This post is written for Brandon E, but it also had broader application.
Actually, there are many Christians who do not subscribe to the deity of Christ. Such people call themselves Christians because it’s part of their family identity, or they think Jesus was a good human being, or some other reason detached from His actually deserving this title by virtue of being God.
Similarly, there are many people who call themselves Christians – often “Progressive” Christians is the way they put it – who not only do not believe that the Bible is the word of God, they think anyone who does regard it as the word of God is foolish. Such people distinguish themselves from “Conservative,” “Fundamentalist,” or “Evangelical” Christians.
Therefore, to assume that there is uniformity among Christians even regarding these two ostensibly bedrock issues is to betray a lack of familiarity with reality or history.
See also:
Why I Am For Christ…but Don’t Call Myself a Christian
Professing Christian, Practicing Atheist
Don’t Seek to Be a Christian; Seek Instead to Obey Christ
Seek Fellowship with God, Not with Christians
Christian Is Not a Name You Should Choose for Yourself
Does Being a Christian Mean Association with Christians or Association with Christ?
Shouldn’t Christians Be Called Churchians Instead?
God Thinks More Highly of a Moral Atheist Than He Does of an Immoral Christian
We Do Not Proclaim Church or Christians; Rather, We Proclaim Jesus as Lord
They Have Removed Christ from Christianity and Made It Churchianity
Better to Act Christlike Than to be a Christian
I’d Rather Be Called a Jesus Freak Than a Christian
Spiritual Christianity Versus Social Christianity
The Mischief Starts Whenever We Try to Create a People of God
House Churches Are Not a Solution
Mike, I’ve qualified my statements by saying that all “faithful” believers in Christ or all “genuine” believers in Christ (as opposed to nominal Christians) confess that Jesus is Lord, and hold that the old and new testaments are God’s revelation.
The problem is that, among them, you are the only one we know of who has arrived at your combination of doctrinal particulars from Scripture. Yet you act as if you should be as certain that your doctrinal particulars are correct as you are as certain that Jesus is Lord. You have cited various examples in which the prophets, apostles, Stephen, the believers, etc. stood firmly for the Lord’s name rather than denying Him in the face of an unbelieving world and applied them to yourself to say that you (but not others who disagree with you?) should be absolutely certain about your doctrinal particulars over and against all the believers in Christ who would not agree with you.
Your term “doctrinal particular” sounds like something relatively unimportant. I don’t consider any of the truths of Christ I am declaring (see here for an overview of them) as relatively unimportant – else I wouldn’t be proclaiming them.
I started using the term only after you used the expression “particulars” in this comment:
http://blogforthelordjesuscurrentevents.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/pleasing-god-is-not-a-matter-of-knowing-the-right-facts/#comment-3038
By “your combination of doctrinal particulars” I mean the particular doctrines that you or hold about these topics in Scripture.
Also, I’ve been using expressions like “believer in Christ” or “person who believes that Jesus is Lord” much more regularly than “Christian.” The term “Christian” has been abused (like “love”); however, I am not ashamed of the term. It’s scriptural (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet. 2:4). The early disciples were called Christians because the unbelieving world saw them as having a distinct testimony concerning Jesus Christ. If we love the Lord Jesus a distinct testimony should be evident.
Agreed.