad definition

What is a Christian? This clip is from Ryan Wiksell's blog, asking not what we Christians would define ourselves as, but what we may have allowed the world to define us as. Read on....

clipped from www.thecoredowntown.com Christian: (n) An adherent to the western religious paradigm known as Christianity, identified by numerous cultural indicators, including: mandatory attendance at weekly religious performances, neat and tidy appearance, chipper attitude, straight-ticket Republican loyalty, big house less than 25 years old in an excellent school district, well-dressed and well-behaved children, homogenous circle of friends, SUV or minivan ownership, abstention from alcohol, tobacco and crude speech, upwardly mobile, and others of the like. Common usage: “I can’t let my family find out that my boyfriend got me pregnant; they’re Christians.” “I don’t want to work Sundays anymore; Christians are the worst tippers.” “Christians think that they can start a war, and God is always on their side.” (Source: The Non-Christian Worldview Dictionary.)

Emerging Wednesday- what it heresy? apostasy? schism?

Just about everyone throws around words without knowing what they really mean-- especially religious folks. In reading all about the emerging movement, and theology in general, it's amazing how quickly the words heretic, apostasy, and schism are so commonly invoked. But what do they mean? Well, here you go.

clipped from kenn.typepad.com

APOSTASY, the most grievous of the three, is a complete and utter rejection of the faith (“denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ”). That is clearly not the aim or purpose of the emergent church movement as I read them.

SCHISM means separating from the universal Church because of unwillingness to be constrained by unity. I think the emergent movement might be guilty on this count, but so is Calvary Chapel, and most of the Christian church. More on that some other time.

HERESY is an intentional or rejection of an essential element of the faith as outlined in the three creeds (Apostle’s, Nicene, Athanasian) embraced by all four streams of the universal Church (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican). False doctrine and heresy are synonyms.