Christian Denominations Say THIS. Does it make sense?

Let's look at what denominations are saying and evaluate if these things make sense.

[lavieestlenfer]

I love this channel for two reason: an impartial, academic coverage of Christian denominations, and the comment sections where everyone condemns everyone else for heresy.

[captainsunshine]

"Ready To Harvest is a top notch channel!" is a statement I'm sure would get 90%+ agreement in a poll question!

[Netro]

I am convinced people reading skills have cratered.

[williamnathanael]

I don't know man, this looks like video salad for me.

[RestingJudge]

Apparently anything that requires some brain cells to comprehend is word salad. There's things in the Bible itself that requires much more critical thinking than any of these quotes.

[TheTwoWheeledTeacher]

I’ve yet to read one of your polls which struck me as “word salad.” The number of Christian’s who respond to these polls saying they don’t understand should give us pause for whether or not a significant number of respondents even understand their own beliefs.

[jonathanstensberg]

People seem to think anything over seven words in length is word salad…

[cactoidjim]

**POLL QUESTIONS ARE FABULOUS**

It gives folks a chance to interact with the many different faith statements from both familiar and unfamiliar denominations.

[e.moonbound]

I think we might have a systematic reading comprehension problem

[ebercondrell]

I think "word salad" is a bit of a meme that was coming up there for a bit. Especially with the older quotes from ancient and medieval churches that use more archaic English. However, it is encouraging that people who had difficulty understanding the message of these statements are working on that by watching your channel!

[goatsandroses]

If people think some of these are word salad, they've never read a legal document or any detailed writing, fiction or non-fiction...or parts of the New Testament for that matter. Just because a statement is precise, has a lot of dependent clauses, ambles through the flowery fields like a 19th century romance novel, or attempts to address all possibly consequences does NOT make it "word salad." Now, there IS such a thing as word salad. For example, "We advocate and applaud but consider with reasonable reservations creating a culture based on group accountability and personal self-sacrifice aided and fostered by unfettered individualism, complete independence, and benevolent greed." (Maybe someone else could do better.) Word salads tend to string together EMOTIVE TERMS or CATCH PHRASES. These phrases or words get people's attention and applause, but the entire statement can leave you thinking, "Whuuuut exactly did s/he just say?" or "That's not logical."

[cactoidjim]

Those who are not familiar with 18th, 19th, or even early 20th-century prose will have difficulty parsing many of these statements. They shout "word salad!" because they don't know what to make of statements which were perfectly intelligible to English speakers only 100 years ago.

[ShiroiNihonjin]

Lots of arrogance and anti-intellectualism in online Christian culture

[JamesMC]

Thank you for posting all these quotations, from so many different sources, They give one a lot to think about - especially when one sees what different nuances people notice in them.

Not only was dancing - even the waltz - once regarded as impermissible for Christians; so, at one time, was acting. It would be interesting to know what the history of these attitudes is. Christian ethics has undergone some remarkable changes. One wonders how widely smoking, or serving in the military, are regarded as impermissible for Christians

[robertAGC]

The issue I take with “agreeing” with many of the statements is that the theological terms being used are freighted with meanings that change based on denominational/cultural context.

Take, for example:

“I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.”

This is, of course, is an English translation of the Nicean Creed. Given its early adoption in Christian History, many Christians, whether Roman Catholic, Orthodox (Greek or otherwise), and even Protestants would “agree, ” but they all would disagree with what it means. A Protestant might say it applies to the Church Invisible, whereas an Orthodox or Catholic person would say it refers specifically to the Orthodox or Catholic Church (respectively). Orthodox and Catholic people will disagree on what “Catholic” means, where the one might say it means “complete in itself; lacking nothing, ” and the other would say it means “universal.” Someone on the outside of that particular argument would say the interlocutors are quibbling, whereas those inside the debate would say one emphasis or another has deep and important implications. Still others will disagree with assenting to the word “catholic” at all, thinking it smacks too much of papism.

In short, there have been plenty of statements where, within my context (I am Greek Orthodox), I would agree, but I know or suspect that these statements have been made with different semantic values to what I initially assume. Hence, I usually say, “unsure/ just show results.”

Although, now that I know the necessary qualification for a poll to make it to this video series, I’m going to start calling “word salad” on every poll.

[zelenisok]

People throwing "word salad" label on any sentence that is long and complex (which is the pre-TikTok way of writing sentences), even though you can follow and understand it. And yes, maybe you can't know what the sentence is exactly referring to by something, but that's almost always explained in the following sentences, not everything can be said in one sentence.

[Elvertaw]

Love this channel. You are impartial. You give a clear and concise view of other religions and church development. The more I watch the more I realize that everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a way of worshiping what they call God. Everyone accuses the other one of being wrong. Why can’t we just love each other!

[sammysamlovescats]

As someone that grew up Lutheran, I immediately was like "Hold on, I know that Lutheran-y statement" because for some reason, Lutheran writings *love* to talk in drawn out complicated statements

[coltonregal]

A wise guy once said "Think about how stupid the average person is, and remember that half of them are dumber than that."

[ikemeitz]

The quote from the Augsburg Confession is a fascinating example of how context is vital for these. I read the quote without the context and read "instruments" as "musical instruments, " which (of course) made the statement nonsensical. But when you revealed that it's from the Augsburg Confession, I immediately realized that "instruments" was being used in the more technical sense, and it made perfect sense.

Maybe some of the people claiming "word salad" are frustrated because they're lacking context?