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Originally Posted by SecretMethod70
In short, despite participating in these denominations, I would classify your Christian experience as being only one denomination: evangelical.
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Well, I did say that my whole experience was tinged with evangelicalism, so yes, I could agree with you on that. But let me give you a more detailed timeline of my "exploration" (this should be a good review for myself, too--have never laid it out clearly before), in case this helps with understanding where I came from:
--Icelandic grandfather was an old-school Scandinavian (Lutheran) priest, so I was baptized as a baby under that influence (even though my mom was Buddhist)... and in the Lutheran church, this would be enough to "mark" me for God's purposes.
--Attended some Catholic Sunday School off and on as a kid, with my lapsed Catholic step-dad... picked up basic Bible stories there.
--Age 13-14 = Confirmation time for Lutherans, and my (Buddhist) mom decided to enroll me in confirmation classes (though I had never attended a Lutheran church previously, or any church really, since I was 5-6 years old)--so I went and learned about Lutheran doctrine there, and was very interested in being confirmed. But I did not really attend the Lutheran church much after that ceremony.
--Age 14, around the same time as Confirmation, I started attending a basically evangelical (non-denominational) youth group through my high school, and was involved with that for 3 years.
--Via that high-school youth group, I started going to another church (associated with the General Baptist Conference--not Southern Baptists) and attending THEIR youth group, and was very involved with that church for about 5 years... heavy evangelical influence here as well. I was baptized again at age 16, since the Baptists did not believe the Lutherans' baptism counted for much (not being old enough to declare one's faith).
--Attended an evangelical university, under the auspices of the Free Methodist Church (we were big into the Wesleyan tradition), where I was fairly inundated with *their* evangelical influence for 4 years. Took a mission trip to Thailand after my sophomore year to "teach English," among other things.
--Attended Catholic Mass (not taking the Eucharist) regularly with a friend who was going through the RCIA classes to become a Catholic... in fact, it was weird, about 5 of my friends (unrelated to each other) independently became Catholic after college, and I nearly followed them into it. I really respected Catholic scholarship at the time, and had done most of my late-college spiritual inquiry along Catholic lines. Thomas Merton's writings had a huge impact on me at the time.
--Attended a Presbyterian church for a couple of years after college, as it seemed a good combination of everything that had influenced me up until then. The pastor was a whip-smart guy who was incredible well-read and avoided the gimmicky style that I had come to resent in the Baptist church... but, in the end, even he could not convince me to stay in the fold. I was already on my way out.
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Originally Posted by SecretMethod70
Based on how many different forms of already accepted Christianity are out there, not to mention the people who call themselves Christian who may not be accepted as such by others, I find no compelling argument that one must believe in Hell - or much else for that matter - in order to follow the teachings of Jesus, and therefore be "Christian."
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Well, SM, here's the thing... in all the churches I attended (evangelical influence or not), there was certainly a standard of being a member, or not being a member. Not just anyone could walk into any of those churches and become a member... I mean, sure, people could come and attend mass/services as much as they wanted, but to actually become part of the church, one had to sit down and talk with the priest/pastor, discuss doctrine, go to classes, etc... there were always "standards" of some kind (even in "non-denominational" churches).
And I do believe that if someone said to the priest/pastor that they didn't truly believe that "Christ died on the cross to save me from my sins, and he rose again, that I might rise again," that they would not be allowed to join the church. I mean, following the teachings of Christ is one thing... but if one truly does not believe that historically, this person was crucified *for a divine reason* and *rose again from the dead*, then how can one be a Christian?
That is the *center* of any Christian denomination, as far as I know... Christ dying on the cross and rising again... saving us from our sins, yes, but also by default, from <hell>... whatever that may be. Metaphor or real place (I was also taught the "eternal separation from God" thing, later on)... but it is ever-present in Christian doctrine, across denominations.
I mean, what do we need Jesus for, if we have no need for redemption? Isn't he just then another humanist philosopher, and there is no need to subscribe to any particular doctrine of his, but just to say "that's nice, I'd like to imitate that"? But that's not enough for most churches, I'd say.