Chrisian = Belief that Christ is divine?
HarryW, declaring that Christ is divine (as do many Christian religions) is a very special claim. It is above and beyond claims that he can speak for god, that he knows god's plans, that he can do miracles in god's name, that he can intercede for a person when judgment time comes, that he was born of a virgin, that he was raised from the dead (Lazarus was raised, but not divine), et cetera. If you accept all of these claims, you seem like a Christian to me without accepting him as god.
I know that the Quakers are considered Christians, but do not necessarily believe that Christ was more than a prophet. Some Quakers might believe that he is divine, but it is not a required belief. Actually, Quakers are behavior oriented in their beliefs and have few (if any) dogma. I thought that the Jehovah's Witnesses and a few others were considered Christian, but do not believe that Christ is divine.
From what I remember of the bible, I do not think that Christ considered himself divine. I do not remember him claiming divinity or equivalence with god. He quoted a lot of scriptures, and sometimes spoke as though he had special knowledge of god. He often referred to god in the third person, suggesting that he did not consider himself to be god. I always got the impression that he was trying to reform Judaism, not replace it with another religion. Paul and those who came after his ministry seemed to be the ones selling a new religion.
I do not remember anything in the bible explicitly stating that Christ was god or divine.
I remember mention of Christ sitting on the right hand of god (in Revelations, I think), which suggests that the bible itself does not support claims of his being equal to god.
By the way, does anybody know the official Catholic position on what a heretic is, what a heathen is, what a Protestant is?