That's not "Christian"

Received Sept. 18, 1995

Dear Sir,

I have just finished reading your definition of a Christian, and was left feeling a little bit

confused. It sounds as if you have chosen to 'liberate' the term by making it to include just

about every form of 'spirituality' possible.

As a Christian myself, maybe you would refer to me as a fundamentalist, I strongly believe that

Christianity should limit itself to that which is said about it in the Bible. I believe that

God is wholly in control of the world, the universe, and all of creation. Furthermore, I

believe that faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the only way to reach God. Thus, I am

not a proponent of the liberal mixing of religions that goes on in sects of spirituality that

you describe, as in those of people like Matthew Fox, whom you refer to as one of your balcony

people.

Anyhow, I believe that Christianity is true because the one religion that I have found that

seems to be run by God, rather than man. However, I do not wish to appear to be judgemental

and critical of your beliefs. The one thing I am critical of, however, is your reference to

what you believe as Christianity. I believe that by bending and reshaping a term that already

has one solid defintion, that you may lead people who may be interested in learning more about

'old-fashioned' Christianity down a misleading path. Since most people that I know as

Christian would agree, I think that you have invaded our space by taking the term by which we

refer to ourselves and possibly led others to believe falsely about us.

I guess what I am getting at is that I do not believe that it was your place to attempt to

change the definition of Christianity, especially when there still exist countless people who

adhere to the old definition. I would like to see your home page's name changed perhaps to

'What is religion?' or something similar, but I realize that this may be wishful thinking on my

part.

I would, however, appreciate and expect a response explaining your view in this matter.

Thank you for your time...