Quell my shock. No really, quell it. /sarcasm Interesting that the poll does not follow this up with "percentage of evangelicals who do not support welfare" or "percentage of evangelicals in denial about the root causes of crime and drug use" Just a little bit of hypocrisy here as previously mentioned. You already can.
Why would you guess it is different? I go by what the word means - the sharing of faith, to witness, etc. in order to get others to understand Christ. Evangelicals believe in a personal relationship with God and Jesus and thus conversion must be personal. I put "active" before it to underscore that evangelicals are supposed to be active in sharing the message. Redundant, obviously, but I was trying to be extra clear.
i'm active in sharing the message. i try to be. again, i know guys who vote straight dem tickets who are the same. they don't pass out pamphlets and scream "turn or burn!!" but they build real relationships with people, love them and share the central message of Christ. i know guys just like that who WORK for churches, in fact. who would never in million years vote republican or call themselves conservative...but would absolutely call themselves evangelical.
Almost all evangelicals are like you. But because the perception of evangelicals is the "turn and burn", many evangelicals won't call themselves that.
I'll take the MadMax version of an Evangelical. The rest can take a hike. Or walk their dog. D&D. Walk Your Dog Today!
I wish more persons who self-identify as "Evangelical" on political polls were like Madmax. One thing I don't get is IMO one of the most central tenets in Jesus life is to love and take care of the poor and marginalized. I don't know how even the most bastardization of the Bible and Jesus life as applied to modern life would result in abortion and gay rights as the key issues pissing off god and requiring a drawing a line in the sand so to speak over all other issues. OK, abortion I can kinda get in principle (if you believe life begins at the moment of conception and these are the most marginalized persons), but fighting against gay civil unions over tending to the poor in your nation/the world and spreading peace?
Here are some typical Christian 'groups'- I will try to give some comment on some of the original characteristics if it helps 1. Protestant- originally 'protesting' certain practices of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe- resulting in breaking away from papal authority and the 'Church' 2. Catholic- Adhering to the Roman Catholic leadership- papal authority in Rome. 3. Charismatic- Emphasis of spiritual gifts including tongues, prophecies and healings. A lack of denominational organization. 4. Fundamentalist- Inerrancy of the Bible- literalist in interpretation- generally non-Charismatic. 5. Evangelical- Emphasis of a salvation experience and a responsibility to share the gospel with others. 6. Mainline- The larger Traditional Protestant denominations 7. Orthodox- Holding to denominational creeds and statements of faith as they were originally written. 8. Pentecostal- Emphasis of spiritual gifts, with denominational organization. 9. Reformed- Adhering strictly to the teachings of the reformers of protestantism. 10. Unitarian- generally acknowledging Christian salvation universally to all people regardless of beliefs. 11. Ecumenical- Emphasizing the need for all Christians to accept all creeds, beliefs, denominations, groups, churches as unified. Initially the re-uniting of the Protestant church with the Roman Catholic church. These are only some comments on the diversity in Christian practice. They also certainly overlap, join and partner in various applications. These 'terms' 'labels' blur and have changed over time. This makes it difficult to define any single person or church unless they define themselves beyond terms and labels. Today there are many new significant church denominations, movements and organizations within Christian religion- Word of Faith Movement Latter Rain Movement Prophetic Movement Emergent Movement Third Wave Movement New Age Movement Prosperity Movement Purpose Movement This may all seem confusing because it is.
I think the fact that 40% of Evangelicals do not believe we were justified in going to Iraq is the most telling number. In theory, this should be one of Bush's biggest supports groups and 40% of them disagree. I consider myself an Evangelical and I don't think Bush was justified in sending us to Iraq, and worse yet I believe he lied to justify the initial invasion.
