What makes someone an evangelical? Why?

To be honest with you, I don't know the answer beyond the fact that those churches which use the most commercial sorts of practices (televangelism, tent revivals, mega-churches, faith healers, etc.) and are the most obvious in their greed (I kid you not, I've actually heard one say [exact quote] "GOD wants YOU to give me MONEY!" from the pulpit) are nearly always of the Evangelist variety.

I've also always associated it with "fast talking" in a particular tone of voice with lots of changes in pace, crescendos and decrescendos -- like the preacher took a class entitled "public speaking on steroids 101." The voice appears to be half the scam. To me it just makes them sound insincere, but apparently some people are completely hypnotized into submission by it or something.

This may not be common to all Evangelist sects, but commercial business models seem to be a huge part of the movement. If a "church" is running one of the most patently obvious, yet alarmingly popular money-making scams in history that has ever worked, it's a pretty safe bet that they're Evangelists of some sort.
 
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Trakar said:
Generally "Evangelical" is a modifier signifying that a group holds one particular, generally unique, set of interpretations of scripture to be absolutely correct and that this group actively tries to convert others to accept their particular beliefs.
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That's my understanding too.
 
bruto said:
I was under the impression that traditionally, "evangelical" simply denoted the desire to convert others to the faith, whatever it is. Christianity in general is considered an evangelical faith, the duty to convey the "good news" more or less inherent. Missionaries and the like have been around forever. Of late it seems to have been narrowed down to a more obtrusive and exclusive sense, though clearly there's always been a sectarian edge, and a certain degree of meddlesome desecularization has always lurked.
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Evangelicalism ≠ Evangelism

I know it's confusing, especially since so many Evangelicals are fervently involved in evangelism, but then so are non-Evangelicals.
 
hgc said:
Evangelicalism ≠ Evangelism

I know it's confusing, especially since so many Evangelicals are fervently involved in evangelism, but then so are non-Evangelicals.
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I'm a member of the Evangelistic, Proselytizing and Preaching First Church of Agnosticism, " We don't believe anything and you can too".
 
bruto said:
I was under the impression that traditionally, "evangelical" simply denoted the desire to convert others to the faith, whatever it is. Christianity in general is considered an evangelical faith, the duty to convey the "good news" more or less inherent.
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Yes, a Protestant Minister recently told me that

evangelicism is simply Christian proselytizing (ie. seeking to convert")​
 
Manopolus said:
To be honest with you, I don't know the answer beyond the fact that those churches which use the most commercial sorts of practices (televangelism, tent revivals, mega-churches, faith healers, etc.) and are the most obvious in their greed (I kid you not, I've actually heard one say [exact quote] "GOD wants YOU to give me MONEY!" from the pulpit) are nearly always of the Evangelist variety.

I've also always associated it with "fast talking" in a particular tone of voice with lots of changes in pace, crescendos and decrescendos -- like the preacher took a class entitled "public speaking on steroids 101." The voice appears to be half the scam. To me it just makes them sound insincere, but apparently some people are completely hypnotized into submission by it or something.

This may not be common to all Evangelist sects, but commercial business models seem to be a huge part of the movement. If a "church" is running one of the most patently obvious, yet alarmingly popular money-making scams in history that has ever worked, it's a pretty safe bet that they're Evangelists of some sort.
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Car salesmen in robes holding plates.
 
Minoosh said:
What makes someone an evangelical? Why?
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Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism, Evangelical Christianity, or Evangelical Protestantism[a] is a worldwide, transdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity, maintaining that the essence of the gospel consists in the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ's atonement.[1][2]

Evangelicals are Christians who believe in the centrality of the conversion or "born again" experience in receiving salvation, believe in the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity and have a strong commitment to evangelism or sharing the Christian message.
It gained great momentum in the 18th and 19th centuries with the emergence of Methodism and the Great Awakenings in Britain and North America. The origins of Evangelicalism are usually traced back to the English Methodist movement, Nicolaus Zinzendorf, the Moravian Church, Lutheran pietism, Presbyterianism and Puritanism.[3] Among leaders and major figures of the Evangelical Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

There are an estimated 285,480,000 Evangelicals, corresponding to 13.1% of the Christian population and 4.1% of the total world population. The Americas, Africa and Asia are home to the majority of Evangelicals. The United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals.[4] Evangelicalism is gaining popularity both in and outside the English-speaking world, especially in Latin America and the developing world.​

Characteristics
One influential definition of Evangelicalism has been proposed by historian David Bebbington.[12] Bebbington notes four distinctive aspects of Evangelical faith: conversionism, biblicism, crucicentrism, and activism, noting, "Together they form a quadrilateral of priorities that is the basis of Evangelicalism."[13]

Conversionism, or belief in the necessity of being "born again", has been a constant theme of Evangelicalism since its beginnings. To Evangelicals, the central message of the gospel is justification by faith in Christ and repentance, or turning away, from sin. ....

Biblicism is defined as having a reverence for the Bible and a high regard for biblical authority. All Evangelicals believe in biblical inspiration, though they disagree over how this inspiration should be defined. Many Evangelicals believe in biblical inerrancy, while other Evangelicals believe in biblical infallibility.[15]

Crucicentrism refers to the attention that Evangelicals give to the Atonement, the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that offers forgiveness of sins and new life. This is understood most commonly in terms of a substitutionary atonement, in which Christ died as a substitute for sinful humanity by taking on himself the guilt and punishment for sin.[16]

Activism describes the tendency towards active expression and sharing of the gospel in diverse ways that include preaching and social action. This aspect of Evangelicalism continues to be seen today in the proliferation of Evangelical voluntary religious groups and parachurch organizations.[17]​
 
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In my experience, evangelicals seem to be more inclined to informing people why they're on the way to the slow bake and stress the old testament over the new.
 
Minoosh said:
There is a long drawn-out joke about this - how two Christians find they are more and more alike, until it turns out they were on the opposite sides of the latest schism, then it's "Die, infidel!".
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I think you mean this classic slice of wisdom from the great Emo Phillips-:

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" He said, "Like what?" I said, "Well...are you religious or atheist?" He said, "Religious." I said, "Me too! Are you christian or buddhist?" He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too! Are you catholic or protestant?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me too! Are you episcopalian or baptist?" He said, "Baptist!" I said,"Wow! Me too! Are you baptist church of god or baptist church of the lord?" He said, "Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you original baptist church of god, or are you reformed baptist church of god?" He said,"Reformed Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1879, or reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off.
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Leumas said:
Evangelicalism
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I believe the OP asked about evangelism not Evangelism, which is an easy mistake. also From Wikipedia:

Wikipedia said:
Evangelism is the preaching of the gospel or the practice of giving information about a particular doctrine or set of beliefs to others with the intention of converting others to the Christian faith.
This term is not restricted to any particular Christian tradition, and should not be confused with Evangelicalism, a common term for a wide range of "Evangelical" Protestant churches and groups.
Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are in their home communities or living as missionaries in the field, although some Christian traditions refer to such people as missionaries in either case. Some Christian traditions consider evangelists to be in a leadership position; they may be found preaching to large meetings or in governance roles.
Christian groups who actively encourage evangelism are sometimes known as evangelistic or evangelist. The scriptures do not use the word evangelism, but evangelist is used in (the translations of) Acts 21:8, Ephesians 4:11, and 2 Timothy 4:5.
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The Greater Fool said:
I believe the OP asked about evangelism not Evangelism, which is an easy mistake. also From Wikipedia:
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hgc said:
It's an easy thing to check. Thread title: "What makes someone an evangelical?" So, no.
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Yes, that is the thread title, with a small 'e'. However, in the text of the OP it largely discusses small 'e'vangelism, but also talks about what might be considered large 'E'vangelism. Certainly, the post I was replying to was not the first about 'E'vangelism.

Your claim seems to be that a reasonable person would find such an error unlikely, nor even grasp that it is a simple error to make (if mistake it was). I was probably off-base assuming it was a mistake, it (again) may not have been a mistake at all.
 
Minoosh said:
I see so many churches that appear to be entities unto themselves. They have individual names, most of which escape me right now, and seem to establish themselves individually - i.e., they become a brand unto themselves.

So what if a family moves? Does it look for another freestanding big box church called "Glory" or "Calvary" or whatever? A storefront going in the opposite direction, with a tiny congregation and its own cryptic name?

To the extent that I had religious indoctrination as a child, it was in the Church of Christ, and ecstatic born-again experiences weren't part of the repertoire. It had very little central structure, if any, and doctrine literally varied from church to church - sharing a communion cup or not would be one example. Mine banned instrumental music. I always felt that the implication was, "Those other Churches of Christ (or churches of Christ) are doing it wrong."

When I researched the Church of Christ for a biography I wrote of my mother, I learned it had earlier been associated with the Disciples of Christ. They separated, and the Disciples moved well to the left, as far as I can tell, so that locally, a church branded "First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)" would actually be quite liberal, something like the Congregationalists, who likewise seem pretty tolerant to me. Mom is 90, living in an apartment on a well-regarded "campus of care" under the Congregationalist banner. Its directory features gay couples, without any fanfare or commentary. One entry I noted said something like, "Jim and Larry were legally married in California in 2008." (This is all based on what residents told campus officials).

These days, I don't see how these large charismatic congregations really relate to each other. They may all be united under a general "evangelical" tent, but there must be local and regional distinctions and I don't understand how people pick a church. Personally I would feel hypocritical attending any church whose doctrine I did not completely accept. So no church so far has proved to be a comfortable fit for me. Early on I figured the probability of "getting it right" was pretty small. The Church of Christ doesn't baptize infants, and by the time I was of age - 12 or 13 - I chose not to be baptized because I had recently become aware of the hypocrisy of some church members.
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Dipping into the communion wine a little too often will certainly do it!!!
 
Minoosh said:
What makes someone an evangelical? Why?

...
These days, I don't see how these large charismatic congregations really relate to each other. They may all be united under a general "evangelical" tent, but there must be local and regional distinctions and I don't understand how people pick a church.
....
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Leumas said:
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism, Evangelical Christianity, or Evangelical Protestantism is ....​
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The Greater Fool said:
I believe the OP asked about evangelism not Evangelism, which is an easy mistake. ..
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Apparently the mistake is all yours.... and despite that being pointed out to you, you persist in making it yet again.

hgc said:
It's an easy thing to check. Thread title: "What makes someone an evangelical?" So, no.
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The Greater Fool said:
Yes, that is the thread title, with a small 'e'. However, in the text of the OP it largely discusses small 'e'vangelism, but also talks about what might be considered large 'E'vangelism. Certainly, the post I was replying to was not the first about 'E'vangelism.
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The OP had not a single mention of evangelism... yet you PERSIST in asserting it did.


The Greater Fool said:
Your claim seems to be that a reasonable person would find such an error unlikely, nor even grasp that it is a simple error to make (if mistake it was).
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I think all the mistakes as well as reading things into the OP which are not there seem to be coming from you.

Yours is not a "simple mistake" it is downright AMAZING since you say

The Greater Fool said:
I believe the OP asked about evangelism not Evangelism, which is an easy mistake. ..
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When there is not A SINGLE occurrence in the OP of evangelism.

And what is even more ASTOUNDING is that despite that being pointed out to you by HGC it never occurred to you to go back to reread the OP so as to check if you have in fact read it at all before you carried on ploughing in your accusations of it being me rather than YOU who is not able to read the op properly.

Instead of double checking if it is you who could not read the OP properly you just say

The Greater Fool said:
Yes, that is the thread title, with a small 'e'. However, in the text of the OP it largely discusses small 'e'vangelism, but also talks about what might be considered large 'E'vangelism.
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An ASTONISHING assertion despite the OP not having A SINGLE occurrence of the word evangelism....capitalized or otherwise.

But what is even more bewildering is that you also say

The Greater Fool said:
Certainly, the post I was replying to was not the first about 'E'vangelism.
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Which again demonstrates that you have not even read the post you were replying to.

The Greater Fool said:
I was probably off-base assuming it was a mistake,
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You think?

The Greater Fool said:
it (again) may not have been a mistake at all.
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Are you now going to appologize for accusing me of making YOUR OWN mistake of not reading the OP properly... TWICE... and not even reading the post you were accusing either?
 
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