Reply #20: Wow, you guys pretty much summed it up! [View All]

[Indiana_Dem]

I'm not so good at summarizing the differences.

Let me give you my experience with fundamentalism/charismaticism:

I grew up without any church upbringing/foundation except that Jesus was born on Christmas and He died on the cross at Easter. My grandmother taught me the Lord's prayer when I spent the night with her and that was the extent of my religious education.

I always had a believe in the existence of God and by the time I was 21 and married, I began to search for the "truth". I didn't want to go to church just because of social reasons or just to be going. So my first experience in a church happened to be when a co-worker offered to take me to her church. It happened to be a charismatic church which was nothing I had ever experienced before. It was kind of like you would feel going to one of those self-improvement motivational programs with charismatic speakers. Well, that's what happened and everyone was so nice and welcoming although the speaking in tongues thing was a little wierd at first, I thought. I ended up spending almost 5 years there before I grew enough in knowing scripture that some of what they were teaching was not what I was interpreting in the Bible. I couldn't take the literal meanings of Noah's Ark and creation as the total story. I could nowhere in the Bible interpret any "secret rapture" that they taught. I also went as far as to knock on doors to "win souls" for Christ. Soon, I found out this wasn't the route to go as the church never seemed to materially provide to the poor community the way the Catholics or the other denominations did. Talk was cheap, I felt. So, I eventually left the church without becoming a member but I did accomplish getting baptized and giving my heart to Christ.

The First Assembly is a church that is good for winning souls but beyond that its other goal is money contributions and church building. They win souls with charisma. They support all the things a fundamentalist believes except for maybe the speaking in tongues and the way you dress (you can dress any way you like).

I even listened to what Jehovah Witness's and Mormons had to say as they knocked on my door. One time, a Mormon gave me a very informative book on all the world religions and what they each believed. I still go back and look at it if I'm unsure about a certain faith's beliefs. It's a good reference book. But the Mormons are totally "out there". They have a whole different set of books book they use other than the Bible.

The Catholics and Episcopalians are similar to each other. The Catholics believe in Christ but they also worship Mary and many other Saints. They are very ritualistic. Their faith is based more upon works in getting your way into Heaven. You can even pray someone into Heaven I think. Correct me if I'm wrong. They believe in a holding place after death called purgatory which does have some truth in some scripture but it's not real clear to me yet.

Next, Martin Luther (Lutherans) broke off from catholicism and I forget why but they don't worship Mary and the other Saints like the Catholics do. I think they believed in more of a destiny-type thinking. I think they believe you are destined to be saved or not and there's not much you can do to change what is in God's will. Anybody, correct me if I'm wrong.

I think the presbyterians and methodists and baptists all came about the same era, too. They all have minor differences but enough to have separated because of their beliefs. Correct me again if I'm wrong.

Can't tell you much about 7th Day Adventists except they believe in church on Saturday not Sunday!

Then, like the poster said above, there is the Unitarian church and also the Church of Scientology. These were too cultish for me to look into when I read a little about them.

The Amish and the German Baptists were too conservative for me as I didn't want to have to stop wearing makeup and wear dresses the rest of my life! So I never looked into their belief system. Their appearance was enough to scare me away.

I know the others summed things better than me but these are my experiences and what I've learned over the years.

I've kind of gathered my own beliefs between what I read and self-interpret in the Bible and what different interpretations I receive from what I search out. I believe in many of the fundamentalist ideas: Christ died on the cross for man's sin, Christ overwrote the traditional Judeo law of the 10 commandments and said "Love your God" and "Love your brother" which is what I try to go by, that you're saved by faith and not by works but you will be judged on judgement day your works but it won't cast you out of heaven, that the only unpardonable sin is that you don't believe in Christ dying for your sins, etc.

Where I part with fundies and charismatics is on separation of church and state, pro-life/pro-choice issues, war, their secret rapture theory, faith-based initiatives, and I question their GLBT beliefs. I believe God gave us a free will that includes the free will to choose to believe in Him or not to believe in Him--sobeit that religious morals should not be legislated in favor of one groups will over another. One should have the free will to choose things like abortion vs. no abortion, leading the GL lifestyle or not. Who am I to judge? That's why I believe in separation of church and state.

Well, I know you didn't ask to hear my opinion. I just wanted to share with you that not all fundamentalists are the way you think.

Even though I believe the only way to heaven is through Christ doesn't mean I'm going to condemn anyone else because they don't think that way. I'm not that way. The commandment is to love one another and that's what I try to do regardless of my own beliefs.