It wasn’t long after I came over to Jesus’s side that I discovered that not all Christians think alike. The larger church is divided into smaller camps. At college, I began to learn more about these camps. There were of course the Catholics. From the snatches I heard said about Catholics, I assumed that few (if any) were Christians in any meaningful sense. There were also the liberals, who were really only humanists (that was the derision de jour at the time) in Christian’s clothing. And then there was “us,” the real Christians.
But even among us, there were camps. There were the Calvinists (who weren’t any fun), the fundamentalists (who didn’t want anyone to have any fun), and the Pentecostals (who were having all the fun, speaking in tongues and getting slain in the Spirit).
Somehow, I learned these things without ever talking to a Catholic, a liberal, or a Pentecostal. In the years since, I’ve spoken to all these folks and many at length. I’ve learned that talking about people reinforces stereotypes while talking to people tears them down.
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