Hi,
I'm posting this question because I'm often, as I'm sure most of you are too, told that Christians believe in hell, the trinity, the age of accountability, freewill,tithing, etc,etc, and that that is what a Christian is. I would often in the past reply to such accusers (usually atheists) by saying these are not 'true Christians' upon which then they would have a good gloat at me by relating to me the 'No true Scotsman fallacy' by philosopher Anthony Flew. It goes like this,
Imagine Hamish McDonald, a Scotsman, sitting down with his Glasgow Morning Herald and seeing an article about how the "Brighton Sex Maniac Strikes Again." Hamish is shocked and declares that "No Scotsman would do such a thing." The next day he sits down to read his Glasgow Morning Herald again and this time finds an article about an Aberdeen man whose brutal actions make the Brighton sex maniac seem almost gentlemanly. This fact shows that Hamish was wrong in his opinion but is he going to admit this? Not likely. This time he says, "No true Scotsman would do such a thing."
Antony Flew, Thinking About Thinking (1975).
A simpler more relevant example follows:
Preacher: All Christians believe in hell.
Bible truths member: My uncle is a Christian, and he doesn't believe in hell!
Preacher: Well, all true Christians believe in hell.
So how are we to answer such inquisitors when we say that Orthodox Christianity isn't even Christianity without having a 'no true Christian' argument thrown in our faces? Well...No true Christian believes that God lies or contradicts, they may still at times disobey God's word but they are not deluded into thinking that they are doing God's word when they do so. Therefore those who do blindly teach that God lies and is contradictory cannot be true Christians, even though they think they are doing God's will, they can only be counterfeit and deluded people who think they are Christians. Not only are these deluded people not true Christians, they are not even Christians, but they are our brothers and sisters. You see the matter is not to do with a true 'this' or 'that' assumption but rather defining what a Christian is in the first place.
A Christian believes in and follows to the best of their ability the word of God, believing that God doesn't lie or contradict and that God's only begotten spirit Son Jesus The Christ is the Saviour of the world. If a person claiming to be a Christian cannot confirm their staunch belief in these prior mentioned statements then by reason of scripture alone they cannot be a Christian, just as an atheist cannot be an agnostic.
The no true Christian argument can be proven via scripture by a true Christian who has the holy spirit working in them, but blinded self-professing Christians cannot see this due to their blindness, further still, and spiritually speaking, an atheist hasn't even evolved a zygomatic process yet with which to house an eye in to see truth.
.