True Christianity

[Bahana]

I remember when I was a Christian it was difficult to understand why people would claim to be but then wouldn't care to study the Bible or know much about their own religion. I now realize that those people are likely just saying that because they were born into a family that went to certain church. If they do not identify with it then it would be like going against their family. There are also those who like the social activities of the church but don't necessarily share the beliefs of that church.

[Neo-Scholastic]

How are you defining what a Christian is?  Are Mormons Christians?  What is the litmus test, and more importantly, why is that the litmus test?

A litmus test would imply a clear line designating a difference of kind. Personally, the issue is this. Out of all the doctrinal differences which churches share the most doctrines and which reject most of the commonly held ones. Mormons and JW are Christians but in my opinion share far fewer doctrines with other Christians than say RC, Orthodox, and Protestant churches. Quakers also seem to be further out on the bell curve, but clearly not as far out as Mormons. Nearly all the gnostics, such as the Cathars, were branded heretics but IMO they still fall within the Christian community. I guess what I am saying is that one can be a Christian even if other denominations consider your type of Christianity heretical. But those are just my opinions. Jack Chick clearly disagrees.

[Graufreud]

The OP assumes a difference of kind when it is really a matter of degree. They're all Christians; they just have various doctrinal differences.

Most everyone knows that prayer doesn't do shit. Think about this: if you believe that god has some sort of master plan for your life, then your prayers are pointless because you are essentially asking the divine one to alter his plan for you and that isn't part of "The Plan".

Maybe prayer was part of "The Plan" and by NOT praying you're the one deviating from it.

Talking about shit.... does God plan when I take it, its consistency and shape?
4:13–15: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say” — this is what the biblical inspired writer James says we ought to say — “‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”

What’s the point of that? That means “this or that” — anything you do — you should go into it saying, “I’m not in control here.” It’s arrogant, he says, to think you’re in control. God is in control. 
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-god-control-all-things-all-the-time 

So, is it ultimately God who controls my bowel movements? And if I happen to fart loudly during a church service, it is His plan? Maybe God also finds most services boring and needs some diversion?

[Graufreud]

How are you defining what a Christian is?  Are Mormons Christians?  What is the litmus test, and more importantly, why is that the litmus test?

A litmus test would imply a clear line designating a difference of kind. Personally, the issue is this. Out of all the doctrinal differences which churches share the most doctrines and which reject most of the commonly held ones. Mormons and JW are Christians but in my opinion share far fewer doctrines with other Christians than say RC, Orthodox, and Protestant churches. Quakers also seem to be further out on the bell curve, but clearly not as far out as Mormons. Nearly all the gnostics, such as the Cathars, were branded heretics but IMO they still fall within the Christian community. I guess what I am saying is that one can be a Christian even if other denominations consider your type of Christianity heretical. But those are just my opinions. Jack Chick clearly disagrees.

If you have something that I find desirable, then you are a heretic (if you're not a heathen scum).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Co...ple_(1204)

The siege and sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Mutinous Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, the Latin Empire (known to the Byzantines as the Frankokratia or the Latin Occupation)[5] was established and Baldwin of Flanders was crowned Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople in the .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_Crusade
The Bosnian Crusade was fought against unspecified heretics from 1235 until 1241. It was, essentially, a Hungarian war of conquest against the Banate of Bosnia sanctioned as a . 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish%E2%80%93Novgorodian_Wars 

The Teutonic Order's attempts to conquer Orthodox Russia (particularly the Republics of Pskov and Novgorod), an enterprise endorsed by Pope Gregory IX,[1] accompanied the Northern Crusades. One of the major blows for the idea of the conquest of Russia was the Battle of the Ice in 1242. With or without the Pope's blessing, Sweden also undertook several .

The Battle on the Ice (fought between Russian Orthodox and Catholics).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKZPgGbUuX0 
if you like classical music. 

[SteveII]

How are you defining what a Christian is?  Are Mormons Christians?  What is the litmus test, and more importantly, why is that the litmus test?

A litmus test would imply a clear line designating a difference of kind. Personally, the issue is this. Out of all the doctrinal differences which churches share the most doctrines and which reject most of the commonly held ones. Mormons and JW are Christians but in my opinion share far fewer doctrines with other Christians than say RC, Orthodox, and Protestant churches. Quakers also seem to be further out on the bell curve, but clearly not as far out as Mormons. Nearly all the gnostics, such as the Cathars, were branded heretics but IMO they still fall within the Christian community. I guess what I am saying is that one can be a Christian even if other denominations consider your type of Christianity heretical. But those are just my opinions. Jack Chick clearly disagrees.

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. If you don't use the more restrictive, clearly articulated NT definition, you will end with billions of "Christians" in Hell. What kind of sense does that make?

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.

[Minimalist]

Back to invoking magic, eh Stevie?

[Cyberman]

Additionally, giving thanks for him saving you from a tragedy where someone else suffered or died (think car accident or weather related tragedy) is stupid because clearly, his sadistic side kicked in if he "selected" others to die as part of "The Plan". That's not very loving, is it? So why would you thank god for anything along those lines, really? He may have saved your life, but he took someone else's. If you don't find that disturbing, something is wrong with you.

[Amarok]

In other words Steve and wooter are just making it up as they go along

[Cyberman]

Can you blame them? It's all they've got. Plus the beauty of it is they think they don't even have to show it's true; simply asserting it makes it real. Now that's magic!

[Graufreud]

I just wonder Stevie,
if you had to prove in the courtroom to a Judge that you are indeed a Christian, what would you do?