(August 8, 2014 at 5:12 pm)ChadWooters Wrote:(August 8, 2014 at 4:30 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: ...may not act as a Christian ought to, but that does not make them not Christian...That's one of the dilemma's of orthodox Christianity is that you don't need to be a very good Christian to enjoy your "Get-Out-of-Hell-Free" card. People get sorted into two groups: saved and not-saved. It's a pass-fail test. Most other religions, and some Christian denominations like Swedenborgians (that's me), make allowances for how well you followed the specific practices and teachings of the faith.
The Christianity I was taught as a youth emphasized the continual imperfection of men, and so sins were expected -- as was repentance. However, Southern Baptists believe that the confessional is inside the heart of each sinner, and so while sinning was public repentance was private ... unless you were a televangelist or something.
As a result we were loath to say, "Oh, he's not a Christian", for the most part.
