Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Am I an Evangelical? Yes, but....

While looking for other people's ideas for what an evangelical is, I ran across Shane Raynor's WesleyBlog. In the article What is an Evangelical?, Shane gives a very nice definition of evangelical:

An evangelical is someone who emphasizes the need for Christian conversion and whose ultimate authority for faith and practice is the Bible.

By all measures and definitions, I am an evangelical. I do believe that the Bible is the absolute authority in all areas where it speaks, and that only those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are saved.

Nonetheless, I am uncomfortable with the term, mostly because of the "right-wing nut job" connotations that the secular media have attached to the term. I grew up in a "left of center" household, so "conservative" was a bad word. Even though my political views have evolved into barely-right-of-center libertarianism, I'm leery of the identification. At least I do understand why "progressive" has become such a popular term. :)

I guess I'll accept the term evangelical, and just do what I can to keep it detached from the political meaning some want to attach it.

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