Off my chest...

It's not ME that fell for a No True Scotsman. This entire place is a No True Scotsman fallacy. :/

It's not No True Scotsman if we're talking about people who claim to be Scotsmen and actually aren't - ie we're talking about people who claim Christianity, and may even go to church, but deny the veracity of Scripture, and view church as just another social trapping.

Christianity does have a standard, and while it is much looser than some would like it to be, it is also much tighter than others would have it. Saying "I am a Scotsman!" doesn't change the fact I was born in the South of the United States. If I say "I am a Christian!" and then proceed to not do/believe/espouse core doctrines/practices of the Faith, then I can't be surprised when someone questions the veracity of my faith, or are concerned about my eternal outlook.

And this sub actually does a much better job at not being a No True Scotsman fallacy than you give it credit for. The hangup most of us have is on the dispute over the authority of Scripture. We hold that it has authority; others on other subs are soft on that stance. But even so, the people that would call others Not True Christians based solely on that is actually not a majority, though it may have been in the past - at least for myself, I believe they are in error, but I don't believe they are apostate, or on the road to the fate of Laodicea.

For me, the "litmus test," even though I hate having to have one, for what a "True" Christian is is one who believes the core message of the Gospel and has the fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Someone who claims to be a Christian but denies the core message of the Gospel (and there are ministers and pastors in some denominations that do exactly this), or who substantially and persistently lacks the above fruits, that person I would consider a "cultural" Christian, or a disciple of Convenience rather than Christ.

/r/TrueChristian Thread Parent