I'm about to visit a nondenominational protestant church for the first time in over 10 years...

Nondenominational?

>nondenominational
a nondenominational church is like a vegan calling a hunk of onions a "hamburger"

onions

Can you tell me more about OPC?

Because I want to practice networking and forming community with people who share my culture and values. One day, when I have children, I want them to grow up in a cultural environment that will give them an alternative to modernist secular thought.

why can't i write the word s o y?

Word filter. I chose nondenominational because I want to try the protestant experience without agendas. Do you know of a better alternative?

Word filter desu senpai.

>uses the term skydaddy
you are an npc.

Isn't a nondenominational church unable to teach you any interpretation of it?
Go Calvinist. Even for your secular endeavor the church discipline will be of great communal value.
But sure go. As long as the service is based on scripture there is good hope of the holy spirit converting you.

What state are you in?

well that if fucking cancer, guess ill go back to 8 c h a n

It's the only way to get a conservative girl retard

Protestant churches that emphasize scriptural exegesis tend to be more knowledgeable, but can often lack Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The charismatic churches are where you go if you want to find out if spiritual experiences people talk about are real (they are). I went to a Pentecostal service right before my Senior year of High School and my experience changed me from a former-fedora tipping degenerate to a Christian.

OPC is the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, embracing the missionary values of the evangelical movement, while rejecting both modernity of mainline protestants and the mysticism of the charismatics. It's a down-to-earth, traditional, Calvinist (ie Biblical), and also very strong on its values. Not afraid to call a spade a spade.
Also very huwite if you're into that, primarily based in New England, but I'm a congregant at an OPC in NC so they're around
Good luck on your search, user

Can you tell me more about Calvinism?

Minnesota

I actually agree with it. The mods did it because there were too many shitposters making threads about onions and basedboys, and they wanted to scare them away.

This too, although I'm planning on leaving this state for greener pastures so my time at this church won't be permanent. It's just practice.

Which state do you want to move in?

Those digits...you may want to reconsider

I'm not entirely sure what if the church I'm going to self-identifies as charismatic or not.

Do they believe in a literalist interpretation of the scripture? That's honestly my main dealbreaker.

You're a heretic

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Right now, I'm thinking Idaho or Montana, but it changes every so often. I'm still finishing college, but when I graduate, I want to become a remote web developer and raise a traditional family on a homestead.

Kek

Can you elaborate on your position? I was born and baptized Catholic, but I laid out my uneducated opinion on the Catholic church in this post

In one post? Not really. Depending on how much you know about the gospel or where you stand theologically I can tell you about individual points however.

I align with Calvinism because it's the most biblical one. Though I'm also heavily influenced by Barth and mystics.

Excuse my ignorance, but don't all denominations claim to be the most biblical?

Yes, we believe the Bible is the total and inspired Word of God, entirely trustworthy, and in all aspects both correct and relevant

I can get behind the idea that the Bible is inspired by God/the Holy Spirit, but I don't think I'll ever be able to believe that it's a literalist account of history and science. I don't want to have to lie to people about what I believe for the rest of my life.

Technically. But not really. Romans and Easterners explicitely endorse external sources as authorative.
What I meant was that it holds unapologetically closest to biblical theology. Lutheranism for example rejects double predetermination because it upsets people not for it being unbiblical.

True and literal are not synonyms.

>I want to become a remote web developer and raise a traditional family on a homestead.

In for a world of pain. Where net access is available will dictate where you live, even wireless access that won't ass fuck you.

Also, web world is full of sjw these days, you'll wanna quit at some point.

I do live in America though, so I have to be on the lookout for literalist congregations. I don't want my future children to grow up in a community of Young Earth Creationists.

I'm already doing it for a conservative company and gaining experience, so I'm pretty confident that I'll find something remote that won't require me to actually come into an office and participate in (((sensitivity training))). Also, I don't want to live out in the deep sticks, I'd probably live 30 minutes from a city like Boise.

Calvinism is the theological synthesis of the entire word of God, based on five priniciples:
1) Because of sin, no man, by his own works or will, can bring salvation to himself or pleasure to God
2) God loved man enough to offer salvation to a few based on no conditions other than His divine grace
3) Only those that have been gifted grace by God through Christ will be brought into salvation. There is no other path. There are no men worthy of God's mercy, and those who have covered by grace are the only flock of Christ
4) Those to whom God has offered grace will eventually be drawn into a complete faith in Christ and adherence to his teaching and God's will. God being entirely capable and sovereign, anything he wishes to bring to completion will be brought to completion.
5) The will of God is impossible to thwart or disrupt. No one who has been gifted grace can lose that grace or be snatched away by other lusts or false gods. All things will be fulfilled exactly according to the will of God.

That you're risking damnation of your soul, and the Catholic Church still welcomes you.

It looks, to me, that modern Catholicism is making no attempts to preserve the traditional family structure and sexual morality. They seem to change their values on a dime to appease modernity, and if I didn't know any better, I'd blame the papacy.

The catholic church does not teach that protestants are damned my larping friend. They don't even hold that muslims are damned for crying out loud:
>841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."[330]

The Bible is entirely correct, but virtually all Christians outside of the SBC understand that Genesis is mythical. That's not the same thing as false. It is a story, understandable by anyone, through all the ages, that contains essential elements to understanding the condition of mankind. I don't believe in a literal Adam and Eve, but I do believe in the core message of the myth: that God is the creator of mankind, but that, from the beginning, we fell to sinfulness because of our weakness and the lusts of our heart. All of creation is in the same state. We are not unique, other than that we are allowed repentance by the free gift of Christ. There are many other myths in Genesis, and all are just as correct in their evaluation of us. But explaining fact to bronze age desert shepherds in a method that was beyond their understanding served no purpose. Thus, Genesis was written as to be understood by all of the elect. Accept the Holy Spirit, and He will give you the divine light of undeestanding, you will see that the Word of God is entirely correct and perfect.

So your interpretation is allegorical?

No, that's too simplistic. Some parts of the Bible are factual. Some are poetic. Some are mythical. Some are allegory. All are true. I encourage you to attend service, take part in the sacraments, and read the Word in prayer for yourself. Do this, and you will understand.

There's an OPC church near my apartment with a service at 10:30. Are you saying that if I go and embrace the OPC way of life, I won't be surrounded by Young Earth Creationists? At this point, that's the most important thing to me. I want to take off my fedora, but I also want to be cautious.

Try the nondenominational first and see if you like it. I have been going to mine for 9 months and it’s great. Everybody is going to be biased towards their type of church, you can’t know which is right for you until you try different ones as I did.

Do you believe Jesus Christ was the son of God? It seems to me that most Christians believe this in the literal sense and will consider you to be a heathen and a heretic if you claim the historical Jesus was not divine and assert that he was presented in the bible as a myth. This inevitably seems to then lead to scripture spam. From your experience, how many people who go to church actually hold that the life of Jesus in the New Testament is an allegory?

What is the point of asking these questions? By dragging people through the swamp of spiritual minutiae you are serving satan in effectively discouraging potential believers. Such talmudic argumentation is anti-Christian and a blight upon our society.

Yes, I believe that Jesus was the literal Son of God and Man, conceived by the Virgin Mary. I think most Christians do as well.
As for whether or not a particular church near you is composed entirely of people who agree with me, OP, I have no idea.

So you turn me away for simply asking questions? Those questions are sincere. Didn't Jacob wrestle with God at one point? Was this not a metaphor for questioning one's own faith? There are many people who see value in religion, and Christianity, but are reluctant to join a church and call themselves believers, because they do not believe in it in the literal sense. Is your answer to turn them away?

>Lutheranism for example rejects double predetermination because it upsets people not for it being unbiblical.
Lutherans reject double predetermination because it's retarded.

>What should I know before I go?
Non-denominational churches don't have any set-in-stone doctrines. It's the "anything goes" church. This means you will see people supporting Israel for sure. They'll probably talk about the "Jewish people" and "their struggle" a lot. If you can bare that, then enjoy.

If you can't, find a good Baptist church.

He won't because Catholics are dumb. You're on the right path, OP. America is a protestant nation and has only faltered since allowing Catholic infiltration.

>From your experience, how many people who go to church actually hold that the life of Jesus in the New Testament is an allegory?
I do. But I also believe that whether Christ was real or not makes zero difference and the metaphor or the allegorical character can still be discussed as the Son of God. The teacher who brought "God" down to a more personal and relatable level rather than to be feared, and that this was a necessary step in the evolution of the philosophy. That the lessons and the wisdom of this character still hold the same weight and are still the Word.

How does this church look?
>missionopc.org/

Learn about the Greek Orthodox church.

I checked it out but the population of Orthodox in the US is very low. Part of my journey stems from a desire to reconnect with the American heritage and traditions that I never got to experience.

Your about to have a lot of fun. Just kidding you’ll most likely have extreme difficulty staying awake.

I'm not a huge fan of the aesthetic (keep in mind I'm someone who believes that's important to all things) but, obviously, the most important thing is the message and not all congregations are able to improve/work on the aesthetic in the beginning. As long as they're not doing modern christian rock hymns and as long as they're not speaking in tongues and there's no preacher casting out devils by pushing people down you should generally be okay.

Do many Protestants see it this way too? I had the impression that they were known for their more literal interpretation of the bible. I've met many atheists who see them as religious nuts who believe in it literally and then you have the believers who will accuse you of "talmudic argumentation" for simply asking questions. This turns off a lot of people.

Any church that worships Jesus is worshipping a false idol.

I understand where you're coming from, it does turn off a lot of people. It almost turned me off as well. You have to understand that Protestant is a hugely encompassing term that was initially very specific eventually came to encompass pretty much anything non-Catholic after the Reformation. The original Protestants, including Luther who hated that Lutheranism even became a thing, preferred the term evangelical, which basically means someone committed to spreading "the good news" (that's what "Gospel" means) of Jesus Christ. The main problem is, Christianity has such a long and varied history that, at this point, many messages have become corrupted, even if they were not intentionally corrupted. Sometimes a corruption of a message happens naturally because someone misheard or misunderstood and it wasn't explained properly. Other times, it could have been a message of dismissal, like when a child asks their parents so many questions that the parent becomes exasperated and just says, "because I said so!" I, and many I know, believe those absolute literal interpretations to be totally silly. Particularly when we have evidence that if someone were to write something I said today, translate it into a different language tomorrow, by the third day there may be a corruption or bastardization of the message, even if it's only subtle and missed the context or use of a single word. However, that's another reason why the simplest and most fundamental message is the most important and, ultimately, that's the Gospel. The good news.

>However, that's another reason why the simplest and most fundamental message is the most important and, ultimately, that's the Gospel. The good news.
In your opinion, what is the root of the Gospel? What exactly is the most fundamental message?

Forgiveness.