The Seewalds are Protestent?

[EmeraldPickle]

So I was reading the Seewald Blog and I was reading the comments section on the entry where Mike Seewald thanks all the haters and he responded to another poster about Catholicism. I made a screenshot.

[keen23]

All of these evangelicals are some branch of Protestantism.

[JellyHope]

Any Christian that isn't Catholic is Protestant.

[marmalade]

Both Bin and his sister Jessica "liked" Vision Forum on their facebook pages before Tool o' Ween. Bin has also posted a lot of Calvinist theology, including numerous quotes from Spurgeon, and that's consistent with VF thought. Pa Seewald's posts have done nothing to dispel this notion. They definitely differ from the Duggars on many theological points, the most glaring at this point being the matter of Christian courtship. Ironically, this is something that the Bible doesn't even address! Sorry, but that just makes me giggle. Then I remember that there are real young women suffering at the hands of these patriarchs both before, during, and after courtship/marriage, and the laughter stops.

[HereticHick]

Any Christian that isn't Catholic is Protestant.

Unless they are Eastern Orthodox

[samurai_sarah]

Unless they are Eastern Orthodox

Or Coptic. And - arguably- Mormon.

[Mela99]

I don't really get the difference between Baptists and Protestants tho... aren't the Duggars Baptists?

[LogansMama]

I don't really get the difference between Baptists and Protestants tho... aren't the Duggars Baptists?

According to Michelle, yeah they are basically Southern Baptists and used to attend a big church but decided to do home church so they could praise God as a family.

It's my understanding (raised Catholic, currently agnostic) that Protestant is the broad term to cover all the non-Catholic Christians (aside from Mormons...but don't get me started on that religion).

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what "Evangelical" means...I've sort of interpreted it as any uber right-wing christians. How accurate is that?

[Coconut Flan]

The Duggars appear more IFB than Southern Baptist although they do attend Southern Baptist churches and use them for weddings and funerals. Some Baptists don't make a lot of distinction among the branches.

Baptist is a denomination of Protestantism. Maybe that's a way of making it clearer without going into too much church history.

[SAH Internetter]

After months of lurking, I can't believe this is what I finally post about. The Western Christian community can basically be divided into Catholics and non-Catholics. Non-Catholics are called Protestants, and within that group there are many individual denominations - Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, etc. Mormons might technically be considered Protestants, but no one ever calls them that.

The best analogy I can think of is that in the US you'll hear people talk about "white people" versus "people of color". People of color could be black, Hispanic, East Asian, Native American, or other races/ethnicities, but they're all grouped together under "people of color" based only on the common trait of not being white.

[Cheetah]

Good question, and one I should know the answer to but don't really :-). I'm a member of the ELCA, which is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is actually a pretty liberal branch of protestant Christianity. (e.g., our pastor is gay and we've been ordaining women for about 30 years). But that 'evangelical' always confuses me as otherwise it seems to go along with more right-wing groups.

I checked wikipedia... they say 'evangelical' means 'of the gospel' and was used kind of broadly initially by Martin Luther and contemporaries just to distinguish from Catholicism. For a while (early 20th century) it looks like it was a middle strand between fundamentalists and more liberal protestants. Now it seems to be more associated with right-wing groups but really has to do more with groups that are into outreach of new members rather than any political view.

[grandmadugger]

The Duggars appear more IFB than Southern Baptist although they do attend Southern Baptist churches and use them for weddings and funerals. Some Baptists don't make a lot of distinction among the branches.

Baptist is a denomination of Protestantism. Maybe that's a way of making it clearer without going into too much church history.

I would agree that the Duggars IFB, Independent Fundamentalist Baptist. Southern Baptist is much more "main stream" our local Baptist church is IFB and very different from the Southern Baptist.

Evangelical Christian refers to anyone who believes they are called to "sow the seeds of Christ's love and salvation ". Correlating them with right-wing conservatives wouldn't be totally out of line but many aren't that conservative. Based on what I've read about what the Seewald's believe I wouldn't call them evangelical since they believe you are pre-ordained to be saved or not. The Duggar's on the other hand, again based on what I've seen/read, are evangelical because they believe they are called to sow the seeds.

[Reverend Ladypants]

I would agree that the Duggars IFB, Independent Fundamentalist Baptist. Southern Baptist is much more "main stream" our local Baptist church is IFB and very different from the Southern Baptist.

Evangelical Christian refers to anyone who believes they are called to "sow the seeds of Christ's love and salvation ". Correlating them with right-wing conservatives wouldn't be totally out of line but many aren't that conservative. Based on what I've read about what the Seewald's believe I wouldn't call them evangelical since they believe you are pre-ordained to be saved or not. The Duggar's on the other hand, again based on what I've seen/read, are evangelical because they believe they are called to sow the seeds.

Traditionally "Evangelical" means "Gospel-believing" but has been co-opted (in my opinion) lately by who I would label Fundamentalist Evangelicals. I like your definition for them.

I like to remind people that the fundies don't get to own the term "Evangelical" and I try to use it as much as I can. I'm a lesbian clergyperson, and I claim being Evangelical. I claim a lot of other things, too... (progressive, narrative theologian, reformed theology, etc.)

[alba]

According to Michelle, yeah they are basically Southern Baptists and used to attend a big church but decided to do home church so they could praise God as a family.

It's my understanding (raised Catholic, currently agnostic) that Protestant is the broad term to cover all the non-Catholic Christians (aside from Mormons...but don't get me started on that religion).

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what "Evangelical" means...I've sort of interpreted it as any uber right-wing christians. How accurate is that?

Evangelicalism is a strain of Protestant Christianity that developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and was, for its time, very liberal when it emerged. Methodism, for instance, was known for its members' social justice work, with its founder, John Wesley, being an ardent abolitionist (the anti-slave kind, not the fundie anti-abortion kind or the Raquel lazy-for-Jesus kind). To my understanding, evangelicalism differs from other strains of Protestantism in that it places its emphasis on personal devotion and outreach, or 'sharing the gospel'; fundies often interpret this sharing of the gospel as proselytizing, while to other evangelicals it means performing acts of charity, and thereby showing Jesus' love.

[mebeforee]

Evangelicalism is a strain of Protestant Christianity that developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and was, for its time, very liberal when it emerged. Methodism, for instance, was known for its members' social justice work, with its founder, John Wesley, being an ardent abolitionist (the anti-slave kind, not the fundie anti-abortion kind or the Raquel lazy-for-Jesus kind). To my understanding, evangelicalism differs from other strains of Protestantism in that it places its emphasis on personal devotion and outreach, or 'sharing the gospel'; fundies often interpret this sharing of the gospel as proselytizing, while to other evangelicals it means performing acts of charity, and thereby showing Jesus' love.

This was my understanding of the term, too. Evangelical communities are concerned with getting other people 'saved', so if they're handing out tracts or approaching strangers to talk about religion, they're evangelical. But they're also evangelical if they're doing mission trips to build hospitals or schools, or working soup kitchens, etc. On the other hand I consider 'fundamentalist' to be referring more to the way they interpret the Bible, which is usually in a very literal manner. I think fundamentalism is also usually a commitment to more traditional interpretations and 'rules' of scripture (which is why you get headcoverings and such with Christianity, or plural marriage with FLDS) combined with an outspoken rejection of newer, more mainstream interpretations of the same stuff (~Christian rock is the most evil of all rock music~, etc). So while there are a lot of evangelical Christians who are also fundamentalists, they can also exist independently of each other.

[Hooligan]

Any Christian that isn't Catholic is Protestant.

Or Anglican

[JellyHope]

Or Anglican

Are you sure? I'm pretty positive that unless you follow the Catholic Church, the pope, etc.... then you're Protestant.

[grandmadugger]

Traditionally "Evangelical" means "Gospel-believing" but has been co-opted (in my opinion) lately by who I would label Fundamentalist Evangelicals. I like your definition for them.

I like to remind people that the fundies don't get to own the term "Evangelical" and I try to use it as much as I can. I'm a lesbian clergyperson, and I claim being Evangelical. I claim a lot of other things, too... (progressive, narrative theologian, reformed theology, etc.)

And you are the exact person I was trying to include when I said they aren't all right-wing conservatives. I consider myself Evangelical as well but I don't stand on the street corner preaching. I see that as a way to turn people off. Instead I just like to show God's love through my daily life and if someone asks then I will share. If asked I'll say I'm a protestant because I can find something I disagree with in most main stream denominations. But I also disagree with much of what the Duggars believe in and have issues with some of what the Seewald's believe as well. If I had to side with one though I'd go with the Seewald's. I could survive without female clergy in order for women to have some say in life. I still want to know what the Duggar's think about Jess Seewald working.

[alba]

Are you sure? I'm pretty positive that unless you follow the Catholic Church, the pope, etc.... then you're Protestant.

No. Protestant traditions are those that developed out of the Protestant reformation (ETA: And this extends to newer denominations, like Baptists, that developed from Protestant churches). Anglicanism is a bit of an odd one, in that it probably was influenced in part by the Reformation, but its development was also inherently political. However, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches broke away from the Catholic Church centuries before the Protestant movement, and are therefore neither Catholic nor Protestant.

[mpheels]

The US Episcopal church refers to itself as Protestant. I've never heard of it, or any other Anglican tradition, being anything other than Protestant. The Anglican split from Rome and creation of the Church of England was one of several movements during the Protestant reformation.

[alba]

The US Episcopal church refers to itself as Protestant. I've never heard of it, or any other Anglican tradition, being anything other than Protestant. The Anglican split from Rome and creation of the Church of England was one of several movements during the Protestant reformation.

I've known Anglicans to claim they weren't Protestants before. I don't know the ins-and-outs of the rationale, though.

[naatashamaru]

I'm Episcopalian and we are a weird bunch cuz we are a hybrid of Catholic and Protestant teachings. We are still very traditional and close to Catholic worship without all the "drama of being Catholic" like having married priests, having women priests, and being LGBTQ friendly. I live in GA and i hear ALL the time that we aren't really protestant because we are so closely connected with Catholics by having Saints feats and pew aerobics :D I have even heard that we weren't really Christians like the Catholics and Mormons because we also "worshiped Mary" :? It also doesn't help that me being black everyone assumes that I am also Baptist, Methodist, or Non-Denominational and im like NO went to one ND service and it was SCARY :shock:

[Hooligan]

The US Episcopal church refers to itself as Protestant. I've never heard of it, or any other Anglican tradition, being anything other than Protestant. The Anglican split from Rome and creation of the Church of England was one of several movements during the Protestant reformation.

As a cradle Episcopalian I have never seen it referred to as Protestant.

[shedemei]

There are charts of the evolutioncreation of different branches at Wikipedia that are helpful in clarification.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_ ... n#Taxonomy

[Rebelwife]

As a cradle Episcopalian I have never seen it referred to as Protestant.

But I (also Episcopalian) have always considered myself a mainline Protestant. Maybe it's because I was raised Catholic until I was 18 - although my father's family has been Episcopalian since it was invented and I attended both services regularly. :think: