Evangelical, Born-again, even Fundamentalist: depending upon the context you put it, yeah, I’m one of those people.
I personally prefer the term Evangelical, since Born-again (although true) has too many negative connotations, such as cultist (completely untrue), naive, unscientific, etc. And fundamentalist is WAY too negative given the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
So, what does being an Evangelical mean to me?
At the core is the theological belief that I first accept the fact that as a sinner I am separated from God, and the ONLY way to get back to Him is to accept that Jesus died for me to take my punishment for my sins, and then I recognize Him as my Lord, i.e. the ruler of my life. I die to sin, and am raised up in new life with Jesus (This is that born-again part.) This is an act of faith, and I cannot earn this gift of salvation through my own good works. Good works follow from my faith.
Secondly, because my life changed the day I became a new creation, I have a strong desire to share this good news (Gospel) with people, especially my closest loved ones. (Here’s the evangelism part.) I have found THE Truth, and I don’t want anyone to miss out on it, because we all will recognize that Jesus is Lord some day. I want to make sure that people in my life realize this BEFORE they die.
Thirdly, I believe that the Bible is the Word of God, 100% true and infallible. (That’s the fundamentalist part.) This is hard for a lot of people to swallow, but to me it just makes logical sense. Either we believe the Bible to be 100% true or 100% false. How could it be a mix? Yes, God wrote through fallible human beings – but isn’t He capable of transcending those falibilities to create a book exactly how He wanted it to be? He is God, after all! I don’t know why He chose to do it this way, but He has, so I accept it. Simple as that.
Finally, I believe that God continues to work in my daily life, making me more and more like Him. Yes, it will never happen, because He’s God and I’m not! But, He loves me too much to leave me the way I am, and so because I asked Him to be Lord of my life, He held me to it! This is called sanctification, and it is an ongoing, life-long process. God is God everyday, not just on Sundays!
So there you have it. If any of this has peaked your interest, you can read why I’m a Charismatic Christian, and why I’m just a plain ol’ Christian period.
And if you don’t know Jesus the way I know Him, see my Jesus page to find how you can.
im an evangelical too! check out my site at http://scripture4u.wordpress.com
Truly, I say that I love your blog posts, esp on Jesus and Christianity. In fact, I do have a similar stand as you do, being in a Charismatic Chuch called New Creation Church
in Singapore, I too have received the revelation that God is truly calling me back to him after having backslidden and gone right back to works under the law. God really means it when he calls. I’m glad He’s persistent in calling. Now I truly understand what it means, every miracle will come to pass once we act on God’s instructions.
And now, I call myself Born Again, a new creation in Christ, have received his Holy Spirit, cultivate His presence, let Him guide me. I’m fundamentalist too, but yes, it tends to lead one right to Islam, which isn’t ideal. Evangelical, because the fruits of Love that comes from God just OVERWHELMS and you simply cannot help but want to share the goodness with everybody, the Love becomes selfless, and as we love all, our desire to evangelise is natural
It’s really sad with all the false prophets around spreading half truths. The most difficult kind of people to talk to are those who have been learning the same things, like Jesus is the Lord, but ‘as humans we have to earn for his blessings, ie. fulfill the law.’ Then, they pay more focus on the pain and suffering of Christ as just a sad event, rather than the meaning behind it that gives believers a real reason to rejoice — He bought us out of our condemnation, and now we can receive the blessings he gave up for us! Otherwise, they just teach things from the Bible but twist the truths from the Bible to fit their ideas. It’s just … sad.
Thank you faeleia! I’m glad to know my posts have meant something to you.
So you’re in Singapore?! What an amazing world we live in now, where 2 people halfway around the world can talk to each other and share their stories about how Jesus has changed their lives.
God bless you!