Definitions
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 11:23 am
In this thread I would like us to clarify and come to a consensus on what the different denominations are. If we need to have intense debate, we should make a separate thread to hammer that out. That way, it will be clear the right people are answering the questions, instead of people speaking on behalf of other groups.
I will go with Stephen Scott and Cory Anderson's definitions for Anabaptist groupings.
Questions for Anabaptists: Theologically Conservative or Evangelical:
- This is for you if you consider yourself an Anabaptist and do not think same-sex marriage or ordination of openly LGBT people should happen.
- This is for you if whether or not you are okay with women being ordained.
- This is for you if you don't think all the women in the church should be required to wear head coverings during worship, even if you're okay with some women choosing to do so of their own accord.
- This is for you regardless of if you hold to pacifism or if you believe it might be okay for a Christian to be a police officer, etc.
Questions for Catholics and Orthodox:
- This is for you if you consider yourself part of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, or Church of the East, or closely aligned splinter groups such as Russian Old Believers.
Questions for Anabaptists: Plain or Old Order
- This is for you if you consider yourself an Anabaptist and you think when church happens, women should wear head coverings during worship and prayer, and if you also believe that men and women should refrain from using violence to the point of killing someone, even in otherwise justified self-defence, going to war, working as a police officer, and so forth.
- This is for you otherwise regardless of if you consider yourself "conservative", "plain", and so forth, as long as you feel you can agree with the above sentence.
Questions for Anabaptists: Mainline/Mainstream or Progressive:
- This is for you if you consider yourself an Anabaptist, and also believe it is allowable or even a biblical mandate to allow women to be ordained, and you wouldn't leave a church simply because a woman was ordained.
- This is for you regardless of if you hold to pacifism or if you believe it might be okay for a Christian to be a police officer, etc.
- This is for you if you don't think all the women in the church should be required to wear head coverings during worship, even if you're okay with some women choosing to do so of their own accord.
- This is for you regardless of if you think LGBT ordination is okay or not okay.
(Some people may 'overlap' between this grouping and the Anabaptist-Theologically Conservices or Evangelical grouping above.)
Questions for Protestants: Mainline and Evangelical
- This is for you across the wide spectrum of Protestant beliefs, both "mainline" Protestants (like Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), The Episcopal Church, the Church of England, and so on), various other Protestant groups (Old Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists, and so on), plus the many different evangelical groups (like Presbyterian Church of America, the Free Church of England, Pentecostals, and so on).
- Nearly anyone who considers themself Christian but doesn't consider themself Anabaptist, Catholic, or Orthodox is going to belong to this category.
I will go with Stephen Scott and Cory Anderson's definitions for Anabaptist groupings.
Questions for Anabaptists: Theologically Conservative or Evangelical:
- This is for you if you consider yourself an Anabaptist and do not think same-sex marriage or ordination of openly LGBT people should happen.
- This is for you if whether or not you are okay with women being ordained.
- This is for you if you don't think all the women in the church should be required to wear head coverings during worship, even if you're okay with some women choosing to do so of their own accord.
- This is for you regardless of if you hold to pacifism or if you believe it might be okay for a Christian to be a police officer, etc.
Questions for Catholics and Orthodox:
- This is for you if you consider yourself part of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, or Church of the East, or closely aligned splinter groups such as Russian Old Believers.
Questions for Anabaptists: Plain or Old Order
- This is for you if you consider yourself an Anabaptist and you think when church happens, women should wear head coverings during worship and prayer, and if you also believe that men and women should refrain from using violence to the point of killing someone, even in otherwise justified self-defence, going to war, working as a police officer, and so forth.
- This is for you otherwise regardless of if you consider yourself "conservative", "plain", and so forth, as long as you feel you can agree with the above sentence.
Questions for Anabaptists: Mainline/Mainstream or Progressive:
- This is for you if you consider yourself an Anabaptist, and also believe it is allowable or even a biblical mandate to allow women to be ordained, and you wouldn't leave a church simply because a woman was ordained.
- This is for you regardless of if you hold to pacifism or if you believe it might be okay for a Christian to be a police officer, etc.
- This is for you if you don't think all the women in the church should be required to wear head coverings during worship, even if you're okay with some women choosing to do so of their own accord.
- This is for you regardless of if you think LGBT ordination is okay or not okay.
(Some people may 'overlap' between this grouping and the Anabaptist-Theologically Conservices or Evangelical grouping above.)
Questions for Protestants: Mainline and Evangelical
- This is for you across the wide spectrum of Protestant beliefs, both "mainline" Protestants (like Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), The Episcopal Church, the Church of England, and so on), various other Protestant groups (Old Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists, and so on), plus the many different evangelical groups (like Presbyterian Church of America, the Free Church of England, Pentecostals, and so on).
- Nearly anyone who considers themself Christian but doesn't consider themself Anabaptist, Catholic, or Orthodox is going to belong to this category.