If they believe Jesus is the Son of God and that he died and rose again and they're participating with the Spirit in the work of Christ in their lives, then they're Christians.
Frok said:
Yes, it was not the big deal the headline and OP made it out to be IMO.
fat girlfriend said:
If they believe Jesus is the Son of God and that he died and rose again and they're participating with the Spirit in the work of Christ in their lives, then they're Christians.
FTACo88-FDT24dad said:Serotonin said:Frok said:
So I guess he affirms the Son has always been God, equal with the Father, and eternally existent. But does not affirm that this eternal existence involves the Father eternally generating/begetting the Son in the divine nature.
I honestly have no idea how we would know one way or the other. That stuff messes my brain up trying to think about it. I'll just stick with the creed.
I think it goes one step beyond that to say that these are just roles that the three persons of God is performing in relation to human salvation. I believe he's even stated that if humanity was never created then there would still be a triune God but no Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Modalism (also called Sabellianism, after the third-century teacher Sabellius, or Modalistic Monarchianism) claims there is only one divine Person who successively reveals Himself under three different names or roles. In this view, the Father becomes the Son at the Incarnation, and the Son becomes the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. There are no eternal, simultaneous, distinct relations within God just one actor wearing different masks depending on the scene.
Serotonin said:dermdoc said:
I am confused as to what exactly he is saying. John is very straight forward about this.
I'm confused too but doing some research I think his view is that God is not really Father, Son, Holy Spirit but takes on those roles arbitrarily and freely just as it relates to human salvation.
Saxsoon said:FTACo88-FDT24dad said:Serotonin said:Frok said:
So I guess he affirms the Son has always been God, equal with the Father, and eternally existent. But does not affirm that this eternal existence involves the Father eternally generating/begetting the Son in the divine nature.
I honestly have no idea how we would know one way or the other. That stuff messes my brain up trying to think about it. I'll just stick with the creed.
I think it goes one step beyond that to say that these are just roles that the three persons of God is performing in relation to human salvation. I believe he's even stated that if humanity was never created then there would still be a triune God but no Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Modalism (also called Sabellianism, after the third-century teacher Sabellius, or Modalistic Monarchianism) claims there is only one divine Person who successively reveals Himself under three different names or roles. In this view, the Father becomes the Son at the Incarnation, and the Son becomes the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. There are no eternal, simultaneous, distinct relations within God just one actor wearing different masks depending on the scene.
That's Modalism Paaaatrick
Zobel said:
no one has said anything about anyone being damned to hell but you.
i think the important thing you're missing is that christianity is not an individual sport. putting yourself outside of the church is a dangerous thing. the church has boundaries, and one of those is the symbol of faith.
its important that the symbol of faith isn't just a recitation of minimum belief lines, tho it can be used by that. it is a set of statements which imply the rest of the faith. that's what symbol means, "that which implies the other". the creed points to the authentic experience of the christian life. the classic symbol example is a key as a symbol of the lock. if your key wont open the lock, you are talking about a different lock. so, if you dont accept the creed, youre practicing a different faith.
here people like you get mad and call it sectarian, but this is not talking about salvation. just that whatever youre doing isn't the same as what we're doing, because you wont describe it on the same terms. (the you being rhetorical here, i have no idea what you in particular believe).