Quote Originally Posted by RGS View Post
What is a protestant christian?
A Protestant Christian is the recipient of two appellations that were originally intended to be slurs...

"And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." Acts 11:26

"And the Christians were first called Protestants in Germany." Diet of Speyer 15:29

( http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Diet_of_Speyer )

Neither term was meant to be flattering, but both stuck. Evangelical is the term commonly meant to include all the non-RC churches arising from the Reformation.

There is a lot in this thread about who contributed what to the growth of the Church. I have no problem thanking each group for their contributions, nor rejecting false teachings, regardless from which group it arose. None of the major branches of Christendom are free from error. Nor are any individual Christians, myself most definitely included. Names by which we identify various groups serve to provide a rapid mental framework by which to identify and begin the process of comprehending one another. Unfortunately, that is usually the first step in attacking one another, rather than seeking to find unity.

I for one agree with JohnD, even though he considers my some of my views heretical. All true believers, though all ages are the Seed of Abraham, The Israel of God, Members of the Body of Christ. I do not agree with ALL of the doctrinal distinctives of any man-made groups within the Christian Church, not even Calvinism. I believe that there are true Christians - True Spiritual Israelites - True Children of Abraham, to be found within most of the groups that have named the name of Christ through the centuries.

To be sure, there have been heretics, and heretical groups wihtin the pale of Christianity, but in our zeal to remove the tares, sadly, we have destroyed an incomprehensible amount of wheat.

GI73