(August 8, 2018 at 5:20 pm)SteveII Wrote: I think there is a clear litmus test in the NT itself: Salvation. List of pertinent verses here. It is not just a belief it is an actual step you have to take. I'll allow that it can be a process. Still, it is an intentional act. The devil has no false beliefs about Jesus or the events that happened. Obviously that cannot be the threshold for being called a Christian. The NT clearly and repeatedly says living an upright life alone will land you in Hell....By extension, if a group does not teach the requirement of an intentional act of the will as outlined in those verses, it is not a Christian church.
Point well taken. Thinking about it a bit more, I would suggest instead of referring to Salvation, which is an outcome, that if there were a "litmus test" for an indispensible Christian doctrine that doctrine would be more accurately described as Saving Grace or Divine Mercy. Grace, as I understand it, is the notion that salvation can only be achieved because of the unilateral action of the Lord. How this plays out in different denominations seems irrelevent. For the Calvinists, the extension of Grace is bestowed on an undeserving elect. For the Roman Catholics, meritorious virtues would be ineffective without the Grace of Christ mediation. Even in the heretical gnostic traditions, the attainment of liberating mystical knowledge, only allows someone to connect with the Hand of Emmanation of Christ constantly extended to the believer. In other words, no personal practice, communal ritual, individual virtue can earn or attain liberation from sin. It seems to me that core belief is always present regardless of whether someone believes in Total Depravity or Divine Spark.
Now it could be that I spoke out of ignorance, with respect to Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. I guess that I assumed that despite having adopted Arianism as their Christology, nevertheless the doctrine of Saving Grace is still present. I could be wrong. Nevertheless, as I see it, working out the doctrines of the Trinity was a 1st and 2nd century project. Many denominations believe, that our modern, post-Reformation doctrines perfectly align with Apostolic beliefs. Personally, I think that is a mistake. The past was their present and they were too busy not getting fed to lions to worry about the intellectual orthodoxy.They simply believed in Jesus as the resurrected Redeemer without whom salvation was impossible. Basically Christ Crucified without much further elaboration - no soteriology, no christology, no universally accepted eschatology.
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