Whats the difference? Mainstream vs. Creationists

[johnson1010]

I see a line between them, so to speak, and one is definitely more useful than the other.

I know my stance, but i was curious as to how believers see the distinction.

What do you all think?

[lady of shallot]

I see the same difference between them as do the practitioners of these two belief systems.

For instance the two fundamentalist Christians whom I know through this booktalk site, consider themselves to be the only true Christians because they have PERSONAL relationships with Jesus.

My Catholic and mainstream protestant Christian acquaintances don't even know what is meant by "a personal relationship with Jesus" They also believe in evolution and to varying degrees in the truth of Biblical stories. I would say that fundamentalist believers are much more ardent and dedicated to their version of things. They seem to think that their participation in their belief system is of their own choosing.

Mainstream Christians recognize that they attend the churches they do because they have been brought up in them or in some cases because that is a condition of marrying the person they wanted to marry. They don't actually think much about God, Jesus, the Bible, religiosity etc. In fact a man of my acquaintance who is Catholic said to his wife, "Mary leave that Christianity stuff at church!"

[Randall R. Young]

But the real question is, Does Jesus have a personal relationship with them?

I'm not much of a believer, so I'll leave it at that. Except to say that my understanding is that a "creationist" is one who believes in special creation, and presumably doesn't accept the theory of evolution on any but the narrowest of terms, i.e., they might accept "micro-evolution", but certainly not the body of the theory, or that "macro-evolution" is just a bunch of micro's, stitched end-to-end.

[johnson1010]

Randall,

You may enjoy this thread:

http://www.booktalk.org/yes-evolution-t8939.html

There are links to very entertaining, and enlightening links there, as well as my own attempts to clear up misconceptions about evolution.

[DWill]

There's a hugely significant difference between mainstream and creationist. If there weren't, creationism would be a "theory" taught in every school, without a doubt. The mainline Protestant denominations, as well as the Roman Catholic church, laid down their objections to modern biology and geology about a century ago. They have the idea that God was still involved, somehow, in evolution--an idea I don't think can be defended--but it's of little consequence socially. Our public officials and legislators are drawn mainly from mainstream Christianity, not the reactionary creationist side.

[Randall R. Young]

johnson,

I already saw that on TopDocumentary.com

I did find it entertaining.

[Harry Marks]

I see I need to look at some documentaries.

I am not sure I accept the premise of the dichotomy in the thread title, but it will do as a "quick and dirty" version. I think that I have a "personal relationship with Jesus" in the sense that Jesus lives on as the Christ, embodied in the church, uniting an abstract existence with the embodied existence more or less as a continued presence of "the Word made flesh." As such, the way I relate to others, and to the "inner Christ" and to the abstraction, is an important relationship in my life. He is kinda quiet, I must say, as Randall suggests, but I gather he is the strong, silent type and a man of few words, at least these days.

I could never find a home in a fundamentalist church. Too much parking the brain, too much embracing ignorance (like special Creation), too much of traditional social roles, too much submission and self-abasement, and on and on. But I do have some background with them and a lot of affection for the membership. I believe Jesus is embodied there too.

[johnson1010]

My answer:

http://www.booktalk.org/creationists-do ... 10829.html

[stahrwe]

I know my stance, but i was curious as to how believers see the distinction.

How many of the responders are believers?

Mainstream WHAT?