Our United Methodist Church website includes excellent summaries of United Methodist beliefs. This blog series is meant to inform as well as encourage discussion and spiritual growth. Let's look at each set of beliefs one at a time and ask ourselves, "Does this describe my foundational beliefs as a follower of Jesus Christ?"
Distinctive Emphases
Wesley and the early Methodists were particularly concerned about inviting people to experience God’s grace and to grow in their knowledge and love of God through disciplined Christian living. They placed primary emphasis on Christian living, on putting faith and love into action. This emphasis on what Wesley referred to as "practical divinity" has continued to be a hallmark of United Methodism today.
The distinctive shape of our theological heritage can be seen not only in this emphasis on Christian living, but also in Wesley's distinctive understanding of God's saving grace. Although Wesley shared with many other Christians a belief in salvation by grace, he combined them in a powerful way to create distinctive emphases for living the full Christian life.
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6 comments:
you know, Nazarenes got distinctive beliefs, Baptist have distinctive beliefs, Presbyterians got distinctive beliefs...all I care about is what you think about Jesus Christ. the rest is just filler and garbage to try and make your group sound 'different'.
Anonymous - While that's true, many people who are within those faith traditions are not aware of those distinctions.
I totally disagree that "the rest is just filler and garbage to try and make your group sound 'different.'" You could say the same thing about what you or I think about Jesus Christ. The point is we all come to the scriptures with our own world views, biases, and perspectives.
If you believe that traditions get in the way of the true undersanding of who Jesus is, what makes you think that your personal understanding of scripture is any better than Martin Luther, John Knox, John Wesley, etc.? It's not a case of someone being better but that we learn from each other as we study the scriptures.
The point isn't to just blindly accept those distinctions, but to understand them, both the strengths and the shortfalls.
With all of that being said, my understanding of Jesus Christ is that he is the embodiment of God and through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, has conquered sin and death. He is the king and lord of creation. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we become new creations and are called and empowered to offer this good news in word and deed through the power of the Holy Spirit.
What do you think about Jesus Christ?
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God.
I believe Jesus died on the cross, was laid in the tomb and rose from the dead.
I believe our sins are forgiven in the name of Jesus.
I believe that Jesus will return one day and take all the believers to be where He is.
The problem is, in my eyes, that denominational groups spend too much time talking about their group's specific 'distinctive beliefs'. Everything I said about Jesus can be found simply from the scriptures. When I hear the terms 'distinctive beliefs' or 'emphases' it usually means that group thinks they have the corner market on some unique way of looking at things.
The Nazarenes think they have sanctification. The Baptist thinks he has eternal security. The Presbyterian thinks he owns predestination.
At the heart of it all, what do you believe about Jesus. If you have any 'distinct emphases' that would help me understand Jesus better, fire away. All ears.
I'm not going to join a denomination or group just because you baptize babies and you think that you have some 'unique' corner on everybody else's view of baptism.
I just like to make sure we are focusing our energy and time on Jesus Christ and not some piece of doctrine that can be debated until we are all blue in the face.
Of course, we could debate Jesus Christ until we are blue in the face, too.
Anonymous - First let me say that I'm glad we can find common ground with the basics about who Jesus is.
Perhaps we're coming from this from two different life experiences. My experiences with other denominations especially by serving on ecumenical ministerial boards/associations have been positive experiences. By working together we have learned to focus on our unity while learning from each other about our differences. I love the more mystic side of the Easter Orthodox faith while I also appreciate the evangelical preaching of american Protestantism.
Here are some examples of how denominations/non-denominations approach faith differently: There are some folks who would say from their reading of scripture that God has preordained some people for salvation but not others. I believe that Jesus' grace is offered to all and that any person can respond to God's grace and receive salvation.
Some people believe according to scripture that when Jesus returns, believers will be raptured into heaven and the earth will be no more. I believe that when Jesus returns, all of God's people will receive resurrected bodies and heaven and earth will be joined together and all of creation will be renewed the way it was meant to be.
Thanks for your thoughts. I have appreciated the exchange.
Having been raised in the (United) Methodist Church, I agree with what Pastor Robert has said in this blog. I try not to get all hung up over the different denominations and their beliefs because in the end, it is all between you and the Lord at judgement day. We are each responsible for our own actions and beliefs and the Lord will decide if they are correct or incorrect.
dunked, sprinkled, slapped with hysop, or from a squeegy bottle on the fine mist setting; we're all pretty special.
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