User:Colin MacLaurin/Beliefs

(I don't take all this stuff too seriously! Comparing myself to various labels and so on is all just for interest sake really - I read something new and ask myself how I relate to it; "This user is greater than the sum of his religious and philosophical statements".)

I like the robustness principle (also known as Postel's law):
 * ''Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in which you accept from others.'


 * In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity. (article)

Quotes: "I am the man who with the utmost daring discovered what had been discovered before". "I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy." - G. K. Chesterton (how I felt regarding Ellen White and her inspiration)

The glory of God is a human being/person? made fully alive. -Irenaeus

(quote about spending his lifetime trying to separate God from church...) - Philip Yancey

"May he she  s/he they who is without POV write the first article. Oh, we already started. Nevermind."

Religious Beliefs




I have attended many major and widely differing Christian events in Australia, such as Hillsong Conference 2006 (and soon 2007), the Seventh-day Adventist NNSW Big Camp, and the evangelical Katoomba Christian Convention Easter camp. I look forward to visiting the Taizé Community in France this year.

I strongly support the lesser goals of ecumenism such as interfaith discussion, mingling and understanding; but not greater goals such as complete doctrinal and organisational unity. I seek to be tolerant, open minded, not insular; and yet hold to

I am a Christian, in the rawest sense of being a follower of Jesus Christ. I recognise that some individuals such as Mahatma Ghandi were profoundly influenced by Jesus, possibly even followers of Jesus, but could not consider themselves "Christian". I also reject interpretations of Christianity emphasizing it as a political and nationalistic system, an objection shared by many in the Middle East and other countries.

I am evangelical in that I am Jesus-centered, have a relatively conservative to moderate view of inspiration of the Bible, and see faith as a personal experience; although I disagree with some majority positions amongst evangelicals. I can smile at Yancey's understanding as a young man of an evangelical:
 * "a socially stunted wannabe – a fundamentalist with a better income, a slightly more open mind and a less furrowed brow"!

I am not a Christian fundamentalist, although I do believe that the popular media stereotype of them is caricatured and generally unfair. I once held to biblical inerrancy myself.

My experiences with the charismatic movement and Pentecostalism have been very positive.

I am not a liberal Christian, as my view of inspiration is more moderate. However I do not write them off completely, but recognise that many have been very good scholars, and have made important contributions to theology. "Before considering the evidence", there may be some benefit to the historical-critical method. I grew up with liberal influences, but like Karl Barth I sought something more substantial.

I am basically Arminian, that is I emphasize human freedom of choice. I recognise that this system is not perfect, and some struggle with ideas of perfectionism and lack of assurance of salvation. I respect Calvinism's important contributions to the sovereignty of God - that He is in control, and we can trust Him and not stress. However it also can go wrong, aggravating the perceived problem of evil in attributing sad and painful events to God's "providence". Like Alden Thompson I believe that both have positive contributions to make, and reject the animosity which has sometimes existed between the two schools of thought (in the past, I hope). I am also very interested in Open theism. I recognise that many aspects are controversial and respect that, however one aspect I do not apologise for is the rejection of God as "impassible". On the contrary, "God has feelings too"! I am proud that progressive thinking Seventh-day Adventist Richard Rice is a leading contributor to this system that has been described as the logical extension of Arminian thought.

My lecturer said of himself, "Growing up in a small country church I thought I was a liberal, but I later discovered I was actually a conservative." Another lecturer said, "Centrism is not a point, it is a continuum. You may be left of center is some areas, but right of center in others."

I am progressive on many issues: in particular, I inclusive attitude. , but conservative on some. I am fairly typical of young people in my area.

I believe that we can learn from other cultures. Economically developing countries

I very strongly support the seeking of genuine spirituality as distinct from mere outward forms of religion: "(Yancey quote)..." However I also believe that community is essential, and that achieving that spirituality may be assisted by structures etc.

Perhaps I could describe myself as a... but the point is essentially that I don't fit into any oversimplified "box", but prefer to think of myself as a follower of Jesus our Saviour. I recognise that no institution, denomination, group or individual (and that includes me or you) is perfect in belief or action. Concurrently with this somewhat idealistic notion, I do recognise that community is essential and hence choose to identify with a denomination and local church community. I consider my home church to be Wallsend Seventh-day Adventist Church in Newcastle, Australia.

See my partial list of people I admire or have been influenced by, on my main page.

Relation to Various Movements
It is often said that labels can lead to judgemental and "us versus them" attitudes, or to oversimplification and a tendency to put people into a "box". I agree, yet I find it helpful to compare beliefs relative to existing labels in common use, as they provide a starting point for discussion. It can also be simpler to describe where one stands in relation to a particular movement or label, than to attempt a description from scratch.

Christian

 * Evangelicalism. I basically consider myself to be an evangelical Christian. I believe the Bible is inspired by God and authoritative for today. I consider Jesus Christ to be central to all that I am or believe in. Some would prefer to a narrow definition of what it means to be evangelical - I do not share this tendency.
 * Charismatic movement. I believe in the continuance of spiritual gifts. I don't mind a more upbeat style of worship through music, but I think a balance is healthy. I respect charismatic leaders who encourage their members to have quiet time with God as well.
 * Fundamentalism. I do not consider myself one of these, particularly as it often has a negative connotation today. I do respect their respect for scripture. I have a high regard for scripture myself. I think their position is sometimes misrepresented and caricatured, which does not represent all fairly.
 * Catholicism. I am not a Catholic, and am against too much emphasis on "tradition" which Catholicism respects highly. Yet recently I have realised that many aspects of tradition are highly important. For example, we arrived at the current canon (list) of books in scripture because through a gradual selective historical process.
 * Speaking in tongues. I have not spoken in tongues in any sense of the term. I am tending to view the type of tongues described by charismatics as a "personal prayer language" as a largely human phenomenon, certainly not as demonic possession (like many have said, particularly in the past), nor as a particularly powerful or revelatory experience in general.

Other movements
Often one can read about a movement, denomination or belief on paper and it looks fine. In practice, I believe what divides Christians more often is culture. For example, most Seventh-day Adventists would agree with most of the Assemblies of God (the biggest Pentecostal denomination) teachings, apart from tongues being a sign of empowerment by the Holy Spirit and interpretation of biblical prophecy. Yet many would feel uncomfortable with them due to an often upbeat, contemporary worship style.

My point is - many of these movements I refer to next I have only read about on paper, or on Wikipedia alone. A description of beliefs etc. may not give a clear indication of what a group is actually like in practice, or cultural factors etc. I say this to ask that you don't judge my view
 * The emerging church movement looks interesting and I would like to learn more about it.


 * I think improvements could be made to the "boxed orthodoxy" attitude where a certain core of beliefs are seen to be essential and nonnegotiable. At the same time, I do believe many beliefs to be extremely important. I suggest that membership have a greater focus on community, a community centered around Christ, than it does at the moment. Having theology as the only test misses the point. In practice church, lifestyle and worship style culture are probably just as divisive between people as theology.


 * I am more Arminian than Calvinist. I believe that Calvinism helps to remind us that God is sovereign, and this has a valid place, yet I think that Arminianism is correct in asserting that human free will and choice is significant too.


 * I support the New Perspectives on Paul movement, at least what I have read of it. I need to read more to make sure I understand it, but I don't agree with Covenant Theology which sees covenants of works vs covenants of grace. I disagree with Dispensationalism, yet all of these probably have valid and helpful elements.

Christian Ecumenism
"A more limited goal of ecumenism is promotion of co-operation and better understanding between religious groups or denominations, without aiming at unity." I don't support aiming for full unity - doctrinally or organizationally. But I would prefer to see a little more grace and compassion shown between different groups. Often, I also find that groups are often misunderstood by outsiders. Wikipedia can help here, because you also get the POV of people from within the group itself.

(Need to read more about) -
 * Non-denominational Christianity
 * Interdenominationalism
 * Parachurch organisations

I support these. Yet I believe that accountability is essential. This can be the danger of some of these non-traditional movements. (See Christianity Today article)


 * Interfaith dialogue - this looks interesting. I believe in dialogue and understanding. As a Christian I believe in showing respect for others. Yet this does not mean that I compromise my own beliefs.
 * Inclusivism looks very good to me. But I would not go too far down the religious pluralism path. I believe strongly in salvation through Jesus Christ alone, it's just that I'm a little more open minded about what that means, and a little less judgemental of others. I don't necessarily exclude others from salvation - I leave the judging up to God. One thing that Adventists are big on is living up to the "light" (understanding of "truth") that has been revealed to you. I don't appreciate an exclusivist attitude. For example of an extreme exclusivist attitude, one person told my brother that because his church had dropped one of Calvin's five "T.U.L.I.P." doctrines, that they were heretics!
 * Restorationism attempts to restore early Christianity. I'm not convinced this has always gone as well as it sounds.

See Christian Theology

Philosophical
Often I think a balance is needed:
 * I think cultural relativism, the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities make sense in terms of his or her own culture, has some significance - but not completely.
 * I largely disagree with relativism, which expresses the view that the meaning and value of human beliefs and behaviors have no absolute reference.
 * Aesthetic relativism, that beauty is relative, has some basis I think, but not completely.
 * I believe that postmodernism has some worthy points, as opposed to the harsh criticism of it by many Christians in the past. I certainly don't take on a lot of its aspects.