Go to Previous Page - - Next Page.
Who are Evangelical Christians, Anyway?
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? Matthew 5:13
Generalizations
One rainy day, a man got off the train in a small town on the Plains. He went into the local diner and sat down to eat. While he was eating, the guy beside him asked what he did for a living. "I'm an engineer," the stranger replied.
"Great," the local said. "Come with me. We need you here."
The two of them walked to the edge of town where a crowd was gathered. People were looking at a road bridge that spanned a gorge. The bridge was obviously in trouble due to the high water. Since it was still raining, the townsfolk were trying to figure out a way to strengthen the bridge.
"Hey, everybody! I've brought us an engineer!" the local man yelled. The crowd quieted down and waited for the stranger to speak. An engineer! What a miracle for one to arrive right at this moment!
"Eh, although I am an engineer, I don't think I’ll be of much use to you here", the stranger began. "You see, I'm a software engineer. I write computer programs for a living. This is clearly a hardware problem."
At that moment the bridge collapsed.
Defining Christians
Like the townsfolk who forgot that there are many different types of engineers, we often forget to define whom we are talking about when we say the word "Christian". This word must be understood well before we can truly understand Christianity. We’ll start with Christianity in general and then narrow our focus to Evangelicals.
Perhaps the most common Christian myth in our society revolves around the definition of who Christians are. Are Christians
- White, northern European-descended Americans?
- People who attend church?
- People who believe in God?
- Catholics?
- Mormons?
- Intolerant white Southerners?
Many people are very confused about what makes a Christian a Christian. And many people are also confused about the relationship of various other group-defining words (such as Evangelical, Catholic, Mormon, Baptist, Jehovah's Witness, and such) to the definition of Christian. So the first thing we're going to do is define a few things about Christians.