At my place of employment, we are looking at the business uses of Second Life. I have written briefly regarding Second Life previously, but I had never used the technology. Yesterday, during the day, I spent some time looking at the business use, but at night I investigated how Christians were using it (that’s my current avatar to the right, by the way).
After having some difficulty using the search function within Second Life to find a Christian church, I turned to Google, which led me to the ALM CyberChurch. I found that the people who were hanging out in this area (no service was going on) were very helpful. I had a few questions regarding how to use some of the features within Second Life and how to get some of the freebies (a Bible quoting system and some clothing) that the church provided for visitors and one person was very helpful, going out of his way to allow me to follow him through a building while showing me what I needed to do step-by-step.
This helpful person was a member of the Soli Deo Gloria Christian Fellowship on Second Life. I knew this because group names are displayed above your avatar within the virtual world. When I asked him about it, he sent me a text document that contained their statement of faith and provided me the URL to their Web site. On the site, I found a more detailed statement of faith, called “What We Hold As Essential.
One thing in the statement really stood out to me and it is within the text below:
We will not tolerate bad doctrine, though we will answer those who propose such with patience and love. We will not tolerate those who come merely to spread derision and strife. We will not support groups in SL who promote bad doctrine, such as anthropocentric teachings;health, wealth and prosperity doctrines; easy-believism, modalism, pelagianism, or idolatry.
I have emphasized the word that caught my attention. I had never before seen a statement of faith that referenced Pelagius (or modalism, for that matter), and I have read a lot of them. It’s usually the first thing I do when entering a church that I have never visited before. Impressed with the early church reference, I wanted to see if all of the members of this group really understood their statement, but I only had one in front of me so I asked him. The question I asked was:
What was the difference between Augustine and Pelagius?
He didn’t know the answer, so I answered the question for him. It led me to wonder if there are many other people out there who do not understand their church’s (or group’s) statement of faith. Although after I explained it, the person on Second Life agreed with it, I think this is dangerous because what if he didn’t agree? What if he was representing a group with beliefs he would think were wrong once he understood them?
Have you read your church’s statement of faith? Is there anything you don’t understand? If so, ask your pastor about it. Doing this will benefit you in two ways: 1. you will learn more, and 2. you will find out if your theology matches the one of your church. Imagine if this group had agreed with the heretic Pelagius?
My name is Richard Smolenski and I am a theologian in training. I have an M.A. in Christian Apologetics from
Unfortunately this is something that happens often. I would go further and say: READ YOUR CHURCH BY-LAWS. You might be surprised. I once attended a church that actually refused to give me a copy of their by-laws, yet they still wanted me to become a member.
This was an intriguing read; I’m a Buddhist but I’m always interested in what others believe (it lends to more polite conversation when you can find common ground). I looked up the references that you gave through the Wikipedia (yours gave a history but not much else), and came up with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagianism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modalism
This was interesting; both Pelagianism and Modalism represent very Eastern belief structures. Some may even be surprised that Hinduism, to be explained in a Western context, is almost exactly the same as modalism – there is a Hindu Trinity, and the different ‘gods’ are actually aspects of the same supreme being (this, unfortunately, isn’t as well known as it should be).
It is actually very interesting when these were recognized by as ‘isms’; at that time the very borders of Roman civilization could have allowed transference either way. Very, very, very interesting – thank you for this post. I learned a lot.
I always make it a point to check now, because I once accidentally attended a cult service. (International Church of Christ)
Well, I can surely say that my curiosity regarding Second Life is peaked. I am going to spend some time this weekend exploring that topic.
As far as Statements of Faith. I read rcently that the churches who require new membership classes prior to actually becoming a member have the largest growth rate and tend to keep members longer. People want to know that they are not being led into something false or that they may later discover some alterior motive.
The church that I attend utilizes such a policy and I completely agree with it.
Anyway, I have recently found your page and will undoubtedly enjoy reading some of your past and future posts.
May your roots grow down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love! (Eph 3:16)
Michael
That is the first time I have heard those terms used in a Statement of Belief! Usually the statements are more general where I have visited.
I once visited a very popular ministry and was really surprised by some of the things in their Statement of Belief.
It makes one wonder.
ThirstyJon
freedomthirst.com