Listen to Evangelical apologists, and you will hear them talk about “true Christianity.” In their minds, true Christianity is a set of non-negotiable theological propositions that MUST be believed for a person to be a Christian. If a person does not believe these things, he is not a Christian, regardless of what he says.
Some Evangelicals think that their peculiar beliefs trace back to the first century church; that their beliefs and those of Jesus, Paul, and the apostles are one and the same. One Church of God in Newark, Ohio had a cornerstone on their building that showed its inception date as AD 33. Such thinking is, unfortunately, common. I knew Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) preachers who were Landmark Baptists or Baptist Briders. These preachers believed that their churches could trace their lineage all the way back to the early Christian church. Carefully examine the doctrinal statements of the various Christian sects and you will find that many of them ascribe to the notion of “true Christianity,” going so far as to assert that their sect is the “true church.”
Is there any such things as true Christianity? No, and there never has been, not even in the first century. It is impossible to read the Bible without concluding that that Jesus and early church leaders were divided over what constituted true Christianity. Jesus, James, Peter, and Paul each had their own take on true Christianity. Who was right? How do we determine who was right? How do we determine who is right today?
There’s no such thing as true Christianity. There’s no central repository for Christian truth. (I met more than a few Christians who believed that somewhere there was a perfect copy of the Bible. This, of course, is patently untrue.) For over 2,000 years, followers of Jesus have been making it up as they go. Isn’t it amazing that a group of Evangelicals can attend the same church, read the same Bible, listen to the same sermons, and read the same books, yet they come up with conflicting explanations of true Christianity? Why is that? Most Evangelicals believe the Bible is a supernatural book written by a supernatural God with a supernatural message just for them. Further, they believe that God lives inside of them in the person of the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything pertaining to life and godliness. If these claims are true, why is it that no two Christians believe the same thing about true Christianity?
A better explanation suggests that every Christian shapes, molds, and fashions God, Jesus, and Christianity in their own image and that of their culture/tribe. Think of all the things that affect how we think about a matter. Do these things not affect our thinking about Christianity too? Of course they do.
Dr. Dan McClellan explains it this way:
Did you grow up in a church that preached “true Christianity”? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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