1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

What is the generally accepted definition of "Evangelical?"

Discussion in 'Other Christian Denominations' started by KellyWhite, Apr 25, 2006.

  1. Matt Black

    Matt Black Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2003
    Messages:
    11,548
    Likes Received:
    193
    All Christians may evangelise ie: preach the Good News; not all are evangelical, which is an adherence to a set of theological precepts - see the link to the Evangelical Alliance in my first post on this thread.
     
  2. KellyWhite

    KellyWhite New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Messages:
    49
    Likes Received:
    0
    Yes Catholic missionaries are evangelistic. And of course Mormons are very evangelistic considering the level of encouragement young men (and some women) are given to pursuing this two-year (18 months for women) "rite of passage" in the Mormon faith.

    But they are not classified under the modern definition of evangelical which demographically implies a doctrinal position which includes an emphasis on evangelism. Catholics and Mormons have the emphasis on evangelism, but not the doctrinal position.
    </font>[/QUOTE]To the best of my knowledge, the Catholic church has a very strong doctrinal position toward evangelism. It's clearly stated in the Bible.
     
  3. Matt Black

    Matt Black Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2003
    Messages:
    11,548
    Likes Received:
    193
    Yes, but you're confusing 'evangelism' with 'evangelical' - see my last post.
     
  4. Gold Dragon

    Gold Dragon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2005
    Messages:
    5,143
    Likes Received:
    149
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    Yes Catholic missionaries are evangelistic. And of course Mormons are very evangelistic considering the level of encouragement young men (and some women) are given to pursuing this two-year (18 months for women) "rite of passage" in the Mormon faith.

    But they are not classified under the modern definition of evangelical which demographically implies a doctrinal position which includes an emphasis on evangelism. Catholics and Mormons have the emphasis on evangelism, but not the doctrinal position.
    </font>[/QUOTE]To the best of my knowledge, the Catholic church has a very strong doctrinal position toward evangelism. It's clearly stated in the Bible.
    </font>[/QUOTE]I agree. That is why I said the Catholic church has an emphasis on evangelism that is important to the evangelical classification.

    However, what the Catholic Church doesn't have is a doctrinal position that is also important to the modern evangelical classification. That position is one that holds to several key conservative protestant doctrines including:

    A) Faith Alone
    B) Scripture Alone
    C) Priesthood of all believers

    in addition to fundamentalist doctrines like

    1) Inerrancy of the Scriptures
    2) Literal virgin birth and diety of Christ
    3) Doctrine of substitutionary atonement
    4) Bodily ressurection of Christ
    5) Authenticity of Christ's miracles

    There are very many evangelistic groups that do not hold to these theologies.

    Catholics do not hold to A,B,C
    Some liberal Christians do not hold to one or some of 1-5.
    Fundamentalists hold to all of them but also hold an extreme position of separation from those who do not believe in A-C or 1-5 that evangelicals are not as extreme about.
    Mormons don't hold to the Trinity which all of the above groups do subscribe to.
     
Loading...