Each person who calls themselves "Christian" has been taught a certain definition of that word, which they narrowly use to separate people into groups.  The conservative fundamentalists, probably most clearly defined as "evangelical" in nature, tend to define a Christian as someone who has "accepted" Christ as their Savior by acknowledging their depraved nature and the absolute need to accept Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for their sins.  This acknowledgement often requires the steps of faith, repentance, confession, and sometimes baptism in water.  For evangelicals, only those who have "accepted" Christ are truly "saved" and can truly be labeled as "Christians."  I'd like to point out, however, that Jesus never called his followers "Christians"....he called them simply his friends.

On the other hand, there is the more ecumenical side of Christianity.  Jesus told his followers to go and make disciples by teaching them to observe what he had commanded.  He told them to do this before he was crucified or died.  Therefore, becoming a follower of Jesus or a "Christian" only involved following the teachings Jesus gave, it did NOT involve some elaborate set of rituals or the acceptance of an atoning sacrifice, because Jesus never taught that he was such a thing.  If believing in an atoning sacrifice was required for someone to be a disciple or follower of Christ, then there could have been no followers or disciples while he was alive.  Obviously there were.   His teachings involved two commandments:  Love God, and Love your neighbor as yourself.  He himself stated that this was the whole of God's commands.  Therefore, a person is a Christian if they live as Jesus lived and try to follow Jesus' teachings.  By this definition, one can be a "Christian" and also believe in the teachings of other faiths, because many faiths other than Christianity also embody the same teachings which Jesus espoused and promoted.  Although the word "Christian" was a word applied to followers of Christ by those outside the movement, it simply means "little Christ" or "follower of Christ".  It is nothing derogatory, although that is how it was meant by those who called the followers by it.  It simply involved a committment to his teachings.

The word "ecumenical" means "the practice of promoting cooperation or better understanding among differing religious faiths."  (Webster's New World Dictionary, 1997).  This is who I am.  I am an ecumenical Christian.  But I am also a Gnostic, a Buddhist, a Spiritualist, an Intuitive, a neo-pagan, and many other things.  Believing in and trying to live by Jesus' teachings does not exclude believing in and trying to live by aspects of these other faiths as well.

In reality, I prefer to call myself an Empirical Spiritualist.  An Empirical Spiritualist is someone who relies upon his own experiences and observations as proof of God and as a means to determine truth.  In later writings, I will explain just why this is necessary and how to accomplish it.

Actually, I don't know why we have to label ourselves at all, it serves no purpose except to divide us. Each of us carries God within us, no matter what our beliefs or what "religion" we claim to practice.

Many followers of Jesus accept only the teachings of Jesus, believing that the writings of other men have embellished his teachings and added to his original commands.  For a discussion of why this is so, see Inspiration:  Can you trust it?

Please check back to the Compendium of Spiritual Knowledge frequently as new writings will be added all the time.  Become a part of our little spiritual community, NUPS (Non-institutional, Unhindered Personal Spirituality), dedicated to promoting peace, truth, love, and cooperation.  Learn about your true spiritual power which you can use to help accomplish these goals in our world today, and in your own lives.  Learn to embrace Unhindered Spirituality and let go of the limiting ideas and practices in your life.