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<blockquote data-quote="Athanasius" data-source="post: 1306214" data-attributes="member: 16809">Yes, this is one of his most absurd views. He calls the Puritans this when they were the opposite of it. That's assuming we're using the Biblical definition of the term and not confounding it with seeking to live a holy/sanctified life.In my church there aren't any nominal believers.&nbsp; That is, we don't have members who just pop in for Christmas and Easter or who evidence little interest in the faith. They study and know their faith to some degree. In the megachurch world, which I'm very familiar with, you are going to have some devout, a few nominals, but mostly more average, if not always strongly devout or well-instructed people. A big church can be a place one hides from accountability. Mainlines today have a few old, faithful believers, some old nominals, and some hostile people (including the leadership) who are flat-out enemies of Christ.&nbsp; A generation ago, mainlines had a lot more members and I'd say nominals were the most common attendee.&nbsp; That's been my experience with a lot of RC's as well. EO I'm guessing is similar, although converts are a different story.Long road to get to this point: I've seen and heard people go off and shipwreck themselves through sexual and other sins in all of the protestant denoms above and in my own church.&nbsp; The level of faithfulness and the percentages vary in the churches, but in all of them wheat and chaff will grow together until judgment. It was that way in the early church and it's that way now.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Athanasius, post: 1306214, member: 16809"] Yes, this is one of his most absurd views. He calls the Puritans this when they were the opposite of it. That's assuming we're using the Biblical definition of the term and not confounding it with seeking to live a holy/sanctified life. In my church there aren't any nominal believers. That is, we don't have members who just pop in for Christmas and Easter or who evidence little interest in the faith. They study and know their faith to some degree. In the megachurch world, which I'm very familiar with, you are going to have some devout, a few nominals, but mostly more average, if not always strongly devout or well-instructed people. A big church can be a place one hides from accountability. Mainlines today have a few old, faithful believers, some old nominals, and some hostile people (including the leadership) who are flat-out enemies of Christ. A generation ago, mainlines had a lot more members and I'd say nominals were the most common attendee. That's been my experience with a lot of RC's as well. EO I'm guessing is similar, although converts are a different story. Long road to get to this point: I've seen and heard people go off and shipwreck themselves through sexual and other sins in all of the protestant denoms above and in my own church. The level of faithfulness and the percentages vary in the churches, but in all of them wheat and chaff will grow together until judgment. It was that way in the early church and it's that way now. [/QUOTE]

Verification