The kind of Christian I am . . .

I don't usually pay much attention to "manifestos." These things come and go, creating a brief cultural ripple before sinking out of sight and mind. But some of my favorite bloggers (Jared, Justin, Joe, etc.) are paying close attention to the Evangelical Manifesto, which is the product of several years of work by a group of Christian leaders for whom I have a great deal of respect.

I'm not going to thoroughly assess the manifesto here (the three bloggers mentioned above have done admirably well at that), but I take notice because I myself have been asking the simple question of myself, what do I believe? More precisely, what are the fundamentals of my faith? In other words, what kind of Christian am I?

My first response to the Evangelical Manifesto was, that kind of Christian! Justin's summary of its seven main emphases is helpful:

1. Jesus, fully divine and fully human, as the only full and complete revelation of God and therefore the only Savior.
2. The death of Jesus on the cross, in which he took the penalty for our sins and reconciled us to God.
3. Salvation as God’s gift grasped through faith. We contribute nothing to our salvation.
4. New life in the Holy Spirit, who brings us spiritual rebirth and power to live as Jesus did, reaching out to the poor, sick, and oppressed.
5. The Bible as God’s Word written, fully trustworthy as our final guide to faith and practice.
6. The future personal return of Jesus to establish the reign of God.
7. The importance of sharing these beliefs so that others may experience God’s salvation and may walk in Jesus’ way.

All this comes at a time when I'm feeling the need to define what I believe carefully. The reason the seven emphases listed above seem important to me is because much of my experience of Christianity is fairly vague on these seven foundational points. As a part of the charismatic side of Christianity, I am finding that much time is taken up with secondary issues, and even frivolous nonsense (one only has to glance at the Elijah List to understand that my assessment is in fact an example of extreme understatement). Anyway, more on all this in the coming posts.